Power Generation to Reach 6,000MW in July

The Minister of State for Power, Hajia Zainab Kuchi, has disclosed that power generation will increase from its current 4,500 to 6,000MW in July and rise further to 10,000MW by December.

The minister made the assertion during a meeting with the Senate Committee on Power, where she disclosed that a whopping N347 billion would be needed for the transmission network as power generation increases.

According to her, even though the process of privatising the companies created from the unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) had been completed, the generating and distribution companies that were bid for last year could not be handed over to successful bidders because the companies were currently not in good shape.
She added that the delay in putting the companies in good shape was caused by non-availability of funds, explaining that the power ministry had not received any budgetary allocation since January.

She however assured the lawmakers that all power companies that were bid for last year would be duly handed over to bonafide owners in December.

S.Korea to take 1st Iran LPG cargoes in 7 months

South Korea will receive a shipment of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for the first time since imports were halted last October due to European sanctions that made it difficult to get shipping insurance.

South Korean LPG importer E1 Corp bought 33,000 tonnes of propane and 11,000 tonnes of butane that were loaded at an Iranian port.

One of the sources said there had been no Iranian LPG shipments since last October, although customs data has shown tonnage that the company has moved out from bonded areas.

U.S. and European Union sanctions aimed at choking the flow of oil money into Iran and forcing Tehran to negotiate on curbing its controversial nuclear programme halved Iran's crude exports in 2012, costing it as much as $5 billion a month. The EU broadened those sanctions to importing and transporting Iranian gas last October, also bringing the LPG exports to a halt.

Tanzanian gas pipeline plan sparks riot

Residents of a gas-rich region of Tanzania rioted to protest that they would not benefit from a government budget proposal to construct a pipeline from their territory to the capital.

Tanzania estimates it has more than 40 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable natural gas reserves. Discoveries off east Africa's seaboard have led to predictions the region could become the world's third-largest exporter of natural gas.

Residents of the southern Tanzanian Mtwara region are opposing the construction of a 532 km (330 mile) pipeline - financed by a $1.2 billion Chinese loan - until they get a bigger share of the benefits from gas development.

Tanzania's deputy home affairs minister, Pereira Silima, said riots had erupted in Mtwara but could not give details. Local media reported that police fired teargas, several buildings were torched and one person was killed.

The state-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) said Mtwara was one of two regions in southern Tanzania where onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants will be built.

Norway's Statoil, Brazil's Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp are among energy companies exploring for oil and gas in Tanzania.

British gas firm BG Group said earlier this month it would present the Tanzanian government with proposed locations for a big LNG terminal in the next few months.

Lekoil admitted into the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market

From left to right: Hamilton Esi, Gloria Iroegbunam (Legal counsel). John van der Welle (non-executive director), Lekan Akinyanmi (Chief Executive Officer), Alderman Roger Gifford (the Lord Mayor of the City of London) at the admission of Lekoil into the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market.

Insurers Move to Correct Anomalies in Oil and Gas Underwriting

Operators in Nigera’s insurance market have expressed determination to check the continued loss of foreign exchange by way of ceding insurance businesses to foreign insurance and reinsurance companies.

To this end, the industry is taking necessary steps to build human and underwriting capacities to ensure that no oil major in the country cedes risks to their insurance subsidiaries abroad, under the guise of lack of local capacity to underwrite oil and energy risks.

This step followed the identification of infractions in the underwriting of oil and gas risks in the country that make it impossible for the insurance industry to tap fully into the Local Content in Oil and Gas policy of the Federal Government.