Author Archives: Staff Writer

Nigeria loses $750m to oil theft in 2019 — NNPC

February 19, 2020 | Company Operations, Government & Regulations, Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria | – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the nation lost about 750 million dollars to oil theft in 2019. The NNPC Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kyari, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday according to Nigerian local newspaper, The Vanguard. Kyari said this when members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 13 of the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) visited the NNPC Towers. He decried the growing activities of oil thieves and pirates which he described as a threat to …

Nigeria’s state oil company and partners spent $360 million on Delta cleanup: NNPC

February 19, 2020 | Health, Safety & Environment, Nigeria, Politics & Social Unrest

Yenagoa, Nigeria | –  Nigeria’s state oil company and its joint venture partners have spent $360 million on cleaning up the Niger Delta oil heartland in the past two years, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Monday, but locals said little work had been done. Nigeria is Africa’s biggest crude oil exporter. Oil sales account for around 90% of its foreign currency earnings but oil spills in the southern Niger Delta region have caused pollution and angered locals. Royal Dutch Shell Plc was …

Nigeria’s NNPC hires 1,050 graduates out of 60,000 candidates

February 19, 2020 | Employment, Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria | – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced the recruitment of 1,050 Graduate Trainees, signalling the successful completion of its 2019/2020 employment exercise. A statement from the corporation’s Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr. Samson Makoji, quoted the Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kyari, as saying that the Human Resources Division of the NNPC has since commenced the issuance of provisional offers of employment to the 1,050 fresh employees. While describing the recruitment as a very important assignment for …

IEA: Oil Demand Set For First Fall In A Decade Due To Coronavirus Outbreak

February 19, 2020 | Economics & Markets, IEA

London, UK | – Oil demand is set to fall this quarter for the first time since the financial crisis in 2009 due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Feb. 13. “The consequences of Covid-19 for global oil demand will be significant,” the Paris-based IEA said in a monthly report, using the new scientific name for the virus. Demand in the first quarter of 2020 is expected to fall by 435,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) compared with a year …

US Slaps Sanctions On Russian Oil Major Rosneft

February 19, 2020 | Company Operations, Energy Trading & Markets, South America

London, UK | – The United States on Feb. 18 ramped up pressure on Venezuela by blacklisting a subsidiary of Russian state oil major Rosneft that President Donald Trump’s administration said provides a financial lifeline to President Nicolas Maduro’s government. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Rosneft Trading SA, the Geneva-based trading unit of Rosneft, as Washington targeted Moscow over its backing of Maduro’s government. The move further complicates already-fraught U.S.-Russian relations. Russia condemned the sanctions, saying they amounted to unfair competition and would …

Another Major Car Maker Is Backing Hydrogen

February 19, 2020 | Technology Reviews

By Jon LeSage | – The hydrogen fuel cell market has a serious player emerging in South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Corp., which is jumping into the hydrogen truck market to compete with Nikola, Toyota, and Tesla’s Cybertruck and Semi. Hyundai and Yeosu Gwangyang Port Corp. are partnering to commercialize hydrogen fuel-cell trucks in South Korea. An agreement between the automaker and the port operator includes the development and demonstration of hydrogen fuel-cell trucks for logistics transportation and building out a hydrogen fueling station. The commercial fuel-cell trucks will be put …

Italian judge puts Nigerian businessman on trial in oil graft case

February 19, 2020 | Current Affairs, Legal, Management, Nigeria

Milan, Italy | –  An Italian judge has ordered a Nigerian businessman to stand trial for alleged international corruption relating to a Nigeria oil graft case involving Eni and Shell, a judicial source and his lawyer said on Wednesday. Milan prosecutors allege that Alhai Aliyu Abubakar played a central role in one of the oil industry’s biggest scandals in years, handing out more than $500 million in cash to powerful Nigerian government officials. The money is alleged to come out of the $1.3 billion licence …

TGS partnership acquiring more seismic offshore Senegal

February 19, 2020 | Offshore, Rigs & Vessels, Seismic, Senegal

TGS has completed its latest 3D survey offshore Senegal Asker, Norway | – TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA, referred to as TGS and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, has completed its latest 3D survey offshore Senegal. SN-UDO-19, off the country’s northern shore, follows the earlier SS-UDO-19 in the southern offshore. TGS will make available fasttrack data this spring with the full data-set released later in the year. The acquisition vessel BGP Prospector has sailed 200 km (124 mi) north to acquire a further 2,024 sq km (781 sq …