Skip to main content

Oando Acquires Oil Block In Angola

Oando Plc  Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade  Oando Plc  says it has completed and won the bid for the operatorship of oil block KON 13 in Angola. The firm which recently acquired Eni of Italy’s oil assets in Nigeria, said that the award of the oil block located in Angola’s onshore Kwanza Basin followed a competitive bidding process by the country’s oil and gas sector regulator. It further said hat the asset in which it owns 45 per cent participating interest, has estimated prospective resources of 770 to 1,100 million barrels of oil. Oando is handling its operations relating to the asset through its upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources (OER). “Oando Plc,  Africa’s leading indigenous energy solutions provider listed on both the Nigerian Exchange Limited and Johannesburg Stock Exchange is pleased to announce that its upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources (OER), has been awarded operatorship of Block KON 13 in Angola’s Onshore Kwanza Basin, following a...
Post a Comment

Politicians, others hinder sales of forex to BDCs

Above: CBN's Headquarters Below: Forex 

By Akinola Ajibade


Inability of the Central Bankk of Nigeria ( CBN) to resume sales of foreign exchange (forex) to the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria(ABCON) was caused by some prominent Nigerians and their collaborators, known as economic agents, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee ( MPC), Mr Mike Obadan has said.

CBN's Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, announced immediate discontinuance of sales to Bureaux de Change operators (BDCs) on July 29, 2021, due to what he describes as illicit flow of forex and its associated crimes in the country.

He, however, refused to mention the names of Nigerians engaging in such bad practices, for reasons, which may not be unconnected to pervading level of insecurity, bad governance among others, in the country. 

He said despite uncertainty in the system,  untoward practices such as hoarding of the currency is a major problem bedevilling the industry.

“Hoarding of forex is still more pronounced in the FX market amidst racketeering and round tripping, mostly perpetuated by respectable Nigerians and economic agents with ulterior motives to manipulate dollar prices in the foreign exchange market. This is the current situation with our exchange rate system. 

Adding that: “They( Politicians and Economic Agents) have refused to offload to the foreign exchange market as it were. Even if the CBN resumes sales of foreign exchange to the BDCs, the situation will not change for a simple reason,” Obadan said.

The former Director-General, Nigerian Centre for Economic Management and Administration, lamented that the major sources of forex to the country’s coffers were not yielding enough FX, including crude oil sales, non-oil sector and capital inflows, adding that proceeds from some of the sources have virtually declined.

Obadan explained: “These sources in recent times have not improved. But at the same time, you find out that the demand is skyrocketing and Nigerians at this point in time, still want to buy all kinds of goods and services from abroad, including education services, medical tourism and all that.

“The import structure or the production structure of the country is highly import dependent and Nigerians have an excessive appetite for the importation of kinds of goods and services under such circumstances when foreign exchange earnings have reduced, you find the demand for foreign exchange skyrocketing."

Continuing further, Obadan pointed out that the major problem of forex illiquidity was the comatose of the refinery, lamenting that the quantity of crude oil export sold abroad might be less than one million barrels per day of crude oil export out of the total production of 1.2 million barrels per day against the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota of 170 million barrels.

“You find out that whatever is sold by way of direct export sales is used as we are told by NNPC Limited to import petroleum products and in addition it pays subsidy. Under the circumstances, foreign exchange accretion is virtually not there, other than from perhaps, the little quantity from the non-oil sector.

“So, invariably there is excessive demand for foreign exchange against the backdrop of very low foreign exchange earnings and low capital inflow and heightened capital flights against the backdrop of monetary policy normalisation in the advanced countries, particularly the U.S,” he added.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Nigeria Needs Carbon Emission Reduction To Diversify Energy Portfolio'

SNEPCo Wins Awards  By Favour & Akinola Ajibade Nigeria will be able to reduce carbon emission caused by fossil fuels production, once its  renewable energy portfolio, is diversified, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) Managing Director Mrs, Elohor Aiboni has said.  According to her, Nigeria would meet the energy needs of its growing population of over 200 million people, once it encourages Public-Private Partnerships in renewable energy, adding that the development would enable her to overcome high investment costs and limited access to financing. She spoke in Lagos, during the 41st annual International Conference and Exhibition of the National Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE). The event was organised for her and  other senior officials of the company.  SNEPCo's Managing Director, Alboni  At the event are officials of SCiN) and their various awards. There,SCiN won the Best Exhibitor and Plat...
Post a Comment
Read more

NUPRC Is Not Leaving Abuja As Erroneously Speculated

By Ibrahim Musa With clear mandates – ensuring compliance with petroleum laws, regulations and guidelines, monitoring of operations at drilling sites, producing wells, production platforms and flowstations, crude oil export terminals, and all pipelines carrying crude oil, and natural gas, supervising operations being carried out under licenses and leases, monitoring operations to ensure that they are in line with national goals and aspirations – the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, occupies a very influential position in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. The NUPRC also has the mandate to monitor operations to ensure that they are in line with national goals and aspirations, including those relating to Natural Gas Flare elimination & monetization, Domestic Gas Delivery Obligations and Domestic crude oil supply obligations and ensures that Health Safety& Environmental regulations conform to national and international best oil field practice. The agency fu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nigeria Loses N10tn to Poor Electricity--- MAN

Its DG, Kadir-Ajayi By Favour & Akinola Ajibade Nigeria's manufacturing sector is losing about N10 trillion or two percent share of its Gross Domestic Product( GDP) to poor supply of electricity, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria MAN 's Director-General of, Mr Segun-  Ajayi Nadir, has said. He said the electricity reforms introduced by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would help in salvage the sector, if well implemented.  The DG said this, while accessing the impact of of the country's electricity situations on the economy, stating that the sector would help in guaranteeing the growth and development of the economy, once the its reforms are adequately implemented.  According to him, the unfavourable situation in the power sector has placed the country among the worst countries to do business with a rank of 171 out of 190. On the recently signed electricity Act, the MAN's DG said that the 2023 Act will be a major game...
Post a Comment
Read more