Indigenous oil exploration and production company, Conoil Producing Limited, has had a crude oil production flow station at Ango field in Koluama, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State shut down by the host community.

This follows the protest by aggrieved members of the community over the oil firm’s insensitivity to its social obligations towards the people.

According to a report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the protesting members of the community had besieged the facility and told the oil workers to shut the facility and leave the site of the 30,000 barrels per day capacity flow station.

The oil workers at the onshore facility connecting oil wells within the swamps and creeks at Koluama were escorted out of the area by speedboats by armed security men.

What a community leader in Koluama is saying

A community leader in Koluama 1, Chief Young Fabby, on Tuesday, said that the facility was shut to protest the oil firm’s insensitivity to its social obligations to the people.

He said the aggrieved community shut operations at the flow station on Monday and sacked oil workers deployed to run the oil facility following Conoil’s failure to renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which expired in 2020.

Chief Fabby said, “The Koluama clan was compelled to take the action following the refusal of the oil company to dialogue on several outstanding issues amongst which is the MoU which expired for more than one year.

“All entreaties through established channels have been rebuffed. Secretary of Koluama kingdom Oil/Gas Committee, Jonathan Amabebe, had drawn attention to the refusal of Conoil and this is regrettable,” he said.

Although officials of Conoil have yet to react to the incident, the Commandant of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the state, Mrs Christiana Abiakam-Omanu, confirmed the development.

She said that members of Conoil’s host communities were at the oilfield to protest, but that only the operator of the field (Conoil) could confirm if it was shut or not.

What you should know

• Conflicts between the oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta region of the country and the oil-producing firms have become quite regular and is a huge challenge to uninterrupted oil production in that area.
• The complaints by the host communities against these oil firms include environmental degradation, incessant oil spillages, neglect of their corporate social responsibilities and so on.
• This has often led to disruption/ stoppage of operations, closure of flow stations and rigs, vandalism/destruction of facilities, molestation/abduction of oil company staffs, temporary seizure of oil company assets like vehicles and boats and so on.

AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited has announced the listing of Cashew on its platform, in a bid to diversify available investment options and create more wealth.

This is according to a disclosure issued by AFEX today and seen by Nairametrics.

According to the notice, the addition will help to expand the list of existing commodities available at the exchange which include;

• Maize
• Sorghum
• Soybean
• Paddy Rice
• Cocoa
• Ginger
•  Sesame

In addition, the Exchange notified the investing public that the new commodity will be made available on the exchange’s trading platform, ComX.

Why it matters

AFEX Commodities Exchange in the recent disclosure rationalized the need to list cashew on its platform. It hinged this on the lucrative nature of the commodity, noting that it has a lot of untapped potentials.

According to the disclosure, cashew exports in Nigeria are highly profitable, with a yearly export volume of over $167 million, and untapped yearly potential of over $115.8 million. Therefore, listing the commodity on the AFEX Exchange provides opportunities for investors to gain exposure to the commodity and maximize their returns on investment.

What you should know

• AFEX Commodities Exchange had earlier announced the issuance of its debut Warehouse Receipt Backed Commercial Paper- The first of its kind in Africa.
• AFEX Commodities Exchange is Nigeria’s first licensed private commodities exchange established in 2014. It provides a final resting place for commodities using a three pronged approach of production region, logistics differential and final commodity price.
• ComX is the proprietary trading platform of AFEX. It serves as a market for investors, financiers as well as other market participants.
• AFEX Commodities Exchange posted a turnover of N11.46 billion for Q4 2020, indicating an increase of 5,228.4% QoQ.