Daily Watch – NNPC reorders its house, Nigeria launches truck LNG scheme

30th August 2017

  • Nigeria launched a scheme on Tuesday to transport liquefied natural gas to regions not linked by pipeline, supplying power plants and industry with cheaper, cleaner fuel, officials said. Nigeria, a major oil producer, lacks refining capacity, so most crude is exported and the country imports gasoline and other refined products. A creaking power network also means firms often rely on expensive diesel generators. The government has said it wants to use more of its gas. Under the new plan, the state oil firm, the Nigerian unit of France’s Total and Gas Aggregation Company Nigeria would deliver gas to a small LNG plant run by Nigeria’s Greenville LNG, officials said in speeches at the launch. Greenville would deliver the gas to industries and companies around the nation using trucks which would themselves be powered by LNG, the officials said. “Greenville will transport products with specialised LNG trucks, which have the capacity to travel about 1,000 km on LNG before refuelling,” GACN Managing Director Morgan Okwoche said.
  • The NNPC on Tuesday announced the reorganisation of its management staff in a major shake-up that affected 55 top executives. In a statement, Group Managing Director Maikanti Baru, said the new appointments would not only help to position the corporation for the challenges ahead but help fill the gaps created by the statutory retirement of some officers. Under the new arrangement, Roland Ewubare, formerly the managing director of the Integrated Data Services, has been moved to the National Petroleum Investment Management Services as the new group general manager, while Diepriye Tariah, the former group general manager and senior technical assistant to the NNPC’s GMD takes over from Ewubare as the MD of the IDSL. The Executive Director, Operations, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, Malami Shehu, was appointed the managing director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, while Adewale Ladenegan, former MD of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company, was moved to the KRPC as MD. Similarly, Muhammed Abah, until recently, the Executive Director, Operations of the WRPC, succeeds Ladenegan as the MD of the WRPC.
  • UBA says it has made a provision on loans made to 9mobile, the mobile operator formerly known as Etisalat Nigeria. The lender did not give details of the provision but said it had a ₦38 billion ($125 million) exposure to 9mobile. UBA said the exposure was secured, and part of a syndicated loan with 12 other banks extended to Etisalat Nigeria four years ago. Nigerian banks have agreed an extension to a $1.2 billion loan made to 9mobile, pending the mobile operator finding new investors. However, some lenders outside the syndicated facility are making provisions. “We have taken a general loan loss provision on Etisalat,” UBA Chief Executive Kennedy Uzoka told an analysts call. “It’s instructive to note that Etisalat has reasonably turned around in terms of subscribers and revenues,” he said, adding that the bank was one of the lenders managing its receivables. Zenith Bank said this month it had made a 30 percent provision on its loan to 9mobile, the country’s fourth-largest telecoms group.
  • Stanbic IBTC Holdings, a member of Standard Bank Group, has reported a profit after tax at ₦24.112 billion for the 2017 half year, a 113 percent increase compared to ₦11.317 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2016. For the period ended 30 June, it reported gross earnings of ₦97.198 billion, an increase of 36.28 percent over the ₦71.320 billion posted in the corresponding period of last year. The result, which was submitted to the NSE on Tuesday, showed that profit before tax increased by 86 percent to ₦29.169 billion during the period, from ₦15.682 billion last year. Its total assets went up by 21 percent to ₦1.273 trillion from ₦1.053 trillion in December 2016. Commenting on the result, CEO Yinka Sanni said, “The domestic environment in the first half of 2017 recorded a decline in headline inflation, improved foreign exchange liquidity and a gradual economic expansion as measured by the Purchasing Managers’ Index. The improved operating environment positively impacted our businesses leading to significant improvement in our financial results.”