The newly appointed Managing Director of Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), Mr Bamanga Usman, has unveiled plans for the future growth of the agency, inline with President Tinubu’s economic agenda.

Usman made this known on Wednesday when he took over from the former MD Sen. Tijjani Kaura, in Abuja.

He said that his vision includes the establishment of OGFZA offices in every state of the federation regardless of their oil production status.… Read the rest

Insurance companies in Nigeria transferred 63.4 per cent of the businesses they generated in the second quarter of 2023, Q2’23, to their foreign counterparts.

The volume of the transfers breaches the local content law which stipulates that only 30 per cent of oil and gas businesses should be ceded to foreign insurers while 70 per cent must be domiciled in Nigeria.… Read the rest

NIGERIA and African Export Import Bank, Afreximbank, yesterday, signed an agreement targeted at funding the nation’s $200 million Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG project, located in Bayelsa State.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, said it has provided mentorship for maritime administrations to Gambia, Sierra Leone and Ghana among others on various issues such as Port and Flag State Administration and the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act.

The Director-General, NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, disclosed this during an interactive session by the Senate Committee on Marine Transport with Chief Executive Officers of agencies of government in the nation’s maritime sector.… Read the rest

The poorly thought-out plan on fuel subsidy removal is biting the economy harder than the foresight of the current administration – leaving the Federal Government to choose either galloping inflation or partial return to the subsidy regime. That the local pump price has remained steady amid changes in the global crude oil price is a testament to the subsidy which the government has denied and for obvious reasons.… Read the rest

The cost of berthing a petrol-laden ship in Nigeria is five times higher than that of its West African neighbours – a development that is pushing up the country’s petrol prices, BusinessDay’s findings have revealed.

Analysis and expert opinions show that exorbitant ship berthing costs at Nigerian ports are contributing to the high lightering expense, a key element of the country’s landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol.… Read the rest

A Delta State High Court sitting at Orerokpe in Okpe Local Government Area of the state has dismissed a motion seeking to join the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) as a defendant in a suit challenging the authority of Opeans Nigeria Limited to issue American Petroleum Institute (API) and Veriforce BOSIET certificates.

Justice Joe Egwu dismissed the motion, which was brought by Opeans, on the ground that there was no cause of action against NUPRC in the instant case.… Read the rest

On Sunday, there were signs that fuel scarcity had returned to Lagos as numerous oil marketers closed their outlets against vehicles and other buyers.

Last week, there was a scarcity in Abuja and its environs, which oil dealers attributed to terrible roads and the high cost of fuel for distribution.

But checks according to Vanguard, over the weekend, indicated that many independent and major oil marketers were not open for business, leaving only the NNPC Limited to attend to customers in most parts of Lagos visited.… Read the rest

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has said that Nigeria is set to witness the set-up of small modular refineries with a capacity of 20,000 barrels per day each in the medium term.

The Group stated this in its World Oil Outlook which was recently launched in Saudi Arabia.

According to the Outlook, estimates suggest that Africa will experience medium-term distillation capacity additions of 1.2 million barrels per day (mb/d).… Read the rest

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has begun buying petrol via cash tenders, rather than oil swaps, for the first time in nearly a decade, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

This is coming as the Gbenga Komolafe-led Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) at the weekend moved to put an end to the perennial altercations between oil and gas industry operators and their host communities, with the introduction of a digital interface for both parties.… Read the rest