The world’s biggest oil traders are counting hefty losses after a surprise doubling in the price discount of U.S. light crude to benchmark Brent in just a month, as surging U.S production upends the market.

Trading desks of oil major BP and merchants Vitol, Gunvor and Trafigura have recorded losses in the tens of millions of dollars each as a result of the “whipsaw” move when the spread reached more than $11.50 a barrel in June, insiders familiar with their performance told Reuters.

The sources did not give precise figures for the losses, but they said they were enough for Gunvor and BP to fire at least one trader each.
The companies declined to comment, and none of them publish details of their individual trading books.

It highlights the challenges of trading in WTI futures, the benchmark for U.S. crude, when U.S. pipeline and storage infrastructure struggles to keep pace with surging shale output, that has lifted the United States above Saudi Arabia to become the world’s second biggest crude producer behind Russia.

“As the exporter of U.S. crude, traders are naturally long WTI and hedge their bets by shorting Brent. When the spreads widen so wildly, you lose money,” said a top executive with one of the four trading firms.

The discount of WTI to Brent hit $11.57 a barrel on June 6, the widest in more than three years, as U.S. output surged to record highs and surpassed pipeline capacity as traders rushed to export. The discount had been about $5 just a month before.

Betting on the price spread, a popular trade in oil markets, is based on predictions of price differences between European and U.S. market fundamentals.

“WIDOWMAKER”

The jump in U.S. output, now almost 11 million barrels per day (bpd) from below 5 million bpd a decade ago, has upended the spread. Until 2010, U.S. crude mostly traded at a premium to Brent. But the growing availability of U.S. crude has meant that it has almost always been at a discount since then.

However, it is the big, sudden moves that tend to claim trade casualties, sometimes earning the moniker “widowmaker”.

Since the June spike, the spread has narrowed sharply again. The shrinking discount was helped by a rise in the price of WTI due to an unexpected outage at the Syncrude oil sands site in Canada, which can produce up to 360,000 bpd.

Due to the Canadian outage, inventories last week at the Cushing delivery point for U.S. crude futures fell to their lowest since December 2014, U.S. data showed.

Volatility in the spread has been just one of several trading hazards that emerged in the first quarter of 2018.

Traders have also had to pay heavy premiums to exit U.S. storage leases as the oil price structure flipped to “backwardation”, when near-term prices are higher than those for later delivery, making it unprofitable to store crude.

Climbing U.S. output has put strains on the pipeline network, particularly in the Permian basin in Texas which has been the biggest contributor to the production surge.

A bottleneck that hit U.S. crude for delivery in Midland, Texas caught BP off guard and led to losses when the discount to WTI shifted sharply during April to June, according to four market sources and one source close to BP.

In late April, the discount was close to $6 a barrel before widening to as much as $13 on May 4. This was followed by a sharp bounce back to around $5 in the second half of May followed by a similar see-saw move in June.

Three BP traders took the heat for losses related to the Midland rollercoaster. The source close to BP said one was sacked and two others were reshuffled internally.

• Reuters

The US has nosed ahead of Saudi Arabia and is on pace to surpass Russia to become the world’s biggest oil producer for the first time in more than four decades.

The latest forecast from the US Energy Information Administration predicts that US output will grow next year to 11.8 million barrels a day.

“If the forecast holds, that would make the U.S. the world’s leading producer of crude,” says Linda Capuano, who heads the agency, a part of the Energy Department.

Saudi Arabia and Russia could upend that forecast by boosting their own production. In the face of rising global oil prices, members of the OPEC cartel and a few non-members including Russia agreed last month to ease production caps that had contributed to the run-up in prices.

President Donald Trump has urged the Saudis to pump more oil to contain rising prices. He tweeted on June 30 that King Salman agreed to boost production “maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels.” The White House later clarified that the king said his country has a reserve of 2 million barrels a day that could be tapped “if and when necessary.”

The idea that the US could ever again become the world’s top oil producer once seemed preposterous.

“A decade ago the only question was how fast would U.S. production go down,” said Daniel Yergin, author of several books about the oil industry including a history, “The Prize.” The rebound of US output “has made a huge difference. If this had not happened, we would have had a severe shortage of world oil,” he said.

The United States led the world in oil production for much of the 20th century, but the Soviet Union surpassed America in 1974, and Saudi Arabia did the same in 1976, according to Energy Department figures.

By the end of the 1970s the USSR was producing one-third more oil than the US; by the end of the 1980s, Soviet output was nearly double that of the US.

The last decade or so has seen a revolution in American energy production, however, led by techniques including hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and horizontal drilling.

Those innovations – and the breakup of the Soviet Union – helped the US narrow the gap. Last year, Russia produced more than 10.3 million barrels a day, Saudi Arabia pumped just under 10 million, and the US came in under 9.4 million barrels a day, according to US government figures.

The US has been pumping more than 10 million barrels a day on average since February, and probably pumped about 10.9 million barrels a day in June, up from 10.8 million in May, the energy agency said Tuesday in its latest short-term outlook.

According to the Energy Department, the US edged ahead of Saudi Arabia in February and stayed there in March; both trailed Russia.

Capuano’s agency forecast that US crude output will average 10.8 million barrels a day for all of 2018 and 11.8 million barrels a day in 2019. The current US record for a full year is 9.6 million barrels a day in 1970.

The trend of rising US output prompted Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, to predict this spring that the US would leapfrog Russia and become the world’s largest producer by next year – if not sooner.

One potential obstacle for US drillers is a bottleneck of pipeline capacity to ship oil from the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico to ports and refineries.

“They are growing the production but they can’t get it out of the area fast enough because of pipeline constraints,” said Jim Rittersbusch, a consultant to oil traders.

Some analysts believe that Permian production could decline, or at least grow more slowly, in 2019 or 2020 as energy companies move from their best acreage to more marginal areas.

• PTI/ETEnergyWorld

 Nigeria has been listed among countries most at risk as global warming brings more high temperatures, necessitating the need to keep people cool and preserve food and medicine.

In a study released today by the non-profit Sustainable Energy for All Group, more than a billion people are estimated to be at risk from a lack of air conditioning and refrigeration to keep people and things cool.

About 1.1 billion people in Asia, Africa and Latin America – 470 million in rural areas and 630 million slum dwellers in cities – were at risk among the world’s 7.6 billion people, the report said.

In a survey of 52 countries, those most at risk included Nigeria, India, China, Mozambique, Sudan, Brazil, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh, it said.

“Cooling becomes more and more important” with climate change, Rachel Kyte, head of the group and special representative for the U.N. Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, said.

More electricity demand for fridges, fans and other appliances will add to man-made climate change unless power generators shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energies, according to the report by the non-profit Sustainable Energy for All group.

“We have to provide cooling in a super-efficient way,” Kyte said. Companies could find big markets, for instance by developing low-cost, high-efficiency air conditioners to sell to growing middle classes in tropical countries.

And simpler solutions, such as painting roofs white to reflect sunlight or redesigning buildings to allow heat to escape, would also help.

The U.N.’s health agency says that heat stress linked to climate change is likely to cause 38,000 extra deaths a year worldwide between 2030 and 2050. In a heat-wave in May, more than 60 people died in Karachi, Pakistan, when heat rose above 40 degrees Celsius (104°F).

In remote areas in tropical countries, many people lack electricity and clinics are often unable to store vaccines or medicines that need to be chilled, the study said. And in city slums, electricity supplies are often intermittent.

Many farmers or fishermen, meanwhile, lack access to a “cold chain” to preserve and transport products to markets. Fresh fish goes off within hours if stored at 30 degrees Celsius (86°F) but stays fresh for days when chilled.

Last week, a study by the University of Birmingham in Britain projected that the number of cooling appliances could quadruple by 2050 to 14 billion worldwide, driving a surge in energy consumption.

• NAN

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Monday, said the 26,000 hectares Cross River State oil palm-based bio-diesel project would help generate 14 megawatts of electricity.

The NNPC, in a statement by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said the electricity would be generated from empty fruit bunches and the residue from oil palms.

He explained that the 26, 000 hectares facility was designed to accommodate an oil palm plantation co-located with bio-diesel, crude palm oil co-generation plants, and other facilities.

Under the arrangement, Ughamadu said the oil palm would be processed into fuel grade Biodiesel and industrial crude palm oil as by-products.

According to him, the Biodiesel would be blended with diesel in a mix of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent diesel and sold as B20 in the domestic market, while any utilized biodiesel quantity would be exported to the international market.

He explained that the NNPC Cross River bio-fuel project was in tandem with renewed drive by the corporation to develop biofuels in Nigeria through a partnership with core investors to create a low carbon economy and link oil and gas sector to the agricultural sector.

The NNPC spokesperson noted that the project would also mitigate the adverse effect of climate change and the transformation of NNPC into an integrated energy company with a diverse portfolio.

He said, “The business model would involve a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) comprising NNPC, State Government, and the Core-investor. The State Government is expected to provide land as equity while core investor takes more than 50 percent equity and operate the venture leaving NNPC and state Government with a minority share of less than 50 percent.

“So far, Kebbi, Ondo, Taraba, Benue, Jigawa, Kogo, Adamawa have shown interest in partnering with NNPC in biofuels projects.”

To this end, Ughamadu said the NNPC had commenced comprehensive community integration and stakeholders’ engagement to sensitize dwellers of Iwure, Ojor, and Osomba/Akin communities of Cross River State ahead of the planned oil palm-based biodiesel project in that part of the state.

Already, he noted that officials of the corporation’s Renewable Energy Division, RED, have embarked on the sensitization campaign across affected communities, providing information on the rationale and projected benefits of the biofuels projects in the state.

He said the NNPC Research and Development Division, R&D, was also being engaged for the conduct of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, ESIA, for the projects.

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is willing to invest $3 billion in its existing oil and gas operation in Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) said following a meeting with the Chinese in Abuja.

During a visit to Nigeria’s state-owned NNPC, CNOOC Chief Executive Yuan Guangyu said the Beijing-based oil company had invested more than $14 billion in its Nigerian operations and expressed readiness to invest more.

Guangyu said Nigeria was their largest investment destination and also asked the NNPC to seek common grounds with CNOOC for enhanced productivity.

Nigeria has been holding talks with oil majors over new finance agreements for joint ventures since last year. The NNPC last year signed financing agreements with Chevron and Shell worth at least $780 million to boost crude production and reserves.

OpeOluwani Akintayo

17 July 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The three-member London Court of International Arbitration, LCIA, presided by David Midon, has asked Oando PlcChief Executive Officer, Wale Tinubu, and his deputy, Mofe Boyo, to pay Ansbury Investments Inc. about $680 million (about N207.9 billion at N305.8/dollar).

The judgment on July 6 came amid recent allegation by some shareholders of attempts by Oando to kill the report of the ongoing forensic audit of its operation by the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC.

Ansbury was incorporated in Panama as part of a family trust by an Italian-Nigerian businessman, Gabriele Volpi.

In the ruling asserted by two other co-arbitrators, Marco Frigessi di Rattalma and Harry Matovu, the tribunal upheld Mr. Volpi’s application that Ocean and Oil Development Partners, OODP, was indebted to Ansbury by about $600 million (about N183.5 billion).

OODP Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, controls 57.37 percent equity in Oando Plc through the holding company, OODP Nigeria Ltd.

The company was established at a time Oando Plc was preparing to acquire ConocoPhillips’ upstream oil and gas assets in Nigeria.

According to a copy of the tribunal ruling, Ansbury Investment, Andrea Moja, the court also held that Whitmore Asset Management Limited was liable for another debt of $80 million (N24.5 billion).

Whitmore, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands as a single purpose investment vehicle, belongs to Messrs Tinubu and Boyo.

According to the court documents, an initial agreement signed on June 17, 2013, gave 60 percent equity in the venture to Ansbury and 40 percent to Whitmore.

However, a disagreement ensued on whether there was a legally binding agreement for Ansbury to transfer 20 percent of its shares in the venture to Whitmore, such that OODP BVI equity would change to 60 percent for Whitmore and 40 percent for Ansbury.

Besides, the court was confronted with the decision whether the parties made a legally binding agreement to convert an outstanding loan of $150 million (plus interest) into shares in Oando E&P Holdings Limited.

In its ruling, the court said the draft amended loan agreement as well as the draft “Put and Call Option Agreements” never became effective.

“Whitmore is in breach of the repayment obligation in the First Loan Agreement,” the tribunal ruled. “The alleged oral agreement to switch the parties’ respective shareholdings in OODP BVI is not binding on the parties. The alleged oral agreement to extend the term of the loans to 1 January 2020 is not binding on the parties.”

Mr. Moja said the final award was expected to follow in the next few days whereby the tribunal would make definite pronouncements on accrued interests on the debts owed and legal expenses.

He said the tribunal’s ruling is in respect of a debt Mr. Tinubu is owing and does not affect Mr. Volpi’s status in Oando as its majority shareholder.

He said in line with the tribunal processes, details of the award have since been communicated to all the parties concerned since July 9. The ruling is, however, subject to appeal.

How crisis started
In 2012, Ansbury said it invested about $700 million in OODP BVI, by acquiring a 61.9 percent stake in the firm, with Withmore Limited holding 38.10 percent.

According to Mr. Volpi, Mr. Tinubu approached him to invest in the company at a time Oando Plc was mobilising $1.5 billion to acquire assets in ConocoPhillips’ upstream oil and gas in Nigeria.

Similarly, OODP BVI, which controls 99.99 percent equity in OODP Nigeria, holds 55.96 percent of the stakes in Oando.

When the dispute broke out in 2017, Ansbury said it equally petitioned the Nigerian capital market regulatory authorities, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May accusing the management of Oando Plc of mismanagement, “insider dealings, manipulation of the company’s shareholding structure and huge indebtedness”.

The petition culminated in the forensic audit of Oando PLC operations ordered by SEC on October 18, 2017.

But, the exercise did not take off several months after following the suspension from the office of the former Director-General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo.

Although Abdul Zubair was appointed acting DG to succeed Mr. Gwarzo, he was redeployed on April 13 and replaced by Mary Uduk, whom critics say was brought by the minister to do her bidding.

Months after the audit by KPMG commenced, aggrieved shareholders under the platform of Proactive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, PROSAN accused the management of the company, a fortnight ago, of working with the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and Mrs. Uduk, to frustrate the release of the audit report.

The shareholders blamed the long delay in releasing the audit report on Mrs. Adeosun and Ms. Uduk’s alleged clandestine activities “to shield Oando management from criminal prosecution”.

“We are calling on the Acting Director-General of SEC to immediately release the report of the forensic audit conducted on the company since last year although we believe the result will be compromised since they have failed to suspend the management of the company while the so-called forensic audit lasted,” National Coordinator of PROSAN, Taiwo Oderinde, said on Sunday in a statement.

Oando reacts

In a statement to SweetcrudeReports on Monday, the spokesperson of Oando, Alero Balogun, described ruling by LCIA as “unfortunate and damaging” to the company’s brand.

“The ruling by the LCIA does not involve Oando as Oando was not and has never been party to the arbitration, the ruling states that Whitmore and Ocean and Oil Development Partners are indebted to Ansbury Inc, nowhere is there mention of Oando PLC. It is critical that people understand that not only are we not involved in this dispute, we do not owe money to any of the parties involved. The continued mention of our name in what is a 3rd party dispute is unfortunate and damaging to the brand and shareholder value.”

Based on the Ocean and Oil Development Partners, British Virgin Island, OODP BVI ownership structure, Mrs. Balogun clarified that OODP BVI is to pay Anbusry $600million, meaning that Ansbury is to pay itself $360 million while Whitmore, owned by both Wale Tinubu and Omamofe Boyo are to pay $240 million.

“Whitmore is to pay Ansbury in the total principal sum of US$80m in respect of the loan made under the First Loan Agreement”, the statement read.

Besides, “Mr. Volpi is not a majority shareholder in Oando PLC. Ocean and Oil Development Partners Nigeria is a majority shareholder in Oando PLC with 57.37% stake in the Company”, the statement continued.

Concerning Ausbury’s acquiring a 61.9 percent stake in the firm, with Withmore Limited holding 38.10 percent, she said the ownership structure is actually 60% to Ansbury and 40% to Whitmore.

When contacted the minister for her response to the allegation she was frustrating the audit, her spokesperson, Oluyinka Akintunde, said his boss had no comment on the allegation.

The acting director general of SEC was also contacted, however, spokesperson of the commission, Efe Ebelo, declined response.

The firm conducting the audit, KPMG, also declined comment on the status.

By John Mac Tontoh

Ghana has mapped out nine (9) oil blocks in its offshore western Basin, of which six (6) will be allocated in the next 12-18 months.

The country will, for the first time, allocate blocks through open public competitive tender. That historic licencing sale will involve only three blocks.

The government wants to allocate another two blocks through direct negotiations and reserve one (1) for the state hydrocarbon company Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), to explore in partnership with its chosen strategic partner with the view to developing its technical capacity and becoming an Operator.

In order to progress the proposed lease sale, Boakye Agyarko, the Energy Minister, inaugurated a Licensing Rounds Bids Evaluation and Negotiation Committee last May.

Ghana is proposing the  bid round for the last quarter of 2018.

The country had, hitherto, allocated oil blocks only through direct negotiations.

The 2016 Petroleum Exploration and Production Act, however, encourages a regular transparent, open auction of hydrocarbon acreages.

“Preparations for allocating more oil blocks in accordance with the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act (Act 919) has been put in motion”, Boakye Agyarko, the Minister of Energy, said at the launch of the Committee

“The remaining three (3) that will not be allocated this year, will form the basis of our second bidding round next year later. We are determined to identity further prospects in the Eastern, Central and the onshore Voltain Basins, to increase the number of blocks available for allocation”, the Minister highlighted.

“This will put to test all the allocation mechanisms prescribed by the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act (Act 919) in order to examine the efficacy of these mechanisms and to address any challenges that may emerge in the application of the law”.

By Toyin Akinosho

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed a new legal framework on flare gas reduction, the implementation of which is expected to  lead to a government takeover of fields where flaring is taking place and a bid round of some of such fields before the end of 2018.

The Flare Gas Reduction (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulation 2018, signed in early July 2018, is currently being gazetted. The document seeks the reduction of environmental/social impact caused by the flaring of gas; protection of the environment; prevention of waste of natural resources and creation of social and economic benefits from flare gas capture.

The regulation asserts the right of the government, under Section 9 of the Petroleum Act, to take natural gas produced with crude oil free of cost at the flare site and without payment of royalty. The provision of this regulation is applicable to all petroleum licences, including marginal fields.

Two key aspects of the regulation are the outlines of Bid Processes and the Penalties for supply of inaccurate data by a producer of flared gas.

The minister may, by a permit to access flare gas, authorize a Qualified Applicant selected further to competitive bid processes conducted by the Federal Government, to take Flare Gas on behalf of the government at any Flare site as specified in the permit.

Any producer may apply to the minister to utilize Flare Gas for commercialization, provided that such application shall(a) exclude any Flare Gas volume that is being offered in a bid process conducted by the Federal Government or has been assigned to a permit holder, (b) be made by the producer on behalf of a midstream subsidiary corporate entity, either existing or to be incorporated.

There is, of course, more.

Nigeria flares an excess of 800Million standard cubic feet of gas a day from 178 flare sites, according to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. The country’s power sector, however, struggles to get enough gas to fire the turbine capacity of 7,000MW.

The government is hoping to use the regulation to bring more investment into the natural gas market.

To achieve this, ministry sources say, there is need for improved oilfield practices and improved regulatory supervision.

The new regulation contains higher penalty for gas flaring than currently obtains and contains an overwhelmingly large number of references to “The Qualified Applicant” and “Permit Holder” of Flare Gas sites, two entities that are largely unknown in extant Nigerian Petroleum ecosystem.

The regulation says that the Department of Petroleum Resources may request a producer to provide Flare Gas Data and when that request is made, the producer shall provide such Flare Gas Data in the format required within 30 calendar days of the date of the request.

In the last 18 months, the MPR has called for data twice from flare gas producers. The Ministry will call again for data after the regulation has been gazetted.

Any individual, in any company, that signs a letter conveying the data has a duty to ensure that the data is accurate. Any person acting on behalf of a producer, who supplies inaccurate or incomplete Flare Gas Data to the DPR or any other duly empowered lawful authority, will be liable to criminal prosecution, the new regulation says.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved US$50 million framework financing for small-scale renewable energy projects in Zambia, which will help diversify Zambia’s energy generation heavily reliant on hydro-electricity.
Facing a serious electricity supply deficit due to recent droughts, Zambia’s Government launched the Renewable Energy Feed-in-Tariff (REFiT) policy in 2017 to crowd-in private investments for small-scale (up to 20MW) renewable projects. The “Global Energy Transfer Feed-in Tariffs” (GETFiT) Zambia Program has been designed to facilitate the implementation of the REFiT Policy.

The Framework aims to finance 100 MW of renewable energy projects, primarily solar PV, to be selected under the GETFiT Zambia Program.

This is the first program that will be co-financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the African Development Bank following the signing of the Accreditation Master Agreement on November 8, 2017 between the two institutions, making the Bank a credited implementer of GCF-approved projects. The Board of the GCF approved US$52.5 million (US$ 50 million loans and US$ 2.5 million technical assistance grant) for the Framework during its 19th Board Meeting in February 2018.

“This is an innovative financing framework that enables the transition to sustainable energy in Zambia, and an important milestone in our partnership with the GCF,” said the African Development Bank’s Vice-President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, Amadou Hott.

The African Development Bank has placed climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as powering Africa at the top of its agenda. The Bank’s second Climate Action Plan commits up to 40% of the Bank approvals to be classified as climate finance annually by 2020. The Bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa strategy aims to provide universal access to energy by 2025.

Presenting the project to the Board, the Bank’s Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Ousseynou Nakoulima underscored the need for urgently addressing the renewable energy financing gap in Africa to promote universal energy access. “With the support of the GCF, the Framework will foster country ownership through the active engagement of local investors, banks and entrepreneurs in the development of renewable energy projects in Zambia,” he said.

In another presentation, Wale Shonibare, Director for Energy Financial Solutions, Policy and Regulation at the Bank, said that “working closely with governments, development partners, local institutional investors as well as commercial banks, our plan is to replicate this innovative structure in other regional member states, given the urgent need to crowd in multiple sources of financing to support the rapid growth of renewable energy across the continen.t”

Set up in 2010 by 194 countries that are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), GCF is a global fund created to support the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change.

Kaduna State on Wednesday emerged winner of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) North West Zonal National Science Quiz Competition.
Kaduna beat five other states of Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Jigawa to win the zonal competition.

Kaduna emerged winner with 50 Marks while Kebbi came 2nd with 45 marks and Sokoto 3rd with 40 marks.

Mr Ndu Ughamadu, Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division of the Corporation while speaking at the event urged Nigerian youths to take their education seriously in order to contribute meaningfully to the development of the country.

Ughamadu who was represented at the event by Mr Umar Abdulrahman, Head Admin , Planning and Budget of the division added that the corporation is striving to build capable leaders who can lead the nation to greater heights.

He said that NNPC as part of its corporate responsibility was committed to touching the lives of Nigerians, adding that it would be paying N100, 000 scholarship for each of the winners of the competition.

“Our corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities cover projects in health, infrastructure, power generation, Agriculture, Sport and Arts,” he said.

He however said that the Corporation was focusing its CSR more on the education sector because of its long term benefit to nation building.

“The corporation intervention in the educational sector is its most important CSR activity and the NNPC national science quiz competition that we are all gathered for is the flagship CSR initiative of the corporation.
“This is because NNPC understands the value of education in the growth and development of any society, “he said.

He noted that the NNPC National Science quiz competition was introduced in 2000 in Niger Delta and transformed nationwide in 2001.

Earlier, Kaduna state Commissioner for Education, Mr Jafaru Sani, said the state government was committed to the promotion of science, technology and innovations.
Sani who was represented at the event by Alhaji Dahiru Anchau, Director of Private schools said the competition would encourage science education in schools.

According to him, the state government is constructing six special science secondary schools in the state in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank.
The winner of the NNPC quiz competition, Chijoke Embobuka expressed appreciation to NNPC for the platform and support.

He called on youths to always work hard to ensure that they achieve their goals in life.

Source NAN

The monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting has again ended in a stalemate as Federal and state governments reject the revenue figures submitted by NNPC for May.

One of the finance commissioners, who did not want to be named told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the committee was still not satisfied with the revenue figures presented before the committee by the NNPC

The commissioner said that the committee agreed to postpone the meeting to Thursday, to give NNPC a chance to make adjustments.

This is the second time the committee has failed to reach an agreement over revenue generated in the month of May.

It would be recalled that a meeting was convened on June 27, which was inconclusive.

According to the Chairman, Forum of Finance Commissioners, Mr Mahmoud Yunusa, it was due to discrepancies in revenue remittances by the NNPC.

On June 28, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, confirmed that FAAC ended in a deadlock because the figures proposed by the NNPC were unacceptable.

“For the purpose of this briefing, we operate NNPC as a business.

“We have invested public capital in that business and we have expectations of return and when that return falls lower than our expectations, then the owners of the business, which in this case is the Federal Government and states need to act.

“So, that was what caused the deadlock and we really felt the figures that the NNPC proposed for FAAC were unacceptable.

“We felt that some of the costs could not be justified and so we have decided that rather than approve the accounts, we will go back and do further work.’’

Ecobank Nigeria has announced a strategic partnership with Total Nigeria Limited to offer agency banking services at Total filling stations across Nigeria. We will kick off with 100 stations carefully selected to ensure members of the public can carry out their financial transactions such as deposits, withdrawals and account opening at the outlets known as Ecobank Xpress Points. In addition, transfers to Ecobank and other banks, bill payments, airtime top up with ease in the selected locations.
Announcing the partnership in Lagos, Carol Oyedeji, Executive Director, Consumer Banking, Ecobank Nigeria said the deployment of Ecobank Xpress Points via Total Nigeria locations is an extension of the bank’s distribution and financial inclusion strategy to take banking service to the doorstep of every Nigerian and African. She stated that the outlets will offer convenient and accessible financial services in a cost effective and secure manner. She reiterated that Ecobank is determined to extend the reach of its banking services to customers in remote and rural locations with its agency banking initiative. “To deliver our strategy of reaching 100 million customers by 2020, we have created innovative platforms, products and services, which are already serving a much larger customer base,” explained Carol Oyedeji.

She further stated that “these agent locations will support some of the innovative services we have introduced to the market such as Xpress Cash which allows customers to withdraw cash at ATMs without their cards, transfers within and across 33 countries via the Ecobank Mobile App and our proprietary money transfer service, Rapid Transfer, among others”.

Commenting on the partnership, Total Nigeria Plc’s General Manager Sales and Marketing, Adesua Adewole, explained that “At Total, the team develops our network of service stations everywhere in Nigeria daily, to bring Total closer to its 200,000 daily customers. Becoming real one-stop shops, our 570 stations offer quality products and services tailored to their needs. She stated that the partnership with Ecobank is an illustration of one of Total’s strategies that will strengthen the cashless initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Some of Ecobank’s agency banking partners already offering this service in Lagos include Buymore Supermarket chain, Kenzo Retail Supermarket chain and Save-a-Lot Supermarket.

Hyacinth Chinweuba

The Tin Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, says it has intercepted a container of live ammunition and jack knives.

The offensive live ammunition and jack knives according to the spokeman of the Command, Mr Uche Ejesieme were seized in two separate operations, July 9th and July 10th, 2018.

The offensive imports were discovered at terminal ‘C’ II (Ports & Cargo), Tin Can Island Port, during physical examination.

Ejesieme said the container and the exhibit have been detained by the Enforcement Unit of the Command while investigation continues.

The statement from the PRO reads, “Following this discovery, the Customs Area Comptroller Comptroller Musa Baba Abdullahi directed the transfer of the suspicious container to the Enforcement Unit , where it was examined and found to contain 150 rounds of live ammunition and 28 pieces of various sizes of Jack knives.

“These items contravenes schedule 4 Absolute Import Prohibition List item 17 of the Common External Tariff and Section 46 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap C45 LFN 2004”.

“Prompted by the development, the Command during Routine Tally Operations, and while vehicles were being discharged from the Vessel, MV GLOVIS COURAGE VOYAGE NO. 036, at 0330hrs of 10th July, 2018, at Five Stars Logistics Terminals, a black bag was found in one unpacked FORD EDGE with Chassis No. 2FMDK48C98BA05947.

“On examination the bag was found to contain the following; 149 ROUNDS OF 38MM CALIBRE LIVE AMMUNITION, 92 ROUNDS OF 9MM CALIBRE LIVE AMMUNITION, 2 ROUNDS OF 7.62MM CALIBRE AMMUNITION, 11 CATRIDGES OF LIVE AMMUNITION, 12 EXPENDED EMPTY SHELLS OF VARIOUS CALIBRES and 1 EMPTY MAGAZINE.

“The vehicle and the exhibits are currently detained at the Enforcement Unit pending further investigation”. He said.