Europe's largest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, has stated that its global third quarter 2013 earnings fell largely due to a drop in the company's crude oil production in Nigeria, where attacks on pipelines led to shutdowns of production facilities, with the company losing 65,000 barrels per day.
The Hague-based United Kingdom energy giant said earnings on a so-called "current cost of supplies basis" which "strips out the impact of fluctuations of oil prices between when it is produced and when it is sold fell to $4.25 billion from $6.15 billion in the same quarter a year ago".
The company's global Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Voser, who will retire by the end of this year, said in the third quarter financial results that the company's net profit dropped to $4.68 billion from $7.16 billion recorded in the third quarter of 2012 largely due to insecurity in Nigeria. "We are facing headwinds from weak industry refining margins, and the security situation in Nigeria, which continue to erode the near term outlook," said Voser, who will be replaced by Ben van Beurden. Shell said its production in the third quarter fell by two percent to 2.93 million barrels per day, causing its "upstream" earnings to fall 29 percent to $3.46 billion.
This Day
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Video - Documentary on Nigeria's out of control oil industry
Heavily polluted from 50 years of living with the oil industry, the Niger Delta is riddled with corruption, oil theft and sabotage. This investigation reveals why oil and the Delta's residents do not mix.
Nigeria says it's losing 400,000 barrels of oil a day to criminal activity. "The military are the biggest players. There's nothing you can do without seeking their consent", says a local oil trader. Nnimmo Bassey of Oil Watch International agues that, "oil has been the major factor that has dislocated everything", but others believe it can still benefit the local people.
Aliko Dangote makes Forbes list of most powerful people in the world
Dangote, who was ranked 64th out of the 72 persons recognised by Forbes, was one of two black people that made the list. The other being UK-based Mohammed Ibrahim, founder of Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
Topping this year’s list of most powerful people was Russian President Vladimir Putin, who knocked his US counterpart, Barack Obama, off the top spot. The US president held the title last year.
According to Associated Press (AP), Obama has been on the top of the list every year with the exception of 2010, when Hu Jintao, the former political and military leader of China, was number one.
The annual World’s Most Powerful list is made up of heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs and the list represents the collective wisdom of top Forbes editors, who consider hundreds of nominees before ranking the planet’s top 72 power-brokers.
This year’s list features 17 heads of state who run nations with a combined GDP of some $48 trillion — including the three most powerful people, Putin, Obama and Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China.
The 27 CEOs and chairs control over $3 trillion in annual revenues, and 12 are entrepreneurs, including new billionaires on the list, Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote (No. 64), founder of Dangote Group, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison (No. 58). This year’s list has 28 billionaires valued in excess of $564 billion.
In addition, there are 13 newcomers on the list who include Pope Francis (No. 4), Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee (No. 41), Volkswagen’s Martin Winterkorn (No. 49) and the South Korean President Park Geun-hye (No. 52).
There are just nine women on the list, but that is an improvement on both 2011 and 2012 which featured six women leaders and the inaugural list from 2009 included only three.
Two of the world’s most important NGOs run by women feature on the list - Christine Lagarde (No. 35) who leads the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Margaret Chan (No. 59) who steers the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Below are the top 10 most powerful people on the Forbes list:
• Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
• Barack Obama, President of the United States of America
• XI Jinping, General Secretary Communist Party of China
• Pope Francis, Roman Catholic Church
• Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
• Bill Gates, Cofounder Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve
• King Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the King of Saudi Arabia
• Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank
• Michael Duke, CEO Wal-Mart
This Day
Pregnant girls rescued from baby making factory in Nigeria
Nigerian police have raided a baby factory in the oil city of Port Harcourt and arrested a woman accused of harbouring six pregnant girls, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
“We rescued six girls last week at different stages of pregnancy from an illegal maternity home in Port Harcourt,” Joy Elomoko of the Imo State police told AFP.
She said the youngest of the girls was 14, without disclosing the ages of the others.
“We have also arrested the proprietress of the clinic and she is assisting us in our investigation,” she said.
Elomoko said the raid on the Port Harcourt home followed the arrest of a girl with a baby in nearby Owerri on October 15.
“A lady was found in suspicious circumstances with a day old baby and after interrogation she confessed that she gave birth to a baby in Port Harcourt,” the police spokeswoman said.
Elomoko said police detectives followed the girl to Port Harcourt where six expectant mothers were found in a clinic run by a woman.
“The woman could not produce any document authorising her to operate the clinic and she was subsequently arrested,” she said.
She said the girls also told police that they were being kept in the home to make babies which would be sold to willing buyers.
Elomoko said the suspect would be taken to court after police investigation.
Nigerian police have uncovered a series of alleged baby factories in recent years, notably in the southeastern part of the country. Baby boys can sell for a price of around $250 (180 euros), baby girls for slightly less.
Human trafficking, including the selling of children, is the third most common crime in Nigeria behind fraud and drug trafficking, according to the United Nations
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, but poverty is widespread across the country and most of the estimated 160 million people still live on less than two dollars a day.
Raw Story
“We rescued six girls last week at different stages of pregnancy from an illegal maternity home in Port Harcourt,” Joy Elomoko of the Imo State police told AFP.
She said the youngest of the girls was 14, without disclosing the ages of the others.
“We have also arrested the proprietress of the clinic and she is assisting us in our investigation,” she said.
Elomoko said the raid on the Port Harcourt home followed the arrest of a girl with a baby in nearby Owerri on October 15.
“A lady was found in suspicious circumstances with a day old baby and after interrogation she confessed that she gave birth to a baby in Port Harcourt,” the police spokeswoman said.
Elomoko said police detectives followed the girl to Port Harcourt where six expectant mothers were found in a clinic run by a woman.
“The woman could not produce any document authorising her to operate the clinic and she was subsequently arrested,” she said.
She said the girls also told police that they were being kept in the home to make babies which would be sold to willing buyers.
Elomoko said the suspect would be taken to court after police investigation.
Nigerian police have uncovered a series of alleged baby factories in recent years, notably in the southeastern part of the country. Baby boys can sell for a price of around $250 (180 euros), baby girls for slightly less.
Human trafficking, including the selling of children, is the third most common crime in Nigeria behind fraud and drug trafficking, according to the United Nations
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, but poverty is widespread across the country and most of the estimated 160 million people still live on less than two dollars a day.
Raw Story
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Nigerian government has Infrastructure master plan in place
A 30-year National Infrastructural Master Plan (NIMP) is currently being put together by the federal government as a coordinated approach for the development of infrastructure, President Goodluck Jonathan said Tuesday.
Jonathan, who spoke through the Vice-President, Namadi Sambo, in Lagos at the 70th anniversary lecture of the Island Club, also gave his administration a pass mark on the implementation of his administration’s Transformation Agenda, declaring that his government was on course.
According to the president, the absence of the NIMP had been the bane of development in Nigeria.
He explained that the Master Plan when ready would be implemented through three 10-year strategic plans, and six five-year operational plans and expected to guide the annual budgetary process commencing with effect from 2014. “NIMP provides the capital allocation framework, which identifies the required investments for infrastructural development, in line with the country’s growth aspirations. It also identifies and elaborates on enablers for implementation that would need to be put in place for successful execution. More importantly, the NIMP is in synergy with all other aspects of the Transformation Agenda and Vision 20:2020”
According to the president, in accordance with international best practices, a review of the Transformation Agenda was undertaken in May 2013, to take stock and re-strategising on the work-in-progress.
“’The review which covers the period May 29, 2011-May 29, 2013 was comprehensive and spanned all sectors of the economy. It also takes into account emerging developments in the global and domestic economy as well as the in-depth analysis of all aspects of our basic development objectives and priorities, while exploring the outlook and prospects for the second half of this administration. We presented the detailed report for information and assessment by all Nigerians in keeping with our mandate and campaign promises.”
Jonathan also declared that the mid-term review of the Transformation Agenda indicated that the country’s economy ws on the right track.
“The government has made considerable progress in the last two years at the macroeconomic and sectoral levels. Several reform initiatives have been implemented and significant aspects of the targets of the Transformation Agenda were achieved.
“In particular, the nominal GDP grew from $226.13 billion in 2010 to $257 billion in 2012, which translated to an improved global GDP ranking of the country from 44th position in 2010, to 36th position in 2012.”
He hinted that his government would ensure that the proportion of re-current expenditure in the total budget is significantly reduced in order to adequately invest in the future.
According to him, government had also introduced the performance management system, as a measure to benchmarking and holding public officers more accountable and ensure better effective delivery of services.
According to him, the aim of the transformation agenda is to achieve an all inclusive, non-inflationary growth, improve rural infrastructure, encourage large scale industries and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Others are to ensure fiscal consolidation, revitalise ailing industries, particularly in the manufacturing sub-sector, promote agriculture as a business and encourage local content strategies in key sectors such as petroleum, natural gas, power and other renewable energy programmes.
This Day
Jonathan, who spoke through the Vice-President, Namadi Sambo, in Lagos at the 70th anniversary lecture of the Island Club, also gave his administration a pass mark on the implementation of his administration’s Transformation Agenda, declaring that his government was on course.
According to the president, the absence of the NIMP had been the bane of development in Nigeria.
He explained that the Master Plan when ready would be implemented through three 10-year strategic plans, and six five-year operational plans and expected to guide the annual budgetary process commencing with effect from 2014. “NIMP provides the capital allocation framework, which identifies the required investments for infrastructural development, in line with the country’s growth aspirations. It also identifies and elaborates on enablers for implementation that would need to be put in place for successful execution. More importantly, the NIMP is in synergy with all other aspects of the Transformation Agenda and Vision 20:2020”
According to the president, in accordance with international best practices, a review of the Transformation Agenda was undertaken in May 2013, to take stock and re-strategising on the work-in-progress.
“’The review which covers the period May 29, 2011-May 29, 2013 was comprehensive and spanned all sectors of the economy. It also takes into account emerging developments in the global and domestic economy as well as the in-depth analysis of all aspects of our basic development objectives and priorities, while exploring the outlook and prospects for the second half of this administration. We presented the detailed report for information and assessment by all Nigerians in keeping with our mandate and campaign promises.”
Jonathan also declared that the mid-term review of the Transformation Agenda indicated that the country’s economy ws on the right track.
“The government has made considerable progress in the last two years at the macroeconomic and sectoral levels. Several reform initiatives have been implemented and significant aspects of the targets of the Transformation Agenda were achieved.
“In particular, the nominal GDP grew from $226.13 billion in 2010 to $257 billion in 2012, which translated to an improved global GDP ranking of the country from 44th position in 2010, to 36th position in 2012.”
He hinted that his government would ensure that the proportion of re-current expenditure in the total budget is significantly reduced in order to adequately invest in the future.
According to him, government had also introduced the performance management system, as a measure to benchmarking and holding public officers more accountable and ensure better effective delivery of services.
According to him, the aim of the transformation agenda is to achieve an all inclusive, non-inflationary growth, improve rural infrastructure, encourage large scale industries and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Others are to ensure fiscal consolidation, revitalise ailing industries, particularly in the manufacturing sub-sector, promote agriculture as a business and encourage local content strategies in key sectors such as petroleum, natural gas, power and other renewable energy programmes.
This Day
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