Experienced Solar Engineer at Solynta Energy Limited

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9th February 2023

…Project to kick off Q1 2023

Nigeria has awarded the Phase-1 engineering, procurement & construction contract for Oloibiri Museum & Research Centre (OMRC) in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State in favour of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc with a completion period of 30 months.

The scope of work was approved at the federal executive council meeting (FEC) yesterday chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari
The scope of work, which include a masterpiece museum and a research center, is expected to close a major gap in the nation’s quest for home grown technology inputs required to service exploration and production activities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

The establishment of OMRC has been at concept stage for over three decades and the inability to progress to the construction phase is viewed as an historical oversight as an operational museum and research center would preserve the heritage and developments in the oil and gassector similar to what obtains in other oil producing nations.

The project has four development partners, comprising the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) and the Bayelsa State Government (BYSG), and each entity would contribute to the development of the monument in the ratio of 40, 30, 20 and 10 percent respectively.

The project team for the symbolic project was first launched in August 2020 by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, with the inauguration of key project committees and setting of delivery timelines.
“The project is approved as part of President Buhari’s signature programs that would leave behind enduring legacies, and impact the oil and gas community, the people of the Niger Delta, and the entire nation.
“The historical essence of the project is to convert the location where first oil was discovered into a monumental edifice that would preserve the heritage and developments in the oil and gas sector. The socio economic impact of the project includes employment generation, tourism, research & technology development and integration of oil and gas host communities into mainstream developmental narrative of the country,” a statement from the Nigerian Content Development Management Board (NCDMB) said yesterday

With the contract approval, the groundbreaking ceremony is expected to be held within Quarter 1 2023 and will mark the beginning of the upliftment in the quality of life of the immediate host community, Bayelsa State and people of the Niger Delta.

Commenting on the approval, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Sylva commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his special love for the Niger Delta region, recalling that he granted his first approval for the project amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic impact.
He explained further that the project consists of the construction of a Museum where historic developments, data, equipment, and tools used in the Nigerian oil and gas industry will be stored for posterity and the construction of a functional Research Center where prototypes can be tested and validated in fulfillment of the requirement for approval of new technologies.
To ensure sustainability, the project adopted a development model that will leverage the benefits of public-private partnership, inter-agency collaboration, and inter-governmental alignment, to optimize resource utilization and ensure that the Oloibiri museum meets international standards, Sylva explained.
To ensure timely execution, the project created two committees and five project teams to provide necessary support and supervision essential to deliver the OMRC project. The committees include the Steering Committee, which would be responsible for providing leadership and steer and the Coordinating Committee, responsible for providing oversight on activities of all the project teams, which include Construction, Funds mobilization and management, Community Relations, Health, Safety & Environment and Secretariat, which is situated in NCDMB Head Office in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state

President Biden Proposes Tax Punishment For Big Oil’s ‘Outrageous’ Profits

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9th February 2023

American President Joe Biden is proposing a ‘punishment’ for Big OiI in the nature of quadrupling share repurchases taxes for what he describes as their “outrageous” profits.In his remarks to this year’s State of the Union address, Biden said, “You may have noticed that Big Oil just reported record profits.

Last year, they made $200 billion in the midst of a global energy crisis. It’s outrageous.”He accuses them of not using these profits to invest in more oil production and keep fuel prices down, instead the energy companies were using them to buy back stock, “rewarding their CEOs and shareholders.

”To rectify “this sub-optimal state of affairs,” the President suggested oil companies should face quadruple taxes on share repurchases and added that “They will still make a considerable profit.”The outburst yesterday is the latest in a series of attacks on Big Oil coming from the White House, as the Biden administration appears to see the industry as the sole party responsible for movements in retail fuel prices as long as these movements are upwards.

Late last year, the President threatened the oil industry with a windfall profit tax and accused the big players of profiteering from the Russia invasion of Ukraine. He alleged that most U.S. oil producers have become careful with their spending plans, giving strong signals that production growth is not their number-one priority.

Biden also threatened “other restrictions” that he did not specify as the oil industry remained stubborn in its refusal to heed calls for more investments in new production. Energy executives have repeatedly said there are obstacles to such a strategy, including inflation and the Biden administration’s own energy policies that are heavily subsidizing a shift away from fossil fuels.At the same time, industry insiders have said, the White House is making it harder for any new production to come online with a complex permitting process that compromises the economic viability of some projects.

China Signs Its First-Ever LNG Deal With Oman

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9th February 2023

China’s Unipec has signed a contract with Oman LNG for the delivery of 1 million tons of the super-chilled fuel over a period of four years.This is the first contract with a Chinese buyer for Oman LNG and is part of its efforts to reach new markets, the Omani company said in a tweet.

The deliveries will begin in 2025, it also said.The deal follows another that Oman LNG signed last month with Turkey’s BOTAS, for annual deliveries of 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas over a period of ten years.Earlier this year, the Omani company also sealed LNG delivery deals with French TotalEnergies and Thai PTT.

Each of the companies will receive 800,000 tons of LNG annually, with French deliveries commencing in 2025 for a period of 10 years, and Tahi deliveries starting a year later for a period of nine years.Japanese energy majors JERA, Mitsui & Co, and Itochu Corp are also among the clients of Oman LNG and recently inked deals for the supply of a total of 2.35 million tons of LNG annually over 10 years, beginning in 2025.

Rystad Energy four years ago forecast that gas production in the tiny Gulf country will this year surpass its oil production, in evidence of the growing attractiveness of natural gas as a source of energy.Since then, competition for gas has intensified, motivating production expansion plans in all the large producers of LNG—Qatar, the United States, and Australia.

Yet even smaller producers such as Oman are expanding production in response to strong demand.China is a natural target for LNG producers given the size of its economy and levels of industrialization that requires massive energy inputs.

Although it last year lost the crown of top LNG importer in the world to Japan, China remains one of the biggest buyers of the commodity and, unlike European countries, is willing to commit to long-term deals to secure precious supply and hedge against wild price fluctuations.

Oilprice

Surge In Renewable Power Suggests Tipping Point For Power Sector Emissions – IEA

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9th February 2023

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday that an expected surge in renewables electricity generation over the next few years suggests that the world is close to the tipping point of emissions in the power sector.

The Agency said in its Electricity Market Report 2023 published on Wednesday that it expects significant growth in renewables over the next three years which will raise their share of the global power generation mix from 29% in 2022 to 35% in 2025, while the shares of coal-fired and gas-fired generation will drop.

“As a result, the CO2 intensity of global power generation will continue to decrease in the coming years,” the EIA said in the report. It estimated that renewables and nuclear energy will dominate the growth of global electricity supply over the next three years, and together meeting on average more than 90% of the additional demand.China is expected to account for more than 45% of the growth in renewable generation between 2023 and 2025, followed by the EU with a 15% share.

The agency warned, however, that the surge in renewables will have to be accompanied by accelerated investments in grids and flexibility so that clean energy supply can be successfully integrated into the power systems. While renewables will soar and meet nearly all of the additional power demand through 2025, global electricity generation from both natural gas and coal is expected to remain broadly flat between 2022 and 2025, the IEA says.

As a result, power generation emissions are set to plateau through 2025, after reaching an all-time high in 2022, it noted. Last October, the IEA said that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels globally were expected to rise by just under 1% in 2022, a much smaller increase compared to 2021 thanks to record deployment of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles.

In his comments, IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol said, “The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are growing quickly enough to meet almost all this additional appetite, suggesting we are close to a tipping point for power sector emissions.”

Earthquake In Turkey Jolts The Market As Crude Oil Bounces Back

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9th February 2023

Following the devastating earthquake in Turkey, global oil prices are reported on the rise, with WTI and Brent benchmarks both up around 3% as at Tuesday

By 12:17 pm ET, WTI had risen $2.54 to $76.55 per barrel—a 3.43% rise on the day. The Brent benchmark traded up $2.31 per barrel, to $83.30—a 2.85% climb.China’s reopening progress from covid is said to be pressuring prices upward as the market eyes a demand boost from its zero-Covid transition.

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is reported to have lifted the price of its flagship crude oil for Asian buyers, signaling that OPEC’s leader also views China’s reopening as legitimate.Analysts say, by itself, the China factor is unlikely to have the power to swing the oil markets to any significant degree, but multiple supply outages are comingling with promises of a demand boost, sending prices higher.

On the supply side, oil export disruptions have created a stir in the market following a pair of major earthquakes that resulted in the deaths of more than 5,000, and Norway’s shutdown of its Phase 1 535,000 bpd Johan Sverdrup oilfield due to a technical fault in a cooling system.

The 1 million barrel per day Ceyhan oil terminal in southern Turkey stopped operations on Monday, according to Tribeca Shipping Agency, who added that as a whole, the ports in southern Turkey have been affected by the earthquake.Oil loadings were expected to resume today, but inclement weather caused a disruption in berthing. Key oil pipelines in the country managed to escape damage.

By Bosco Agba with agency report

Equinor Doubles Earnings After Tax in 2022

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9th February 2023

…high performance owed to high gas prices, strong sales and trading results – CEO

Equinor on Wednesday joined the group of oil and gas majors reporting record breaking profits for 2022. The company posted adjusted earnings after tax that more than doubled on the back of high oil and gas prices.The Norwegian energy major said its adjusted earnings after tax stood at $22.7 billion for the year 2022, more than doubling the $10 billion earnings the company posted a year earlier

Fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $15.1 billion beat a company-provided poll of analysts who had expected $14.4 billion in earnings. Adjusted earnings after tax rose by 32% year on year to $5.8 billion for Q4.Following the announcement of the results, shares in Equinor jumped by more than 6% in pre-market trade in New York, Bloomberg reported last night.“In 2022, we responded to the energy crisis and contributed to energy security. With strong operational performance, we delivered record results and cash flow from operations,”

Equinor’s president and CEO Anders Opedal said in a statement.“On the back of strong earnings, outlook, and balance sheet, we step up capital distribution to expected 17 billion dollars in 2023.”He said the high performance is owed to high gas prices and strong sales and trading results. On the back of record earnings and cash flows, the board of directors proposed a hike in the dividend for Q4 2022 to $0.30 per share, up from $0.20 per share for the third quarter of 2022.

“In addition, the board proposes an extraordinary cash dividend of USD 0.60 per share for the fourth quarter of 2022 based on strong earnings and the robust financial position,” the major said.The board has also decided to increase the $1.2 billion share buyback program by up to $4.8 billion, resulting in a program of up to $6.0 billion in 2023.

Equinor joins all other major international oil and gas firms in reporting blockbuster profits for 2022. Chevron, Exxon, BP, and Shell have all reported record annual earnings for last year, prompting criticism from the White House, which slammed Exxon’s record earnings for 2022 as “outrageous,” as well as calls for more windfall taxes on oil companies.

By Ken Okoye

TotalEnergies Joins Other Majors, Doubles Profits In Its Best Year Ever

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9th February 2023

TotalEnergies has posted a net profit of $36.2billion for the 2022 business year, with an announcement to increase dividends and share repurchases after the best annual results for the company and for Big Oil ever.
In a reported posted yesterday, the French supermajor reported the figure double from a year earlier, courtesy of higher oil and gas production, higher prices, a jump in LNG sales, and what the country described as a “historic” performance in the downstream segment.
For the fourth quarter of 2022, TotalEnergies reported cash flow of $9.1 billion, and an adjusted net income of $7.6 billion, up by 11% from Q4 2021. For the full year 2022, the company generated $45.7 billion in cash flow.
“While down from the previous quarter highs due to uncertainties about the demand outlook, fourth quarter oil and gas prices as well as refining margins remained strong in supply-constrained markets.
Benefiting from this favorable environment as well as the increase in its hydrocarbon production (+5%) and LNG sales (+22%), thanks to its unique position in Europe, TotalEnergies reported cash flow of $9.1 billion and adjusted net income of $7.6 billion,” CEO Patrick Pouyanné said in the statement posted on behalf of the company.
He indicated that the board of directors is proposing a 6.5% rise in the ordinary dividend for 2022, plus a special dividend of $1.07 (1 euro) per share already paid in December 2022.
The board confirmed a shareholder return policy for 2023 targeting a payout of 35-40%, which will combine an increase in interim dividends of more than 7% and share buybacks of $2 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
In the company plan ahead, the CEO said, “The tensions on European gas prices seen in 2022 are expected to continue into 2023, as the limited growth in global LNG production is supposed to meet both higher European LNG demand to replace Russian gas received in 2022 and higher Chinese LNG demand.”
TotalEnergies is the latest Big Oil firm to report record earnings for 2022, following smashing profits at Chevron, Exxon, BP, Shell, and Equinor.

By Ken Okoye

Petroleum Engineer at Halogen Group

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8th February 2023

Job Title: Petroleum Engineer

Location: Port Harcourt, Rivers
Employment Type: Full-time

Responsibilities

Develop plans for oil and gas extraction
Use and maintain drilling and fracturing equipment
Supervise drillings and extractions
Research new ways and new sites for oil and gas extraction
Analyze formation of rocks and reservoirs
Use computer-aided models to enable drilling
Determine budget and requirements of projects
Supervise and train technical staff
Collaborate with geoscientists and engineers to determine geological features.

Requirements

Candidates should possess a B.Sc Degree
Having worked with a multinational or an independent or an oil and gas servicing
Hands-on experience with drilling equipment
Minimum of 15 years’ experience
Minimum of 5 years Managerial experience
MBA is an added advantage.
COREN Certification is a MUST.
Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting abilities
Availability to travel to different locations on a regular basis.

HOW TO APPLY
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the mail.

Application Deadline: Feb. 9th 2023

Optimization Of National Grid Critical To Energy Sustainability

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8th February 2023

Managing Director of General Electric Power, in charge of Gas Power Plant (Anglophone West Africa), Mohammed Mijindadi, said full optimisation of Nigeria’s national grid should be a critical part of the discourse around achieving sustainable energy.

In a session with the media, Mijindadi said energy transition would help the country to achieve the level of energy mix required to fully optimise the national grid and wean the sector from the current risks.

He stated that hydro and gas was important for powering the country’s dreamed industrialization, arguing that gas “is still very critical to the country’s future energy need”.

He said General Electric shared the desire to utilise the country’s natural gas to power the economy, revealing that a few of the projects the company was working on would add about 500 megawatts to the national grid at completion.

Also Read: GE to Supply 500MW Power to National Grid by Q2 This Year

Mijindadi said that General Electric team, which is over 90 per cent local, fully understands issues relating to the country’s power challenge and commits to deploying its technology to help the country achieve sufficiency

He said: “Nigeria’s power sector, today, is very convoluted. That does not mean the problems are not solvable. Many stakeholders need to be aligned. There are gas producers who are looking for where to push their gas to get the best value. They are not incentivised to sell gas in Nigeria since we are competing with other markets. We have the generating companies (GenCos) who cannot generate without gas. It would be easy for GenCos to take the gas but they do not own it. So, they depend on other parties who have other obligations and constraints.

“The transmission also comes with its unique challenges. At some point, the Transmission Company was concessionned but not much was achieved. There has not been sufficient investment in the infrastructure. Today, it can only move 5,000MWs, which is the reason you may be a part of the market where they feel they can get money from unfairly favoured. But that is not the fault of the company.

There are the distribution companies (DisCos), which have been fully privatized, but where there are still challenges.”
The power expert said efficiency would improve if the industry stakeholders are more aligned, enabling each player to ring-fence its operations for optimal performance rather than depending on a chain they have no control over.
He added that the frustration is rooted in inefficiency that is created by the convoluted chain.

Also Read: Otedola Votes N40bn To Buy FG’s iPower Plant.

Hopefully, he noted, the country would advance gradually into more efficient models. The General Electric executive said his company was working on three new projects that would add about 500MWs to the system in the coming years.

His colleague in charge of GOs Power Service (sub-Saharan Africa, Kenneth Oyakhire, pointed out poor maintenance culture as a major hurdle the country must surmount to achieve efficiency.

Using the car maintenance analogy, Oyakhire maintained that Nigeria could only get the best from its power installations and equipment if it improves on the maintenance culture, saying the attitude of “running down assets” and evading maintenance requirements would not take the country far.

The Guardian

NCDMB Boss Receives Honourary Doctorate Degree In Science From Imo State University

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8th February 2023

The executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board [NCDMB], Mr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, was last weekend conferred with a Doctor of Science degree, honoris causa by the Imo State University, Owerri.

The institution said the award was for Wabote’s excellent contributions to the growth and transformation of the Nigerian oil and gas industry and the towering leadership he has provided for the development of local content in Nigeria and Africa.

The award, which he dedicated to the management and staff of the Board for their excellent performance on their job functions and accomplishments, was received on his behalf by the director, planning, research and statistics, Mr. Patrick Daziba Obah.

In attendance at the event were important personalities, including the Imo State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodinma, and former governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, now a serving Senator of the Federal Republic, as well as the institution’s vice chancellor, Professor Uchefula Chukwumaeze.

Also Read: Wabote Receives Leadership Local Content Champion Award

In the citation on Engr. Wabote, an alumnus of Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, and Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom, the Imo State University stated: “Prior to his current appointment as the executive secretary of NCDMB, he had an exceptional career in Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), spanning over 26 years.

During his time in SPDC, he held several leadership roles and positions, including executive director; general manager, local content, and general manager, business and government relations.”

Under Wabote’s watch in 2017, the NCDMB developed a 10-Year Strategic Road Map with the key objective of achieving 70% Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry; creating 300,000 direct jobs; establishing major fabrication facilities in-country as well as hubs for the manufacture of equipment, components and accessories required by the oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors.

While honouring Mr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, the University held him up as a model public servant, a thought leader in local content, astute manager of men and resources, who has acquired significant academic knowledge and applied it practically in transforming an important sector in the Nigerian economy.

Also Read: Guinea Delegation Visits NCDMB To Understudy Local Content Management

It showed in his success story at SPDC and even more at NCDMB, where the organization has surpassed performance targets in several areas, including development of indigenous technical capability, and had upped Nigerian content from 26% in 2016 to 54% at the end of 2022.

On Tuesday last week, the Executive Secretary received the Leadership Local Content Champion of the Year Award at the 14th Leadership Conference and Awards held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

Also on Wednesday, the Board was adjudged as “a Level 5 Platinum Level organization” in a summary report of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) Self-assessment Tool (SAT).

BP Stock Jumps As Firm Pivot To Renewables And Vows More Spending On Oil And Gas

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OrientEnergyReview

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8th February 2023

The stock of supermajor, BP, edged higher on Tuesday, after the company announced record breaking profits and a disposition towards investment in oil and gas production.

Business Insider reported yesterday that BP shares climbed as much as 7%, trading around $37.15 at press time. The company notched record profits for the fourth quarter of 2022, and is shifting away from renewables goals to further capitalize on highly profitable oil and gas investments.

The report said under chief executive Bernard Looney, BP has embarked one on one of the most ambitious plans to shift toward renewable energy sources and away from fossil fuels the oil industry has seen.

Also Read: BP Joins League Of Supermajors Posting Record-Breaking Profits

But BP has significantly lowered that target in light of the immense profitability from oil and gas, and downshifted to a 25% goal for the same time period.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Looney’s plans to slow renewable spending last week. BP could now spend as much as an additional $16 billion on both oil and gas production, as well as so-called transition-growth engines.

Looney defended the move, and noted the ongoing uncertainty in energy markets due to the war in Ukraine that upended the oil and gas trade in 2022.

Also Read: Chevron Secures Shale Gas Exploration Deal In Algeria

Looney added that an uptick in fossil fuel consumption is necessary to achieve the longer-term goal of transitioning to carbon neutral sources of energy.

India Plans To Boost LNG Gas Consumption With Long-Term Deals

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8th February 2023

The biggest gas importer on the subcontinent, Petronet, is looking to secure some 12 million tons of liquefied natural gas [LNG] annually in additional supply under long-term deals.

The development, which was confirmed to Bloomberg by the company’s managing director, Akshay Kumar Singh, aligns with plans by India to secure long-term deals for the supply of liquefied natural gas in a bid to reduce the share of coal in its energy mix.

The report, referencing tanker tracking data, said this additional amount is equal to almost two-thirds of India’s total LNG imports in 2022.
India’s government plans to increase the share of natural gas in its power generation mix from 6% currently to 15% by 2030 and long-term deals are clearly one safe way of doing that.

Also Read: Russian Oil Exports To India Heading New High In 2023

However, intensified competition for LNG cargoes has reduced the amount of available gas for long-term deals. As part of efforts to boost LNG supply, Petronet will seek to increase the contracted amount of LNG it buys from Qatar by 1 million tons annually, the managing director stated.

Russia’s Novatek is also in talks with Indian gas importers for LNG deliveries, the chief executive of the company Leonid Mikhelson said on Monday at the India Energy Week.

India is currently expanding its gas distribution network in cities, which would drive higher natural gas demand. To respond to that demand, along with plans to reduce coal dependency, India’s government has plans to expand the capacity of its LNG import terminals by 53% in the next few years.

Also Read: 2023: Exxon, TotalEnergies, Chevron To Up Investments In India.

The country’s capacity to date is 22.5 million tons annually and the Modi government wants to expand this by 12 million tons.
Meanwhile, India has slipped from number four in the global top LNG importer ranking to number seven amid sky-high LNG prices prompted by Europe’s eagerness to replace pipeline Russian gas with the super-chilled fuel.

By Ken Okafor

BP Joins League Of Supermajors Posting Record-Breaking Profits

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8th February 2023

BP has turned out as the latest oil and gas supermajor to report record earnings for 2022, more than doubling its profit in last year.
The company joined the league of other supermajors with record earnings and smashing profits, including Chevron, Exxon, and Shell. TotalEnergies was the last of the biggest of Big Oil to report earnings, on Wednesday, February 8.

Yesterday, BP posted a net of profit of $27.65 billion for 2022, more than doubled from the previous year’s earnings of $12.8 billion.
The UK supermajor beat its previous earnings record – set in 2008 when oil prices hit an all-time high – and joined the other supermajors which have also reported record earnings over the past week.

Following the strong set of results and surplus cash flow, BP raised its dividend per ordinary share for the fourth quarter by 10%, which represents 21% growth from the fourth quarter of 2021.

Also Read: Chevron Secures Shale Gas Exploration Deal In Algeria

The supermajor also announced a further $2.75 billion in share buybacks, bringing total announced share repurchases from 2022 surplus cash flow to $11.25 billion. Last year, BP also cut its net debt by $9.2 billion over the year, to $21.4 billion – the lowest debt for over nine years.

Reports say, following the results announcement, shares in BP jumped by 4% at opening in London. “It’s clearer than ever after the past three years that the world wants and needs energy that is secure and affordable as well as lower carbon – all three together, what’s known as the energy trilemma,” BP’s chief executive Bernard Looney said in a statement.

“To tackle that, action is needed to accelerate the transition. And – at the same time – action is needed to make sure that the transition is orderly, so that affordable energy keeps flowing where it’s needed today,” the executive added.

Also Read: US/EU Sanctions: When The New Gear Set In Against Russia

The record profits at the majors already drew criticism from the White House, which slammed Exxon’s record earnings for 2022 as “outrageous,” while calls for more windfall taxes on oil companies have intensified.

The Price Of Russia’s Flagship Oil Will Now Be Set By Asia

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8th February 2023

As greater percent of Russia’s flagship Urals oil blend head to Asia, the continent, not Europe, will henceforth determine the price of Russia’s petroleum products, Rosneft’s chief executive Igor Sechin has argued at the India Energy Week.

He explained that he hinged his argument on the premise that Asia has become the largest market for the Russian oil commodity,.
“If Russian oil does not enter the European market, then there is no reference price. Reference prices will be formed where oil volumes actually go,” Sechin said, as quoted by Reuters.

“As it’s scripted in Ecclesiastes: what is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted,” he added.
The European Union imposed an embargo on most seaborne Russian crude oil imports in December as part of its sanction push against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

Also Read: Russia Turns Its Oil Flows To Asia As New EU Sanctions Kick In

The EU also set, together with the G7, a price cap for Russian crude oil shipments to other countries in a bid to stymie the Kremlin’s oil revenues further.

The embargo and the price cap have widened the discount of Urals to Brent crude, making it attractive for buyers from China and India. In a matter of months, even before the December embargo went into effect, most of the Russian oil that used to go to Europe, had been redirected to the two Asian powerhouses.

According to Reuters calculations, some 70 percent of the Urals cargoes loaded last month went to India. Russia has become India’s largest supplier of crude oil. Yet the two Asian majors are not just buying Urals.

Also Read: EU Embargoes Russian Oil Products As New Sanctions Set In

The prices of two other popular Russian blends – ESPO and Sokol – have been trading at above $70 per barrel recently. At the time of writing, ESPO had slipped below $70 but Sokol was above the threshold which is $10 per barrel above the EU/G7 price cap.
Urals, at the same time, averaged $49.48 per barrel in January, according to Finance Ministry data cited by Reuters. This was 42 percent cheaper than its price for January 2022.

By Bosco Agba

GE to Supply 500MW Power to National Grid by Q2 This Year

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7th February 2023

GE Gas Power has said it is looking forward to pushing close to 500 megawatts (MW) of additional power into the national electricity grid by the second quarter of this year, when its ongoing projects would have been completed.
The multinational company, which focuses on providing equipment, solutions and services across the energy value chain, from generation to consumption, said it has three new projects that would deliver close to 500mw.

The firm listed them as the 240MW Afam III power plant in Port Harcourt, 50MW Maiduguri project with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and another 50MW project for Dangote Group to support its cement and refinery plants, among others. The President and Chief Executive Officer, GE Nigeria, Mr. Mohammed Mijindadi, disclosed this in Lagos during a roundtable session with journalists, with the topic, “Powering the Future of Energy in Nigeria with GE,” noting that 2023 is an exciting year for the company.
On the power generation side, he stated that GE’s services arm does optimisation of existing power plants and that this year alone, they would have at least three or four projects that would add additional megawatts into the national power grid.

“With regards to new projects, we actually do have three new projects that would add close to 500mw. We’re working to complete the Afam III power plant in Port Harcourt. That project is 240mw.

“We’re hoping that by the end of this first quarter or early second quarter, that project should be done. That is an important project because when it goes into talking about what GE is doing, I think we have crafted that project as a way to reduce the pressure on government from a balance sheet standpoint.

“So, we designed that project with a different structure. Unfortunately, we’ve been working on that project since 2016. With change in government, there had been adjustments and all of that, but we’re hoping that by end of this quarter or early second quarter, that should be done.”
“There is a 50mw project that NNPC is working on, it’s an emergency project in Maiduguri. That should also be done hopefully by the end of first quarter or early second quarter. And then, there is a project in Dangote Industries –a project they are building that is supposed to support their cement and refinery projects, also about 50mw. So, we have three projects in active construction that should be done by second quarter of this year,” Mijindadi said.

He, however, observed that Nigeria’s power sector was challenged by multiple factors, saying with the nation’s total installed generation capacity of about 13000mw, only between 3,500 to 5000MW were typically available for onward transmission to the final consumer.
According to him, this comes with extensive losses attributable to weak infrastructure and a high occurrence of significant technical and non-technical challenges.

“Main challenges facing the power sector include, insufficient transmission and distribution infrastructure, inadequate power industry investments and capacity expansion, absence of cost reflective tariffs, gas supply constraints, high incidences of load rejection and implementation of power sector reforms,” he added.

Mijindadi also stated that GE’s technologies have continued to serve Nigeria’s energy needs as the company’s built technologies deliver up to 65 per cent of the on-grid gas generation through gas turbines and grid equipment.

Commenting on the possibility of Nigeria actualising its net-zero target by 2060, he explained that energy sustenance and country’s survival should be uppermost before any transition since, according to him, one must exist before transiting.

“So, I think the government has some steps in place. I think when push comes to shove, what would lead the decision making would be the ability for government to be able to provide for the citizens and continue to be able to industrialise, and then, they would transit gradually as they go along.

“The interesting thing that happened when you think about this energy transition between COP26 and COP27 was the realisation by everyone that energy security trumps any transition and I think, we all learn the hard way through what is going on in Ukraine,” Mijindadi observed.

ThisDay

Fuel Pump Price: IPMAN Pleads For Time To Comply

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7th February 2023

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria [IPMAN] has appealed to the Nigerian government to ive it more time to sell petroleum products at the official price of N195 per litre.

IPMAN vice chairman, western zone, Mr. Joseph Akanni, made the appeal yesterday in Ibadan during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria

While disclosing that all IPMAN chairmen were on their way to hold a meeting in Abuja, said that all what the association was asking was for time to sell all the products its members bought at high price.

Also Read: Fuel Subsidy Removal In Nigeria Is A Big Opportunity To Switch To Solar Inverters In 2023 – Bome Ojoboh

“We have already instructed our members not to buy high-priced petroleum products. We will only be buying products from NNPC. We have also advised our members not to buy any products that they can’t sell at N195 litre according to the Federal Government guideline.
“Most of our members paid to the private depot owners almost three to four weeks ago and they were yet to supply them but started to supply them now.

“We have pleaded with the authority to give us time to sell off the products, this is against the backdrop that our members want to go on rampage. That is not true,” he said.

NAN reports that Nigerians have been having hard time due to the prevailing fuel scarcity and hike in the price of the product ranging from N190 to N420 per litre.

By Ken Okoye, with additional reports

Russia Turns Its Oil Flows To Asia As New EU Sanctions Kick In

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7th February 2023

Russia is reported to have diverted most of its fuel oil and vacuum gasoil (VGO) exports to Asia and the Middle East even before the EU embargo on Russian petroleum products came into effect on February 5.

Data from traders and Refinitiv cited by Reuters said last month, the European Union took less than 5% of Russia’s fuel oil and VGO, with Greece, Latvia, and Italy importing small volumes of those products.

Traders believe that these volumes could easily be redirected to other destinations, mostly in Asia.
Meanwhile, India has emerged as a large buyer of Russian fuel oil in the past two months, according to trade flow data cited by the news agency. Cargoes diverted to Asia and the Middle East have started to increasingly use ship-to-ship (STS) loadings and transfers, especially near Kalamata in Greece, Ceuta in Spain, and Skagen in Denmark.

Also Read: US/EU Sanctions: When The New Gear Set In Against Russia

In recent months, Russia’s fuel oil and VGO have been massively diverted to Singapore, Malaysia, China, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Senegal, per Refinitiv data.

The EU embargo on imports of refined petroleum products from Russia came into effect on Sunday, February 5. The embargo has been combined with price caps for deliveries to third countries, agreed upon with the G7 in the same way that the EU and the G7 coordinated the price cap on Russian crude last year.

The EU has set a price cap of $100 per barrel on Russian diesel, meaning that buyers of diesel from third countries should either comply with the cap and buy the diesel at or below $100 a barrel or lose the insurance and finance services of Western companies for the cargoes.
Europe, for its part, has raised its imports of fuels from the Middle East and the United States in preparation for the EU ban, but just ahead of the embargo, Europe was still the biggest buyer of Russian diesel.

The EU will have to boost imports from non-Russian suppliers significantly after the embargo kicked in last Sunday.

By Ken Okoye

EU Embargoes Russian Oil Products As New Sanctions Set In

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7th February 2023

FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows models of oil barrels and a pump jack in front of U.S. and Russia flag colors — FILE PHOTO: Models of oil barrels and a pump jack are seen in front of displayed EU and Russia flag colours in this illustration taken March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

As the EU/US coalition made real their threat to open the second phase of their sanctions’ kit on Sunday against Russia, reports said oil products can be imported into the European Union, per the latest sanction hit of Brussels against Moscow.

The new embargo includes two-level that the EU and the G7 coordinated the price cap on Russian crude last year. The price caps were agreed at $100 per barrel of diesel, which trades at a premium to crude oil, and $45 per barrel of fuel oil and other oil products that trade at a discount to crude oil.

The price cap applies to Russian fuel cargoes shipped on vessels owned by companies based in the EU or G7.
There is some concern among analysts that the end of Russian fuel deliveries will push prices in the EU higher, but the EU is hoping to avoid such a development by switching to new suppliers, mostly from the Middle East.

Some have warned that the fuel embargo will have a more disruptive effect on energy mark than the crude oil embargo that went into effect on December 5 last year.

Also Read: EU, G7 and Australia Agree Price Caps On Russian Petroleum Export

Russia, in the meantime, is on track to export more refined products this month than it exported in January, according to traders and cargo data, reported by Reuters.

Exports of low-sulfur diesel and gasoil from Russian ports on the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea are set for monthly growth of between 5%t and 10% to a combined 4.3 million tons, the data showed.

Yet Russian fuel exporters are facing challenges, such as a shortage of tankers to carry their products and the risk of port closures due to stormy weather. The price caps, on the other hand, could affect refiners’ margins and prompt them to reduce production.

By Ken Okoye

Chevron Secures Shale Gas Exploration Deal In Algeria

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7th February 2023