NIGERIA: THE CRUDE OIL ECONOMY

PIB A PIB NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE When the Oil and Gas Sector Reform Implementation Committee (OGIC) began its deliberations in 2000 not many thought the pathway to restructuring the Nigerian oil and gas sector would take nigh on two decades. The hugely ambitious bill which was supposed to encourage investment, be equitable and make fairer provisi...

Vitol are the largest global independent trader of crude oil and refined petroleum products. They also have a long established joint venture (JV) called Calson with NNPC based in the offshore tax haven of Bermuda. Their  intimate relationship with NNPC has seen them beneficiaries of supply contracts, including the infamous Direct Sal...

Nigeria have been brutally knocked back by OPEC in its attempt to maintain an exemption for its condensates production. OPEC are no longer prepared to exempt condensates counting toward its current quota. Specifically production from the Agbami field. The inescapable conclusion must be that it is now time for Nigeria to leave OPEC. The reality is t...

It simply cannot be the case that an  Excess Crude Account  which has swallowed a whooping $107.4 billion  since it was established should be beyond the scrutiny of  the Nigeria people. If the so called Excess Crude Account (ECA) could talk I suspect it would have a harrowing tale to tell....

NIGERIA BRACES AS CRUDE OIL  SHUT-INS LOOM Brent crude the international oil price benchmark and the basis which Nigeria uses for price discovery of its crude grades fell to $22 per barrel on Monday, its lowest level in 18 years . Such a price if it persists for a short while...

Nigeria agree to compensate OPEC by further cutting production  Nigeria should not be in the nonsensical position that it has to compensate OPEC by making additional production cuts as other producers increase their output. At the 20th meeting of the OPEC, Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) which took place on Wednesday, 15 Jul...

Nigerians have been told they are resilient, as if they have a choice. A flattery conceived to beguile the masses   living in abject poverty. Often repeated  by a well fed political class that have garnered enough wealth to insulate themselves from the harsh vagaries of the Nigerian existence. 

Bonny Light the most recognisable and one of the most sought after Nigerian crude grades last week  traded at $12 per barrel.  The low sweet flagship Nigerian crude had up until last month historically traded at a premium to dated Brent. Bonny Light has become emblematic of the fate of light sweet crude grades that yield high cuts of transport fuels in a world in lockdowns.

SYLVA MAKES THE CASE FOR DEREGULATION   A virtue signalling Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Chief Timipre Sylva in a statement recently released in Abuja was at pains to point out the economic benefits of deregulation of the downstream oil sector . The main thrust of his statement re-iterates arguments some of us having been mak...