Eland Oil set to List on London Stock Market

Eland Oil and Gas, a West Africa-focused energy firm, has concluded arrangement to float its shares on London's junior stock market with a market value of 135 million pounds ($214 million) after completing the purchase of a stake in a Nigerian oil block.

Eland Oil Chief Executive Les Blair said that his company, in partnership with Starcrest, a Nigerian oil firm bought a 45 percent stake in block OML 40 owned jointly by Shell, Total and Eni for $154 million. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), owns the other 55 percent of the block and its subsidiary. The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) will take over the operating rights from Shell.

Blair said the block had 71.5 million barrels of proven oil reserves and it planned to be producing 2,500 barrels per day within six months.

Eland will list on London's AIM market at 100 pence per share raising 118 million pounds ($187 million.

Atlas Cove shut down over an explosion

The Pipelines and Products Marketing Company has announced the closure of one of its network lines in the South West, as a result of an explosion. The explosion occurred as vandals tried to siphon petroleum products from the network, located at Arepo along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.  The explosion prompted the shutdown of the ‘System 2B Network,’ which is the channel pumping petroleum products from Atlas Cove in Lagos to other depots in the southwest region.

Although the Nigerian Police Force, the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps and the community’s vigilante monitor all pipelines passing through the area, it is difficult to provide security in the place because of its swampy nature.

Iranian oil shipments slightly climbed

OPEC crude oil output rose in August as Iranian shipments climbed slightly from its lowest in more than two decades and because of higher exports from Angola and Nigeria. Supply from the 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries averaged 31.53 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 31.30 million bpd in July.

The most notable trend in August is the lack of a further decline in Iranian exports, which have dropped sharply this year due to U.S. and European sanctions. Supply rose by 50,000 bpd in August to 2.85 million bpd.

Iran's crude became subject to a European Union embargo from July 1. The embargo also bars EU insurance firms from covering Iran's exports, hindering imports by non-EU buyers. More crude is heading in August to some Asian customers such as Japan, where government-backed shipping insurance has encouraged purchases despite the EU sanctions.

However, Iran's supply remains near a historic low. July's output was its lowest since 1988, when it pumped 2.24 million bpd, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Angolan and Nigerian exports, which both tend to be volatile on a month-by-month basis, climbed in August, pushing total OPEC production higher. Angolan shipments reached a 2 1/2-year high due to extra cargoes of some crude grades and completion of maintenance at the Girassol oilfield, one of its larger production facilities.

President Jonathan exonerates Prof. Nnaji

President Goodluck Jonathan, at a town hall meeting in Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of Anambra State, said that he accepted Nnaji's resignation despite his accomplishment in the power sector during his short tenure to protect the privatization process. In his first comment on the matter, the president said that the former minister only resigned in order to give credibility to the privatization of the power sector. The president said before an assemblage of Anambra elite and the entire South-east, that he was seizing the opportunity of being in their midst to exonerate the minister.

According to the President, “I have to make it clear that Professor Nnaji is a very competent professor; he is a product of the World Bank, a professor of engineering. He is very competent in the sector but we agree that there are expectations and that is what happens all over the world”.

Prof. Nnaji, in an earlier statement had rebutted reports that he was forced out of government, saying that he voluntarily resigned his position to protect his integrity. He said he voluntarily resigned to protect his integrity, which he stated had come under scurrilous attacks recently by "powerful vested interests" that were hell bent on destroying all he had worked for over the years.

Anambra State now an oil producing state

The Federal Government announced that Anambra State has joined the list of oil bearing states in the country. The announcement was made by President Goodluck Jonathan while inaugurating Orient Petroleum’s Anambra River Production Facility in Aguleri-Otu. By this development, Anambra has joined the group of oil producing states like Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Abia, Bayelsa, Ondo, Delta and Edo.

Speaking at the ceremony, Jonathan said it was high time Nigeria stopped exporting crude oil and unprocessed agricultural produce. He said the country must begin to refine its crude oil before exporting it so that it could be more valuable. He wondered why the country would continue to export crude oil and then import refined petrol, kerosene and aviation fuel.

Pipeline infrastructure: NNPC needs N474bn for upgrade

Group Managing Director, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, has said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation needs close to $3bn (N474.15bn) to upgrade its depots and refineries’ pipeline infrastructure nationwide.

In a presentation titled: ‘Energy Industry Deregulation: The Prospects and Challenges of the Economy,’ Yakubu said close to $3bn would be required to upgrade the pipeline infrastructure. The NNPC boss, who was represented by the Group Executive Director and Coordinator, Corporate Strategy and Planning, Dr. Timothy Okon, called for the total deregulation of the energy industry, while also stressing the need to mobilize private sector investment in downstream infrastructure development.

He said the move would stimulate competition across the value chain and free huge resources of government for more productive national development programme.

According to him, incessant vandalism has rendered the Pipelines And Products Marketing Company Limited’s pipelines and storage depots inoperable. He, therefore, stressed the need to secure the pipeline infrastructure using a dedicated strategic national infrastructure protection squad, adding that any offender should be tried in accordance with the provisions of the Petroleum Product Distribution Anti-Sabotage Act, 2004.