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Energy
Rivers State seizes oil production site owned by Shell over oil spills
An Oil site operated by Royal Dutch Shell has been seized by Rivers State Government over an incident of oil spills.
Rivers State Government has seized an oil field, OML 30, owned by Royal Dutch Shell, and sealed off an oil base, Kidney Island, also owned by Shell, over an oil spill incident at the Ejama-Ebubu community during the Nigerian Civil war.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Rivers State Government, reported by Bloomberg on Thursday.
READ: Shell faces Dutch prosecution over Nigeria license
The paper reported that Shell owned 30% of the Oil Mining Lease 11, which Rivers State said it “lawfully purchased through public auction ordered by the court.”
A Federal High Court in 2010 ordered Shell to pay the Community N17 billion for damages caused by the oil spill, but though Shell says the area has been cleaned up, it still denies causing such spillage.
READ: Shell to cut 9,000 jobs globally due to oil price crash as it shifts to clean energy
Rivers State also says it has acquired Shell’s stake in the OML11, citing a court approval sanctioning the sale of the assets.
The oil-rich state offered to acquire the oil production site and Kidney island for $150 million. Meanwhile, Shell says that details of the acquisition still remain challenged at a court in Rivers, saying the announcement by Rivers state was “prejudicial,” stating that a transfer of ownership rests with the power of the Minister of State for Petroleum, which is yet to be granted.
READ: UK court ruling affects acquisition of Shell’s oil block by Governor Wike
Shell says that a court hearing scheduled for January 2021 placed a restraining order on Rivers State before acquiring any of the assets.
What you should know
- Recall that Nairametrics also reported that officials of Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary were accused in a report of allegedly masterminding the damage to oil pipelines so as to benefit from the money spent on repairs and clean-up operations.
- The report, citing research by Dutch environmental group Milleudefensie, revealed that employees of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) recruited local youths to destroy the pipelines and then hired them back as workers to clean up the oil spill.
READ: Okomu Oil Plc may have flattered to deceive with its sterling H1 performance
Energy
First cargo of Nigeria’s newest crude grade, Ayala, to arrive Europe
The first export cargo of Nigeria’s newest crude grade, Anyala, is reported to be on its way to Northwest Europe.
The first export cargo of Nigeria’s newest crude grade, Anyala, is reported to be on its way to Northwest Europe.
According to a report from S&P Global Platts, while quoting trading and shipping sources, the cargo is likely to travel from Fos-sur-Mer to the Cressier refinery in Switzerland through the SPSE pipeline.
It reported that Data Intelligence firm, Kpler, said the Aframax Minerva Clara loaded a 700,000 barrel stem of Anyala crude from the Abigail-Joseph floating production, storage, and offloading vessel on January 10 with the tanker on its way to the Fos-sur-Mer terminal, located at France’s Mediterranean port of Marseille.
The report also said that trading house Vitol had chartered this tanker, as it has a stake in indigenous producer FIRST E&P, which is the operator of the Anyala West oil fields, located in the shallow waters of the Niger Delta.
This is as a market source said the cargo is likely to travel from Fos-sur-Mer to the 68,000 b/d Cressier refinery in Switzerland, which is operated by Varo Energy, through the SPSE pipeline.
Varo Energy is a joint venture between Vitol, private equity fund, the Carlyle Group, and private investment fund Reggeborgh.
What you should know
- The new crude is from Nigeria’s shallow-water Anyala West oil fields in the Niger Delta, which struck first oil in November. Anyala is the country’s newest oil development since the start-up of the giant Egina field in late-2018.
- Anyala has been labeled a medium sweet crude grade, similar in quality to Nigeria’s flagship crude Bonny Light and when refined, Anyala will produce a high yield of middle distillates, making it attractive to both simple and complex refineries.
- It is also reported that a second cargo will load in March, with some Asian refiners already showing buying interest.
Energy
Price Watch: Consumers paid more for diesel and less for petrol in December
The December 2020 NBS report shows that consumers paid more for diesel and less for petrol than they did in November 2020.
The Price Watch report released by Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the month of December 2020 revealed that consumers paid more for Diesel (Automotive Gas Oil) and less for Petrol (Premium Motor Spirit), compared to that of November 2020.
The average price paid by consumers for diesel increased by 0.28%, from N223.74 in November 2020 to N224.37 in December 2020, while the average price paid by consumers for petrol decreased by 0.94% from N167.27 in November 2020 to N165.70 in December 2020.
Key highlights of the report
Diesel
- Consumers in Taraba (N266.00), Adamawa (N262.50) and Zamfara (N257.50) paid the highest average price for Diesel.
- While consumers in Kwara (N195.00), Gombe (N197.50) and Osun (N201.09) paid the lowest average price for Diesel.
- Overall, consumers in North West (N240.57), North East (N238.88) and North Central (N226.37) paid the highest average price for Diesel, while consumers in South West (N209.27), South East (N209.35) and South South (N216.25) paid the lowest average price.
Petrol
- Consumers in Abia (N176.19), Kwara (N172.43) and Kebbi (N169.92) paid the highest average price for petrol.
- While consumers in Kaduna (N155.00), Katsina (N160.25) and Bauchi (N162.57) paid the lowest average price for petrol.
- Overall, consumers in South East (N168.04), North Central (N166.94) and South South (N166.53) paid the highest average price for petrol, while consumers in North West (N163.79), North East (N164.47) and South West (N164.92) paid the lowest average price.
Since a lot of manufacturing companies rely heavily on diesel to power their machinery and equipment, the increase would have added to their cost of operations, culminating in consumers paying more for goods and services.
Also, one would have expected that the reduced price of fuel in December 2020 would lead to lower transport fares for commuters during the festive season, but that was not the case.
Energy
LPG: Nigerians paid more to refill 12.5kg gas cylinders in December
Nigerians paid more money to refill their 12.5Kg gas cylinder in December than they did in November 2020.
The average price for refilling 12.5kg cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) increased by 1.75% in December compared to the month of November, according to the NBS report for December 2020.
The average cost of refilling the 12.5kg gas cylinder moved from N4,082.97 in November to N4,154.28 in December 2020.
According to the NBS report, the average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas increased by 0.12% month-on-month to N1,949.75 in December 2020 from N1,947.47 in November 2020.
READ: Techno Oil commences mass production of locally-made gas cylinders
Key highlights
- Bauchi (N2,489.12), Borno (N2,396.69) and Adamawa (N2,392.88) recorded the highest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas in the month of December 2020.
- Enugu (N1,563.75), Imo (N1,678.89) and Oyo (N1,691.67) recorded the lowest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
- Delta (N4,838.46), Cross River/Sokoto (N4,800.00) and Akwa Ibom (N4,614.49) recorded the highest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
- While, Kaduna (N3,191.67), Zamfara (N3,462.50) and Niger (N3,500.00) recorded the lowest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
READ: Petrol importation drops by 512 million litres in 3 months
LPG is fast becoming an alternative to firewood and kerosene as a means of cooking for most homes especially in urban areas in Nigeria. LPG is cleaner and more efficient than kerosene in cooking.
Solomon Uloho
December 27, 2020 at 10:20 am
OML30 is not in Rivers State but Delta State, check your records.