Oil and Gas News

Oil News from around the web, Nigeria; Foreign investors are exploring their options outside of Nigeria

A bill which seeks to reform Nigeria’s oil sector will strip its operations of secrecy and make them transparent, Nigerian oil minister Rilwanu Lukman said Thursday. “The bill removes confidentiality on a scale not seen in the world before,” Lukman said at a meeting organised by state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). “Nigeria will move in one step from one of the most opaque petroleum nations in Africa to one of the most open and transparent in the world,” Lukman said.

“The texts of all licences, leases and contracts and any of the changes to such document will no longer be confidential,” he said. Analysts have often criticised the secrecy that shrouds the sector. Speaking on behalf of the International Oil Companies (IOCs), the Managing Director of Chevron, Andrew Fawthrop, urged Nigerian authorities to make the provisions in the bill, now before the parliament, clear before it was passed. “Some of the provisions in the bill are still open to interpretations,” Fawthrop said at the meeting being held ahead of a parliamentary public debate on the proposed law. “This is not a surprise. This is a very large bill… but we need to make sure that the provisions in the bill are clear… It is very important that we clarify that before its codified,” Fawthrop said.

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Foreign investors are exploring their options outside of Nigeria as the country lags in its obligations for resource development because of militant activity. Nigeria has been unable to meet its commitments to its partners and customers in terms of energy resources because of attacks by militant groups operating in the Niger Delta, Guardian newspaper reports. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta launched a series of attacks on oil facilities operated by Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell in recent days.

The group has declared an oil war on the Nigeria government, demanding a share in national oil revenue. Petroleum officials in Nigeria said national security is vital for economic security in the country, adding intermittent disruptions due to militant activity sends “negative signals” to major energy companies. Royal Dutch Shell, for its part, says production is down nearly 35 percent, though the Nigerian government says it has adequate reserves in storage. The government also downplayed the impact of MEND activity. Despite that optimism, oil and gas majors are moving their attention from African markets to more secure options in the Middle East and Russia, the report says.

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Total SA has declared force majeure on cargoes of Nigerian Amenam crude oil loading in the second half of July, trade sources said on Thursday. A trade source said the force majeure was a result of technical problems and not the result of militant activity that has affected tens of thousands of barrels of Nigerian crude from the Niger Delta this year. A spokeswoman for Total had no immediate comment on the report. Amenam is scheduled to load about 153,000 barrels per day in July, according to shipping programmes.

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Foreign investors are exploring their options outside of Nigeria as the country lags in its obligations for resource development because of militant activity.

Nigeria has been unable to meet its commitments to its partners and customers in terms of energy resources because of attacks by militant groups operating in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper reports.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta launched a series of attacks on oil facilities operated by Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell in recent days. The group has declared an oil war on the Nigeria government, demanding a share in national oil revenue.

Petroleum officials in Nigeria said national security is vital for economic security in the country, adding intermittent disruptions due to militant activity sends “negative signals” to major energy companies.

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The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta threatened to call off its cease-fire on oil attacks following Nigeria’s military activity, the group said.

MEND has declared “all-out” war on the government in Nigeria, demanding oil revenue go for national investments rather than for political gain.

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Tags: Chevron, Niger Delta, nnpc