Business

Iran To Provide Infrastructure For Nigeria’s Oil, Gas Development – Ambassador

Published

2 years ago

August 19, 2023

The Iranian Government has expressed its readiness to collaborate in developing Nigeria’s oil and gas downstream division.

The Iranian Ambassador to Nigeria, Muhammad Alibak, made this known when he hosted Rep. Ikenga Ugochinyere (PDP-Imo), Chairman, House Committee on Downstream Petroleum and Rep. Aliyu Mustapha (PDP-Kaduna state) in Abuja.

The ambassador explained that the assistance would include in refineries and other related infrastructure.

He said that Iran was ready to support the Nigerian Government in addressing its energy challenges through collaborative investment and cooperation.

The ambassador expressed Iran’s enthusiasm to bolster Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and explore alternative energy sources.

Alibak also aid that areas of collaboration included Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) projects, refinery improvements, petrochemical ventures, and impactful exploration initiatives.

He expressed the unwavering commitment of Iran, exemplified through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), previously signed by the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mr Timpre Slyva.

The ambassador also highlighted subsequent correspondence from Iran’s current Oil Minister, demonstrating their determination to collaborate closely with Nigeria.

In his remarks, Ugochinyere said that the purpose of their visit was to solidify deeper cooperation based on Iran’s long-standing willingness to contribute to Nigeria’s growth and expansion in the downstream sector.

He said sequel to the enacted Petroleum Industry Act (PlA), “there are many opportunities within the downstream and midstream oil domains.”

The lawmaker sought enhanced investment collaboration with Iran in terms of technology transfer that would fortify the ongoing evolution in the oil and gas sector.

Ugochinyere underscored the significance of refining alternative energy sources, advancing the CNG project, accelerating petrochemical initiatives, and boosting profitable exploration endeavours.

The chairman commended Iran’s successful utilisation of gas resources, leading to widespread connectivity to refined gas and enabling economic growth.

He commended Iran’s resilience in maintaining local petroleum refining and expanding refining capacity even amidst global economic sanctions.

Ugochinyere said that closer collaboration with Iran, a country that successfully overcame challenges including global sanctions, could strengthen Nigeria’s energy security, exploration activities, local refining, and overall industry growth.

The chairman assured that the Nigerian Parliament would vigilantly oversee the implementation of the PlA, ensuring its intentions so upheld with unwavering consistency.

He encouraged Iranian investors and oil companies to capitalise on the transparent and competitive market environment, leveraging the newfound stability in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and invest heavily.

Also speaking, Mustapha expressed the urgent need for Nigeria to transition from exporting crude materials to refining locally.

“This transformation would pave the way for job creation, forex generation, energy security, and greater economic stability.

“This is further made possible given the removal of subsidies and the resulting volatility of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and the potential opportunities presented by the PIA,” he said.

Business

French Media Giant Canal+ Takes Over S.Africa’s Multichoice

Published

21 hours ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

French media giant Canal+ said Monday it had taken effective control of South African television and streaming company MultiChoice, creating a group present in nearly 70 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The companies said in a joint statement that the combined group will have a workforce of 17,000 employees and serve more than 40 million subscribers.

The acquisition is “the largest transaction ever undertaken” by Canal+, the statement said.

Canal+, which is already the sector’s leader in French-speaking African countries, now controls what it described as the leader in the continent’s English- and Portuguese-speaking regions.

“This acquisition allows us to strengthen our position as a leader in Africa, one of the most dynamic pay-TV markets in the world,” Canal+ chief executive Maxime Saada said in the statement.

The buyout was given a final green light by South Africa’s competition authority in late July, more than a year after Canal+ launched its bid.

Canal+ offered 125 rand ($7.2) per share for MultiChoice when it launched its offer last year, valuing the South African firm at around $3.0 billion.

Canal+ is present in 25 African countries through 16 subsidiaries and has eight million subscribers.

MultiChoice operates in 50 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and has 14.5 million subscribers.

It includes Africa’s premier sports broadcaster, SuperSport, and the DStv satellite television service.

AFP

Business

BREAKING: Nigeria’s GDP Grows By 4.23% In Q2 2025 – NBS

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23 per cent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed in its Q2 2025 GDP Report.

According to the report released on Monday on its website, the figure shows a significant improvement compared to 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024 and the 3.13 per cent recorded in Q1 2025.

The figures signal a strengthening economy, driven by recent rebasing, rebound in oil production and a resilient non-oil sector.

The report said, “Following the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product using 2019 as the base year, previous quarterly GDP estimates were benchmarked to the rebased annual estimates to align the old series with the new rebased estimates

“This procedure provided a new quarterly GDP series, which is compared to the 2025 second quarter estimates. Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2025.

“This growth rate is higher than the 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024. During the quarter under review, agriculture grew by 2.82%, an improvement from the 2.60% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024.

According to NBS, “The growth of the industry sector stood at 7.45% from 3.72% recorded in the second quarter of 2024, while the Services sector recorded a growth of 3.94% from 3.83% in the same quarter of 2024.”

The report said in terms of share of the GDP, “the Industry sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the second quarter of 2025 at 17.31% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024 at 16.79%.”

It added, “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP at basic price stood at N100,730,501.10 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the second quarter of 2024, which recorded an aggregate GDP of N84,484,878.46 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 19.23%.”

Details later…

Business

Why Nigeria’s Crude Oil Production Dropped To 1.63mbpd In August – NUPRC

Published

2 days ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has explained that unscheduled maintenance at a refinery facility made Nigeria’s crude oil production drop on a month-on-month basis in August.

This comes as Nigeria’s crude oil production dropped to 1.63 million barrels per day month-on-month in August, down from 1.71 million bopd in July.

NUPRC disclosed this in its Crude Oil and Condensate Production for August 2025, released on Saturday.

This means a 4.7 per cent drop in combined crude oil and condensate production from 1.71 million bopd in July.

In the same vein, crude oil production itself declined by 4.8 per cent, down from 1.5 million bopd in July 2025.

“The month-on-month drop was driven by a single-day unscheduled maintenance at an oil facility.

“In the month of August, the lowest and peak combined crude and condensate production were 1.59 million bopd and 1.85 million bopd, respectively,” NUPRC said.

The data showed that while there was a decline month-on-month, the country’s crude oil production rose on a year-on-year basis by 5.5 per cent to 1.63 mbpd in August this year from 1.58 million bopd in the same period last year.

Further analysis indicates that daily condensate production in August stood at 197,229 bpd, reflecting a decline.

Also, Nigeria’s crude oil output in August achieved 96 per cent of its OPEC quota, which is set at 1.5 million bopd.

Accordingly, in the period under review, Forcados Terminal topped the production charts, delivering a total of 8.99 million barrels, including 8.08 million barrels of crude oil and 915.2k barrels of condensates.