Ijeoma Agudosi/Chinedu Byron Izuora/Agency Report Nigeria’s finance ministry said it isn’t reviewing its benchmark budgeted oil price after a Ministry of Power official said the nation plans to review it downwards. “The price of oil is still quite volatile and we do not know how it will bottom out,” Constance Ikokwu, a spokeswoman at the Ministry of Finance, said today in Abuja. “We have been working together with our lawmakers to ensure that we steer the country in the right direction during this period.” Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala last month proposed cutting this year’s budget by 8 percent and reduced…
Author: orientalnewsng
Yemisi Izuora-Lagos Major Oil Marketers of Nigeria (MOMAN) is demanding for outstanding payment of N250 billion subsidy claims owed its members in 2014 to ensure sustainable importation of petroleum product. Mr Obafemi Olawore, Executive Secretary of MOMAN disclosed this in an interactive session with journalists in Lagos said that the amount was outstanding payment on subsidy which includes interest rate and foreign exchange. He also said members of MOMAN have been directed to revert their pump price from N 97 to N 87 per litre. The marketers said that about 85 per cent of its members had reverted their pump price…
Ijeoma Agudosi/Chinedu Byron Izuora The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)has recorded stranded 73.54 Megawatts according to information obtained at the Federal Ministry of Power. The Ministry, in its Power Statistics of January 18, which was released on Monday, January 19, lamented that out of the 3,636.29Mw energy generated by the generating companies, TCN could only wheel t 3,562.72Mw. Prof Chinedu Nebo, the Minister of Power, who spoke in Abuja recently at a stakeholders meeting said that the TCN has a transmitting capacity of 5,500MW, however, its inability to distribute the expected amount of energy, is as a result of vandalism. The statistics also revealed…
Yemisi Izuora NIPCO Plc has directed all its retail outlets in Abuja and environs to immediately revert to N87 per litre new pump price of fuel as decided by government. The company has also threatened serious sanctions should any of its managers resort to any form of sharp practice. Taofeek Lawal, corporate affairs manager of the NIPCO told our correspondent that its technical department accompanied by retail unit staff will move to all its stations in lagos and environs including ogun state to confirm proper compliance. “we will ensure nobody is short changed at any of our retail outlets by…
Yemisi Izuora/Agency Report Malaysian PM Najib Razak Malaysia’s government has announced its decision to slash spending in 2015 by some $1.5 billion. This will translate to about 2 per cent of its proposed outlays,in a move to stem anticipated economic challenges arising from lower crude-oil prices. Some producers with huge foreign reserves like Saudi Arabia have been able to maintain expansionary budgets, even as they weather a decline in oil prices below $US50 per barrel. But governments with less firepower like Russia, Venezuela and Nigeria have been forced to reduce budgets and take other measures. While Russia recently announced a…
Yemisi Izuora/Agency Report There are indication suggesting that the federal government may consider further downward review of the budgeted benchmark oil price to below $50 per barrel, ahead of elections next month. Bloomberg report pointed to Godknows Igali, permanent secretary at the nation’s Ministry of Power as letting out the plan. Nigeria can sustain crude prices at $50 a barrel for about five years, and the government will complete the budget in a “couple more weeks,” Igali said in Abu Dhabi. Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala last month proposed cutting this year’s budget by 8 percent and reduced its benchmark…
Ijeoma Agudosi Depot owners across the country have been directed to sell petrol at N77 so as to reflect new pump price which government hurriedly announced at the weekend. The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Authority, PPPRA, the agency of government that regulate petroleum product prices issued the directive. The assumed politically motivated price review according to government is in line with Section 6, Clause 1, of the Nigerian Petroleum Act and was necessitated by the drop in crude oil price. Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Mr Farouk Ahmed said in a statement in Abuja that in exercise of its mandate of…
Source-Daily Newswatch Nigerian insurance industry has the capacity to generate over N1 trillion premium annually if operators can display high sense of creativity , evolve new ways of doing business and shun old ways characterized by unethical competition that often erode their income. Insurance guru and former Managing Director Crystalife Insurance plc Mrs Seyi Ifaturoti stated this in her suggestion on how to reposition the insurance sub- sector for a better performance. Ifaturoti speaking to Daily Newswatch in her office in Lagos observed that the operators can take advantage of the huge population of the country to grow premium for…
Source-Bloomberg Futures prices for Brent crude traded around $49 a barrel at the end of last week, illustrating a collapse that has oil prices at 40 percent the level of last year’s peak. For major oil producing countries, that will likely lead to shrinking economies and growing budget deficits. This might not be such bad news if you to subscribe to the theory of “the resource curse”: the notion that possession of bountiful natural resources is not a blessing but a curse, the root of many problems that afflict developing countries. According to this line of thinking, the plummeting price…
Yemisi Izuora/Agency Report Dr. A.B.C Orjiako SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company has received extension deadline to indicate whether or not it intends to make a firm offer for the takeover of the United Kingdom-listed Afren Plc. Initial deadline given to Seplat expired on Monday. Seplat confirmed earlier this month that it had made a preliminary approach to take over Afren and that it had issued a January 19 deadline to firm up the deal, but Afren has extended the deadline to January 30 for SEPLAT to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Afren or announce that it…