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  • Key destination for international ships and tankers of all sizes

    Corruption has made Nigeria to make less profit from the maritime industry. People,
    especially supporters of the new administration headed President Muhammadu
    Buhari, known for his aversion to corrupt tendencies, believe that there are better
    times ahead for Nigeria.

    All sectors and industries in Nigeria are set to enter a new phase, with the majority of
    voters believing that the new administration is the hope for Nigeria. How will the
    maritime sector fare?

    Maritime sector experts believe that by making sure transparency and accountability
    in operations of maritime and oil & gas sectors of the Nigerian economy, revenues
    lost to negative actions in various sectors and industries will be saved for
    developmental programmes and projects that will benefit Nigerians.

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    Maritime agencies, regulators and companies must be closely regulated. These
    include Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian
    Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria National Petroleum
    Corporation (NNPC) and other regulators in the maritime and oil & gas industries.
    For many years, the maritime industry has been largely neglected for reasons
    obvious and some not obvious. Nigeria’s shipping sector is estimated to be capable
    of generating more than it is generating right now. But to tap fully into the maritime
    sector, there will have to be an overhaul of policy, institutional, regulatory and legal
    framework.

    To think that Nigeria is in this kind of situation is strange, since the country is well
    known for being responsible for most of maritime traffic in value and volume into
    central and West Africa, making the country the key destination for international
    ships and tankers of all sizes.

    There’s need for Nigeria to have active participation in cargo freighting and ancillary
    services currently being dominated by foreign interests. With the free fall of global oil
    prices, which is taking a toll on Nigerian economy, the country's inability to fully make
    use of its maritime potentials with a capacity to become the largest foreign exchange
    earner for the federal government if the regulatory environment is right and an
    enabling for indigenous players to thrive is created.

    The fall in oil prices also forced the former administration to start looking more
    seriously into alternative sources of revenue to fund its annual budget. Maritime is
    believed to hold more opportunity for diversification in Nigeria.

    Nigeria could be losing over N2 trillion in maritime due to revenue leakages in the
    system, which licensed customs agents has said would be addressed when one
    percent of the cost insurance and freight (CIF) paid on cargoes is given as
    commission to agents. This, they believe, is the only way government can earn over
    N2 trillion allegedly lost to revenue leakages at the ports annually.

    The Nigerian Customs Service failed to meet its revenue target of N1.2 trillion for
    year 2014, making only N970 billion. This year and in subsequent years, the present
    administration would like to see how to improve matters in this respect.

    Strangely enough, it has been revealed that the Nigerian government can make over
    N3 trillion from duty collection alone at the ports, if not for the several leakages in the
    system, which would be blocked once government accede to their demands of a
    percentage. These step are necessary because experts feel that it is realistic for the
    maritime industry to contribute significantly to the nation's gross domestic product.
    There also has to be legal reviews put in place. This will include Review of Maritime
    Operations Coordination Act of 1992 to stop crude theft, Review of Ports and
    Harbour Bill to attract investors, Review/Drafting Cabotage Amendment Bill to enforce local content, review and passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill as well as the necessary advocacy to highlight the Petroleum Industry Bill.

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  • NIMAREX: Unlocking real business opportunities in Shipping

    During a recent shipping business event in Nigeria tagged, Nigeria Maritime Expo
    (NIMAREX), one of the Africa’s biggest maritime events in the country, the
    organisers of the event made it known that they were worried by the increasing
    foreign domination of shipping business in Nigeria.

    Furthermore, they indicated interest in pursuing growth and increased local
    participation in the Nigerian Maritime industry.

    The annual international exhibition and conference, hosted by the Nigeria
    Shipowners and the Federal Ministry of Transport, in collaboration with other
    stakeholders in the maritime industry, is an ideal forum to showcase products,
    services, new technologies, networking and unlocking real business opportunities in
    the country.

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    39569618 – merchant container ship

    A key objective of NIMAREX is to showcase maritime accomplishments and create
    awareness of the opportunities available in Nigeria. Attendees were encouraged to
    view the conference and exhibition as something more than just a corporate event,
    but a strategic meeting point for all key stakeholders within the Nigeria Maritime
    sector, aimed at fortifying the local shipping industry.

    Foreign countries, especially some in Europe are interested in helping the Nigerian
    maritime industry to sustain human capacity development efforts. Already, the human capacity drive of NIMASA is laudable. However, the technology support that Nigeria can get from foreign countries is laudable and will greatly aid growth of the industry.

    Recently, an Austrialian envoy stated that Australia was particularly interested in the
    provision of technical support and human capacity development. Also, the
    Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Rolf Ree, stated his country’s readiness for
    the provision of technical support to NIMASA towards realising the full potential of
    the Nigerian maritime industry.

    Commendably, leaders in the shipping industry have unanimously stated they would
    appreciate partnership with major maritime nations such as Australia and Norway
    particularly in the area of capacity building. So far, the support that Nigeria has been
    getting from Europe has been of immense benefit to the Nigerian maritime local
    sector. But it is hoped that the good relationship should be maintained so as to help
    Nigeria to continue to grow its maritime potential more effectively.

    One notable area of acclaim for the shipping industry in Nigeria is the improvement
    in monitoring Nigeria’s maritime domain in real time using a satellite surveillance
    system that covers the whole of Nigeria’s coast and the Gulf of Guinea.

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  • First cargo of new Nigerian crude Anyala enroute Europe

    The first export cargo of Nigeria’s newest crude grade, Anyala, is on its way to Northwest Europe, trading and shipping sources disclosed to S&P Global Platts on Monday. The Aframax Minerva Clara loaded a 700,000 barrel stem of Anyala crude from the Abigail-Joseph floating production, storage and offloading vessel on January 10, and the tanker is on its way to the Fos-sur-Mer Terminal, located at France’s Mediterranean port of Marseille, according to data intelligence firm, Kpler.

    Sources said trading house Vitol had chartered this tanker, as it has a stake in indigenous producer FIRST E&P, which is the operator of the Anyala West oil fields, located in the shallow waters of the Niger Delta. One market source said the cargo is likely to travel from Fos-sur-Mer to the Cressier refinery in Switzerland through the SPSE pipeline. The 68,000 b/d Cressier is operated by Varo Energy.

    Varo Energy is a joint venture between Vitol, private equity fund of the Carlyle Group, and private investment fund Reggeborgh. Sources said that a second cargo will load in March, with some Asian refiners already showing buying interest.

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    Anyala has been labelled a medium sweet crude grade, similar in quality to Nigeria’s flagship crude Bonny Light, sources added. When refined, Anyala will produce a high yield of middle distillates, making it attractive to both simple and complex refineries.

    The new crude is from Nigeria’s shallow-water Anyala West oil fields in the Niger Delta, which struck first oil in November, The fields in blocks OMLs 83 & 85 are expected to reach 60,000 b/d when fully developed, according to FIRST E&P.

    Anyala is Nigeria’s newest oil development since the start-up of the giant Egina field in late-2018. Seven development wells have been planned in Phase 1 in the Anyala West field (OML 83), which will be developed along with the nearby Madu field in (OML 85). The project is estimated to contain 300 million barrels of crude oil recoverable reserves.

    The final investment decision on the project was made in July 2018, while first oil was initially expected in 2019. OMLs 83 & 85 are located in the shallow waters offshore Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria.

    Nigerian oil output has fallen sharply in the past six months as it has come under pressure to adhere to its OPEC+ cut obligations. Some of the country’s key grades like Qua Iboe, Forcados and Brass River have also recently faced outages.

    Nigeria’s crude and condensate production slumped to around 1.66 million b/d in 2020 from 2.04 million b/d in 2019, according to S&P Global Platts estimates. This was its lowest annual output figure since 2016, when militancy in the Niger Delta pushed output to as low as 1.60 million b/d.

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