APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report of first crude feedstock for Dangote’s 650,000 b/d refinery has arrived the country, according to SP Global quoting market sources and tanker tracking data is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Punch reports that first crude feedstock for Dangote’s 650,000 b/d refinery has arrived the country, according to SP Global quoting market sources and tanker tracking data.
The analytical firm said the development indicated that fuel production at the new $19 billion facility is finally set to start after years of delays.
According to the report; the OTIS tanker loaded a 950,000 barrel cargo of Agbami crude on Dec. 6 and was discharged at the refinery’s terminal on Thursday.
The Suezmax tanker, chartered by state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company, is the first of Dangote’s initial crude supplies as the giant new plant starts to ramp up operations, a West African oil trader said.
The privately owned refinery was officially completed in May but has yet to make any oil products due to a lack of domestic crude feedstock.
NNPC, which owns a 20 per cent stake in the refinery, recently agreed to supply 6 million barrels of crude oil as feedstock to the refinery in December.
Operated by Chevron, Agbami is one of Nigeria’s largest deepwater developments pumping about 100,000 b/d in the central Niger Delta. Agbami produces light sweet crude with a gravity of 47.9 API and a sulfur content of 0.04 per cent, according to Platts’ Periodic Table of Oil. The crude is known in the market for yielding a large proportion of naphtha and kerosene.
The newspaper says that the Canadian Government has raised its “cost-of-living financial requirement for study permit applicants,” basically for international students, to $20,000 from $10,000 starting from January 1, 2024.
This was made known by the country’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, in a statement on Thursday.
According to him, from 2024, a single applicant will need to show they have $20,635, representing 75% of LICO, in addition to their first year of tuition and travel costs, adding, “This change will apply to new study permit applications received on or after January 1, 2024.”
“Starting January 1, 2024, the cost-of-living financial requirement for study permit applicants will be raised so that international students are financially prepared for life in Canada.
“For close to two decades, study permit applicants for international students have remained at $10,000. This review, which takes effect from January 1, ‘will help prevent student vulnerability and exploitation,’” the statement added.
This development is coming a few days after the United Kingdom introduced a new set of rules that would make it more difficult for Nigerians and other applicants to obtain a visa.
Home Secretary James Cleverly announced the changes in the House of Commons on Monday.
The Guardian reports that the decision by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari and his successor, Bola Tinubu, to make themselves Minister of Petroleum Resources deepens opaqueness and frustrates investigation of N11 trillion fuel subsidy payment in the oil and gas sector.
The above was the submission of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, at an event, yesterday, organised by the Bank Directors’ Association of Nigeria in Abuja.
He said, unfortunately, the development deprived Nigerians and critical stakeholders the opportunity to engage the substantive minister on probity since 2015.
At the event, themed, ‘Emerging issues: Navigating the complex balance between regulation and compliance’, the one-time Emir of Kano stated: “The National Assembly called NNPCL (Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited) to bring the documents. They refused. And by the way, let me advise that this idea of the President being a Petroleum Minister is not a good idea. The last President was the Minister of Petroleum for eight years.
“When I was Governor of the Central Bank, we had a Petroleum Minister. So, when I talk about NNPCL, people will say I am attacking the President. Now, nobody can talk about Petroleum. Because (in that) eight years, if you talk, you are attacking the President. We need that buffer. Somebody has to be there. A minister has to be there, who is held accountable by the people.”
He wondered why the NNPCL was not able to bring in dollars, adding: “Where are the dollars? We need to shine a light on NNPCL.”
Sanusi argued that if government does not know how much oil the country produces, it would not be able to fix leakages either.
The ex-monarch queried: “Where is the money saved so far since the petrol subsidy ceased?”
The newspaper says that airfare hurdles await domestic travellers this festive season as local airlines have again doubled airfares on high-traffic seasonal routes.
The airfare that surged to an average of N100,000 per one-hour Economy flight ticket in October, has hit N200,000 for flights on the East and Southern routes. Its round-trip variant now sells for between N350,000 and almost half a million, subject to seat availability.
The Guardian learnt that the fresh spike is not unconnected with a high cost of operation, limited capacity, high demand that is typical of this period, and alleged exploitation
Findings across the airlines, yesterday, showed that the average fare of N70,000 for a one-hour (one-way) flight in early October has increased to between N120,500, and N270,000, depending on the airline and time of booking.
On Air Peace, for instance, the Lagos-Anambra flight travel date, in the week ahead of Christmas, yesterday sold at N171,500 for one-way. After Christmas, it sells for an average of N66,900. Lagos-Enugu flight ranges between N123,900 and N266,800, one-way.
GIK/APA