Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said that Nigeria will support an extension of a deal between OPEC, Russia and other non-members to cut oil supply until the end of 2018 as long as the right terms are put in place.
The Minister said that there is growing agreement among other members of OPEC to extend the deal.
“There isn’t any reason to change what is a winning formula. There is a consensus to extend but the issue will be the duration,”
OPEC, along with Russia and nine other producers agreed to cut oil output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until March 2018 in an attempt to ease a global excess that weighed on prices.
The group will meet in Vienna later this month to discuss whether to extend that deal.
Nigeria’s output has rebounded since its exemption, granted last year after militant attacks that cut its output to close to 1 million bpd, but Kachikwu said the recovery is ongoing, adding that the country wll be looking for a number that enables it to contribute which is in the range of 1.8 to 1.9 (million bpd), preferably closer to 1.9 of the production cap.
Meanwhile, Aiteo has denied news making the rounds that it plans to sell its stake on Oil MiningLease (OML) 29
The company in a statement released yesterday, said it has come to its notice that some fraudsters running a reports-for-cash syndicate, are suggesting that a portion of the shareholding of the company that holds the asset, OML 29 had been put up for sale to repay a loan.
‘‘For the avoidance of doubt, Aiteo has neither considered, initiated, nor announced the commencement of any plans to sell off any of its stake in OML 29. The reasons are patently clear. First, since the takeover of the asset we have successfully quadrupled production that it would be commercially inept to consider a disposal of any sort, now.
Second, there are several legitimate entities that constitute ownership of the oil block, such that it would be practically impossible for us to unilaterally consider disposing of the asset. As such, we urge the public to summarily disregard these unsavoury and fabricated reports in their entirety,” the firm said.
The statement explained that the claim that Bruce Burrows’ recent appointment as its Chief Financial Officer is aimed at finding a buyer for part of Aiteo’s assets is spurious and demonstrates that the publishers’ understanding of the commercial realities in the operation of assets such as OML 29 is shallow.
‘‘All of our stakeholders familiar with our strategic vision can attest that Aiteo continues to invest in the right people to deliver on that vision. Mr. Burrows’ appointment is simply to further strengthen our financial discipline as one of the most innovative, reliable and diverse oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria today. Mr Burrows joins a team of highly trained, experienced and world-class talent that currently guide the day to day activities of Aiteo.
For the record, OML 29 was indisputably, legitimately and transparently secured in an internationally conducted divestment by the private entity, Shell. The funding of this acquisition was made possible through a syndicated loan involving several Nigerian banks. Since then, we have continued to meet our financial obligations as and when due, like every other responsible, global conglomerate of our stature,’’ the statement added.
