Oil prices edged lower on Monday as climbing Coronavirus cases and tighter restrictions in Europe and China fueled worries over a slower recovery in fuel demand.

Encouraging gross domestic product (GDP) and industrial production data from China helped to limit the downside to some extent.

Brent crude for March delivery eased 0.2 per cent to 54.98 dollars a barrel, after falling 2.3 per cent on Friday.

Similarly, U.S. oil futures were down by 0.1 per cent at 52.36 dollars after falling more than 2 per cent in the previous session.

The total number of global Coronavirus cases topped 95 million, while the death toll surpassed 2 million.

China reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, while the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients with serious symptoms in Japan topped 970, marking a record high since the onset of the pandemic in the country.

Portugal imposed a new nationwide lockdown, while the British government announced that it will close all travel corridors from Monday in order to restrict the spread of new Coronavirus variant cases.

New Coronavirus infections have been decreasing in Germany but the country’s health minister said that more needed to be done to bring it permanently under control.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s 16 state premiers will discuss what to do next on Tuesday. (dpa/NAN)

By Solomon Asowata

President Muhammadu Buhari will virtually inaugurate the National Oil and Gas Excellence Centre (NOGEC), Lagos, on Jan. 21, in a bid to boost the operations of the nation’s petroleum sector, an official of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has said.

Mr Paul Osu, Head, Public Affairs, who made the announcement in a statement issued on Monday, in Lagos, quoted the Director  of DPR, Mr Sarki Auwalu, the chief host of the event, as saying that the centre would afford the oil and gas industry the critical elements for competitive advantage, in a changing global energy landscape.

“The integrated centre will also entrench Nigeria’s status as a regional leader and position the nation for significant global impact in the provision of value-added services and breakthrough solutions for the industry in years and decades to come,” he said.

According to him, the centre was structured to drive the three-pronged objectives of safety, value and cost efficiency which are critical for oil and gas industry stability, growth and sustainability .

Auwalu said  the NOGEC complex was structured to house various flagship centres, including Search, Rescue and Surveillance (SeRAS) Command and Control Centre and National improved Oil Recovery Centre (NIORC), in  order to comprehensively cover all the key areas of the industry.

Other centres are the Oil and Gas Dispute Resolution Centre (DRC) , Oil and Gas Competence Development Centre (CDC) and Integrated Data Mining and Analytics Centre (IDMAC).

The DPR boss said: “SeRAS is an industry-wide programme established to enhance safety management, emergency preparedness and response, as well as bed space management and logistics services across the industry .

“The SeRAS Command and Control Centre (CCC), established at the NOGEC Centre, Lagos, will entrench safe practices, drive cost reduction and improve operational efficiency across the industry.

”Two  other Rescue Coordination Centres (RCC) will be set up at Osubi and Brass, in the first instance, for effective coverage of all areas of operations, ” he said.

The director said that the NIORC was established to formulate and implement strategies for improved and enhanced oil recovery methods in the industry for the purpose of achieving maximum production at the lowest possible cost.

“The centre will partner with operators and technology innovators, in their research and development efforts, for achieving its objectives.

“It will also collaborate with similar international oil and gas regulators in sharing lesson learnt and operational best practices.

“NIORC will focus on the implementation of a robust national IOR framework to enable the country optimise its resources, as well as create greater opportunities for operators,” he said.

Similarly, he noted that the Oil and Gas DRC would offer arbitration, mediation and conciliation services for the Industry.

“The DRC is structured to adequately resolve disputes  in a manner consistent with regulatory and commercial interests of the Industry.

“This will address sub-optimal development of oil and gas assets associated with lingering disputes and the attendant consequences of value erosion in terms of national resource growth. It will also improve global competitiveness, investment attractiveness, government take and investor’s profitability,” he added.

Auwalu  said the centre would leverage industry technical experts, Alternative Dispute Resolution Practitioners and resources of the National Data Repository (NDR) to provide fair and balanced resolutions of industry-related disputes from an informed position.

On the Oil and Gas CDC, he said, it was set up to be a regional hub to deliver trainings for oil and gas industry practitioners, as well as a world class centre of excellence that would serve as the innovation hub for the oil and gas Industry in Nigeria, and beyond.

“The centre will feature state-of the-art training facilities, meeting rooms, conferencing, electronic library, digital visualisation centre, and co-working spaces.

”It is designed to stimulate creative thinking to proffer solutions for the technical and business challenges facing energy sector practitioners.

“The centre wil significantly reduce the cost of training and capacity building, which is often associated with international travels by utilising both local and international subject matter experts (SME), to deliver world-class training in-country.

“The centre shall leverage the National Data Repository (NDR) and its robust suite of digital solutions as well as other existing real-time electronic services to deliver hands-on, practical solutions to industry challenges,” Auwalu explained.

As for the IDMAC, the director said it would provide a platform for appropriate analysis of industry data, to provide meaningful insights, that would enable effective decision making for investment, asset development, portfolio management and operational excellence.

”Technical, operational and economic decisions, across the value chain, are underpinned by credible, reliable datasets both from corporate and national planning perspectives.

“IDMAC will take advantage of DPR’s resources and tools- Big Data, Internet of things (loT) and Artificial intelligence (Al), for evaluation, analytics and data synthesis by interested parties. (NAN)

The Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX), has been positioned to facilitate efficient export of commodities as the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) takes off.

Its Managing Director, Mrs. Zaheera Baba-Ari, made the declaration on Sunday in Abuja when she spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

She said noted that the AfCFTA was an important and strategic platform that would serve to enhance the economies of African countries.

“The establishment of the continental trade bloc will be beneficial to African countries if properly managed,’’’ she said.

Baba-Ari said that in view of the expected adverse effects of COVID-19 on the world, AfCFTA would boost intra-African trade and mitigate rapid decline in the GDP of African countries.

She said the exchange had established a network of 20 licensed delivery warehouses across major production areas in the six geo-political zones of the country for efficient receipt and storage of agro-commodities to be traded on the exchange.

The warehouses, located in Zamfara, Kano, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Benue, Bauchi, Sokoto, Plateau, Ebonyi, Ekiti and Kogi have combined capacity to store 50 trillion tonnes of goods, she said.

Baba-Ari added that other warehouses located in Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba, Jigawa, Edo, Cross River and Ondo States would be ready within the year.

The managing director also told NAN that the Exchange had established fully equipped Quality Assurance Laboratories in each of the delivery warehouses.

She said the laboratories were for the purpose of testing the quality of commodities such as paddy rice, cocoa, sesame seed, soya beans, maize, sorghum and cashew nuts that would be traded on the exchange.

“The NCX has acquired robust Trading Application System for seamless buying and selling of commodity to ensure market integrity, price transparency and the facilitation of cross border trades.

“It has also acquired a Warehouse Management System that assures an efficient management of warehouse inventories.

“We have perfected Memorandum of Understanding with relevant foreign and Nigerian Commodity Associations like the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange and the Export Merchants Association of Sudan to trade in selected agro-commodities,’’ she said.

On standards and quality of commodities, Baba-Ari said that the NCX Quality Control department was headed by a professional certified by the Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria.

She added that the exchange’s laboratory was being rigorously upgraded for ISO22000 certification which combines ISO 9001 with Food Safety Management and Hazard Analysis, including Critical Control Point System (HACCP).

“’The HACCP identifies specific hazards and proffers measures for the control of identified impurities in the food processing sector,’’’ she said.

She also told NAN that Nigerian farmers and manufacturers would likely face the challenges of global competitiveness as a result of high cost of production, poor yields, low capacity utilisation and high prices.

“The issue of tariff on agro-commodity exports from Nigeria should be addressed to increase efficiency of trade flows.

“There is also the need for Nigeria to improve its position on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking from its current 131st rung of the ladder.

“This should be done by using focus indicators such as paying taxes, trading across borders, starting a business and connecting minority investors.

“This is in line with the goal of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to be the top 70 among a total of 190 countries,’’’ Baba-Ari said.

NAN reports that the agreement establishing the AfCFTA was signed in March 2018, in Kigali, following conclusion of the main legal texts.

It is a free trade area among 54 of the 55 African Union nations. Trading in the Area began on Jan. 1, 2021.

It is aimed at creating a single market for goods and services; facilitate the movement of persons; promote industrial development, sustainable and inclusive socio-economic growth within the African continent.

Under AfCFTA trading, tariffs on various commodities where rules of origin have been agreed will be drastically reduced and traders of all sizes will have access to a much bigger market than before.

By Edith Ike-Eboh

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it recorded a trading surplus of ₦28.38 billion in September 2020.

The Corporation disclosed this in its Monthly Financial and Operation Report (MFOR) for the month of September, released in Abuja, on Sunday.

It said that the amount was slightly lower than the ₦29.60 billion surplus in August 2020.

The marginal reduction in surplus, according to the report, was as a result of lower contribution from the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) which recorded zero crude oil lifting from the Okono Okpoho facility during the month under review

The situation, it further attributed to ongoing repairs in the facility.

“However, other NNPC subsidiaries namely the Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL), National Engineering and Technical Company Limited (NETCO), Nigerian Gas Marketing Company (NGMC), Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and NNPC Retail posted impressive trading results.

“They recorded 268, 234, 21, 422 and 41 per cent trading surpluses respectively over their previous month’s performance.

The report further noted that the corporation also recorded a total export revenue for crude oil and gas valued at 120.49 million dollars for the month of September.

“The 120.49 million dollars crude oil and gas export revenue is a 16.28 per cent improvement on the 100.88 million dollars posted in August 2020.

“Out of the figure, proceeds from crude oil amounted to 85.40 million dollars while gas and miscellaneous receipts stood at 25.31 million dollars and 9.78 million dollars respectively,” it revealed.

In the gas sector, a total of 223.82billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas was produced in the month under review translating to an average daily production of 7,460.80million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).

For the period September 2019 to September 2020, a total of 3,039.05bcf of gas was produced representing an average daily production of 7,730.35mmscfd during the period.

“Period-to-date production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and NPDC contributed about 69.10, 20.29 and 10.61 per cent respectively to the total national gas production.

“Out of the 221.91bcf of gas supplied in September 2020, a total of 140.45bcf was commercialised, consisting of 36.37bcf and 104.08bcf for the domestic and export markets respectively,” it said .

It further noted that the supply translated to a total supply of 1,212.17mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,469.45mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.

This, it said, implied that 63.29 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialised while the balance of 36.71 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.

It noted that gas flare rate was 6.66 per cent for the month under review (i.e. 492.93mmscfd compared with average gas flare rate of 5.84% i.e. 439.90 mmscfd for the period of September 2019 to September 2020).

To ensure effective supply and distribution of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) across the country, a total of 0.59bn litres of PMS translating to 19.59mn liters/day was supplied for the month in the downstream sector.

During the period under review, 21 pipeline points were vandalised representing about 43 per cent decrease from the 37 points recorded in August 2020.

Of this figure, it said that Mosimi Area accounted for 90 per cent of the vandalised points, while Port Harcourt Area accounted for the remaining 10 per cent.

It assured that the NNPC, in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders, continuously strive to reduce and eventually eliminate this menace. (NAN)

By Temitope Ponle

President Muhammadu Buhari, nine other African Heads of State and Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank (AfDB) have received awards for their contributions to the kick-off of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

The award ceremony was organised virtually by the African Union (AU) with the private sector in the AU headquarters at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday.

Awards were also given to heads of institutions for their roles in the enforcement of the AfCFTA.

The presidents given the awards were Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, Akufo-Addo of Ghana; Felix Tshekedi of Congo; Ahmed Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt and Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger.

Others were, Presidents Alpha Conde of Guinea; Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Chairperson of the AU; and Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

Other country leaders who also received awards were, King Mswati III, Ngwenyama of Eswatini and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia.

Two former heads of states,  Mr Hailemariam Desalegn, former Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Mr Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria were presented with awards.

The President,  Africa Business Council (AfBC), Ms Amany Asfour, was also presented with an award for her role in that respect.

Some heads of African institutions and other prominent individuals were also awarded for their exceptional contributions to the AfCFTA process.

The awards were received by the various countries’ ambassadors and representatives of institutions present.

The organisers also promised to send the others through courier services to the recipients.

One of the award recipients, Ms Amany Asfour said the ceremony showed the commitment of the private sector towards the implementation of the AU Agenda 2063.

“We need an architecture where the organised private sector would cater for the implementation of the AfCFTA and it is such a pleasure now it has been constituted by the efforts of the AU Commission,” she said.

Asfour also urged the players in the private sector to ensure the implementation of the policies regarding the agreement.

“We need the legislation that will make it happen with the AfCFTA, the policies can be on paper but the implementation is our role as the private sector.

“It is a must to empower our Small and Medium Enterprises, youths and women. We are the richest continent in the world but we need to manage our own resources,” she said.

In her remarks, Mrs Saratu Aliyu, President, Federation of West Africa Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (FEWACCI) appreciated governments, private sector players and contributors to the success of the AfCFTA implementation.

Aliyu expressed optimism that the agreement would promote e-commerce and e-business infrastructure and develop a roadmap for the development of a digital economy to support the growth in member states.

She further reiterated the support of FEWACCI to achieving economic development and growth in Africa.