TOTAL: Three Main Exploration and Production Projects in Nigeria

In addition to projects in sectors strategic for its growth, Total is involved in several other new exploration and production projects throughout the world. Nigeria, one of Total’s biggest foreign exploration and production investments shall witness a huge chunk of it’s strategic expansion projects.

THE IMA PROJECT

The IMA offshore project will consolidate Total’s presence in the Nigerian gas sector while also contributing to development in the coastal communities of the Niger Delta.

Total is a partner in the IMA offshore gas project operated by Amni, located in Oil Mining Leases (OML) 112 and 117. The capacity of this field is estimated at 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). Total holds a 40% interest in the project. Amni is the other partner (concessionaire), with a 60% stake.

Total’s presence in the IMA project strengthens our positions in Nigeria’s booming gas sector.

IMA extends over 50 square kilometers (km²) in the eastern Niger Delta, in a water depth of 10 m. The Nigerian oil company Amni joined forces with Total to draw on our technical experience and tap the gas potential of this field. Total and its local partner are contributing to resource development in Nigeria.

The IMA field development will go hand in hand with community development initiatives focusing on education, especially in coastal communities.

OFON PHASE 2

Tapping as-yet undeveloped reserves safely and incorporating solutions for lasting environmental progress.

Nigeria’s Ofon field, on stream since 1997, is about 60 kilometers from Port Harcourt in 40 meters of water. The second phase of field development raises output from the current 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) to a total of 90,000 boe/d of oil, gas and condensate. Phase 2 sharply reduces Total’s greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating flaring during routine operations. We monetize the associated gas from the field, a major step forward for the environment. During the whole field development phase until the start in January 2015, we deployed an array of technical innovations and implemented our most extensive local content programs in the country to date.

THE OML-58 UPGRADE PROJECT

The OML-58 upgrade project will increase the capacity of the block’s production facilities and keep local communities closely involved in the project.

Total is operator on the additional condensate gas development project on onshore lease OML-58. Start-up of the new facilities with expanded capacity is expected in 2013.

Total has a 40% interest in the project. Its partner, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC, concessionaire) holds the remaining 60%.

Upgrading the facilities of OML-58 is consistent with Total’s strategy of maximizing production to enhance the value of resources in the Niger Delta.

When completed in 2013, the OML-58 Upgrade will raise the condensate gas treatment capacity from 10 to 15 million cubic meters per day (Msm3/d). This entails building a second treatment train at the Obite Treatment Centre, modernizing the facilities of the Obite gas plant, and building a 42-inches/45-km gas pipeline to handle the new volumes for export to the Bonny LNG plant.

Total is contributing to economic and social development in the region by involving local communities in the project: 90% of the total hours worked will be performed locally.

TOTAL

Total Completes OML 58 Projects, Records High Nigerian Content Achievements

Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited has said that it exceeded Nigerian Content targets in the execution of Oil Mining Lease 58 upgrade projects which it completed recently.

The OML 58 is located onshore in Rivers States, approximately 85 kilometers North West of Port Harcourt and the upgrade projects were designed to improve oil recovery, boost gas supply for industrial and domestic use and increase deliveries to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) while meeting the Federal Government’s Gas flare out policy.

Oil production from OML started in 1966 from Obagi field while gas production started in 1999 from Ibewa. Gas export from the facility to Bonny NLNG is through the GTS1 while oil is exported to Shell Bonny terminal through SPDC lines at Rumuekpe.

Giving a breakdown of the project during a visit by the NCDMB media crew recently, the Project General Manager, Engr. Kayode Akiode listed the components to include the upgrade of the Ogbogu Flow Station, erection of a new Field Logistics Base, construction of a new Obite Gas Treatment Centre, construction of the 42 kilometer O.U.R Pipeline from Obite to Rumuji and the construction of 50 kilometer 24inch Northern Option Pipeline (NOPL).

Listing key Nigerian Content achievements on the Obite Gas Plant and Ogbogu Flow Station, Akiode stated that detailed engineering on the project was done by Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited and Cakasa while Carbon Steel was executed by Dormanlong Nigeria.

Another major Nigerian Content accomplishment on the project was also the Obagi pipe insulation which was executed by Deepwell Technical Nigeria led by Mr. Lawrence Ezeh.

Other Nigerian companies that executed key scopes on the projects included NEGRIS, PNL, CHIMESS and LUBROK Nigeria.

Firms like Point Engineering, DAMAGIX Nigeria, Pipe Coaters, SURVICON, Fezinar, Sanaglobe and MUDIAME were among other firms that worked on other aspects of the project.

According to the General Manager, the company set out to achieve 70 per cent Nigerian Content on the upgrade of the Ogbogu Flow Station but exceeded expectations by recording 73 per cent.

He also reported that Total targeted 78 per cent on the O.U.R Pipeline but achieved 79 per cent while it accomplished 91 per cent Nigerian Content on the Northern Option Pipeline (NOPL) as against the target of 89 per cent.

The OML 58 upgrade project also sponsored and trained 247 Nigerian youths in diverse areas including machining, welding, instrumentation, pipe welding and pipe fitting, with 42 of them getting their training in Norway and Namibia.

In its determination to develop its host communities on the back of the project, Akiode said Total E&P signed 25 memorandum of understanding. The highlight of the MoU is that the members of the community constituted 100 per cent of unskilled labour that worked on the project, 60 per cent of semi-skilled labour and 40 per cent of skilled personnel.

The company also committed to train over 100 community personnel on welding, and fitting, scaffolding and other specialised skills.

He put the number of contracts awarded to community contractors at 2,743 even as he said that steady power supply to its primary host communities-Egi has been provided free since 2005 at the annual cost of $1.7m.

NCDMB

Dangote Cement commissions Tanzanian Plant

Nigerian Cement Conglomerate, Dangote Cement has commissioned its 3 million tpy cement plant in Mtwara, Tanzania. The plant reportedly cost some US$600 million to build and will provide direct employment for about 1500 people and further indirect employment for some 9000 people. The new plant is located in Msijute in Mtwara Rural District.

The additional capacity brought to the market is expected to bring down cement prices in Tanzania, which currently range between Sh.12 500 – 13 500 per 50 kg bag. During the commissioning ceremony, Aliko Dangote, the company’s Chief Executive, expressed his intention to make Africa a cement export continent, rather than being import-dependent. The company has plans to be present in 18 countries, mostly across Africa but also in Nepal in Asia. The Tanzanian plant is the fourth to commissioned this year as part of the company’s expansion strategy, and it hopes to commission plants in Senegal and South Africa before the end of the year.

Mr Dangote has been praised by many for the investment he has put into Africa. A representative for the President of Nigeria spoke at the commissioning ceremony, saying that Africa is taking its destiny into its own hands rather than waiting on outside investment. In turn, Mr Dangote praised the government and people of Tanzania for providing an environment that enabled investment.

WorldCement

2015 Ford Ranger T6 – Nigeria Joins The ASssembly list

Ford’s expansion plans in the Middle-East and Africa will see the facelifted Ford Ranger T6 being built in Ikeja, Nigeria from the fourth quarter of 2015 onwards. The American brand will work together in partnership with Coscharis Motors Limited, a major Ford dealer in Nigeria, on the project.

The plant, which is located in the Lagos state a few hundred kilometres southwest of Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, will assemble the Ranger in semi-knockdown form, with body parts and components coming in from South Africa. Nigeria will be the second African country in which Ford will produce its vehicles.

The plant at Ikeja will have an annual production capacity of 5,000 units, and Ford says the pick-ups assembled there will serve the demand of the local Nigerian market. Currently, the Ranger is also manufactured in Ford’s South African plant, one of the three facilities where it is being built.

Paultan.org

Nigeria Joins $100m New Global Initiative to Harness Bamboo

A NEW comprehensive plan was unveiled last week by International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and its 41 Member States including Nigeria to unlock the potential of bamboo and rattan for rural communities – to create local economic growth, new income streams, regenerate degraded lands and forests.

The global initiative nicknamed Global Assessment of Bamboo and Rattan (GABAR), launched during the World Forestry Congress, recently, aims to provide rapid access to knowledge such as forest management practices, examples of bamboo and rattan value chains and business cases, studies and natural resource assessments, and input to policy issues.

These are issues countries must address to create a favourable investment climate to develop these sectors. The new GABAR initiative brings together some 41 bamboo and rattan resource countries, research partners, development agencies and technical specialists. The initiative is planned as a $100 million programme.

Current indicative contributing projects and earmarked funding total some $25 million. Bamboo and rattan are powerful ‘strategic forest resources’ that can bring jobs and income to millions of people in rural areas, create new income streams for communities and reverse land degradation and deforestation. But today progress toward this widespread growth is slow.

It is caused by a lack of coordination between bamboo and rattan experts and agencies, technical knowledge that is difficult to access and the need for new evidence that countries can use to harness these resources to boost economic growth.

The ability to tap the full economic and environmental potential of bamboo and rattan eludes many countries today, says Hans Friederich, Director General of INBAR, the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan.

GABAR helps close this gap this by providing easy access to knowledge, practical tools and policy guidance for countries and development programmes. “A wealth of information exists today on how to use bamboo and rattan for economic development.

But it is difficult to find, and it resides in different research centers, organisations, government agencies, and with experts worldwide. At the same time there are areas where we need more research and hard evidence, such as: how much bamboo and rattan exits in the world and where is it located; what are the species, their agro- ecological characteristics, water and nutrient requirements and options for propagation and creation of new bamboo plantations,” he explains.

Speaking for INBAR Member States, representative of Jamaica, the INBAR Council Chair, Hon. Sharon Ffolkes Abrahams, Minister of State for Industry, Investment and Commerce of Jamaica, comments that GABAR will help bamboo and rattan resource countries be more productive. “GABAR provides them with new knowledge as well as ‘technology and policy packages’ to help strengthen their bamboo and rattan sectors.

GABAR products and services will include research and synthesis activities, capacity building and the south-south exchange of technical expertise. “It will also be a knowledge platform that provides information and data about bamboo and rattan that policy makers and development professionals can use to craft national strategies and actions plans.”

These plants offer dozens of new and innovative uses for income generation and improving environmental management. We need to better understand how to make the best use of them, says Friederich. “GABAR is the first global initiative of its kind that brings together practical solutions from around the world to help countries take practical steps to develop bamboo and rattan.”

Guardian

Diageo Makes Offer to Increase Stake in Guinness Nigeria

Diageo PLC said it has approached the board of Guinness Nigeria PLC with a roughly $208 million offer to increase its stake in the listed Nigerian company that houses Diageo’s beer brands in the country.

Diageo has offered to increase its stake in Nigerian Stock Exchange- listed Guinness Nigeria—which houses brands like Guinness, Harp and Malt—to 70% from 54.3% as the world’s largest spirits company looks to wield more control over its African business.

London-headquartered Diageo, which makes Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky, said it has proposed launching a tender offer to buy shares in Guinness Nigeria from shareholders for a per-share price of 175 Nigerian naira (roughly 88 cents) in cash, or a 40% premium to the company’s closing price on Tuesday.

The company said it could also look to acquire shares in the market for 175 naira per share or below if a deal is approved. The proposed deal would be subject to regulatory approval by the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission.

The move comes after Diageo in July said it would terminate its partnership with Heineken NV in South Africa, saying it had the necessary scale to grow on its own in the country.

Africa has emerged as a rare bright spot for Diageo, which in July reported a 0.8% drop in operating profit for the fiscal year ended June 30 amid weaker sales in North America, the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and the Caribbean. In Africa, discounting the effect of acquisitions and currency fluctuations, sales rose 6%.

Liquor-focused Diageo has faced years of speculation as to whether it will eventually sell Guinness, but the company publicly insists that having a beer business in Africa is an essential part of its plan to drive growth in its less developed spirits business on the continent.

Nigeria and East Africa, including beer and spirits, made up between 3% to 6% of Diageo’s net sales last fiscal year. On Thursday, Guinness Nigeria reported a 9% rise in net sales for the year ended June 30.

WSJ

Nigeria’s Former Tech Minister is Now a Venture Capitalist

London-based venture capital firm, TLcom, has appointed Omobola Johnson, Nigeria’s former minister of communications and technology, as lead partner as it kicks off its West African operations.

The company, which opened its first Africa office in Nairobi two years ago, is ramping up its investment in African start-ups through its TLcom TIDE (Technology and Innovation for Developing Economies) Africa Fund which could see it raise as much as $100 million.

The focus of the investments, which could range from $500,000 to $10 million, will be on e-commerce, energy, health and education technology startups which have a potential for fast growth. In Johnson, TLcom has a partner with a track record and understanding of the tech space in the region.

In her four years in government, the tech ecosystem in Nigeria grew fast and she was keen to encourage and enable the growth of local start-ups. One of her lasting legacies was launching Idea Nigeria, an incubation hub in the heart of Yaba—the epicenter of the tech ecosystem in Lagos. Since leaving office after March/April elections, Johnson has remained on the public radar and earlier this month, she was announced as Honorary Chairperson of Alliance for Affordable Internet.

Maurizio Caio, TLcom founder, says the focus for the Africa Fund will immediately be on start-ups with high returns potential. “For this cycle we need to be very merciless in focusing on the highest potential entrepreneurs—to make a point and to demonstrate that high returns are possible.”

TLcom’s aggressive expansion in search of more tech opportunities in Africa could be a signal fears of investing in African tech companies and achieving profitable exits is abating. Caio says the bigger issue is identifying start-ups with real potential. “If you have a good company, you can exit. It is a not an exit problem—it is a quality of company problem.”

QuartzAfrica

Nigeria, Ghana seal integrated trade in W/Africa

The West African Capital Markets Integration Council (WACMIC) has successfully completed its first direct trade between two West African countries under phase one of its integration programme to promote trade across member countries.

United Capital Plc of Nigeria and CAL Brokers of Ghana execute first trade under West African Capital Market Integration Programme.
The landmark trade was between United Capital Securities and CAL Brokers, enabled by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
WACMIC was established to harmonize a regulatory environment for the issuance and trading of securities across the West-African sub region.
The successful implementation of Phase 1 through the Nigerian capital market will allow brokers not registered in the Nigerian capital market, remote access to the trading facility of the Nigerian Stock Exchange through a local sponsoring dealing member firm licensed by NSE.
Brokers in WACMI member countries can now trade on behalf of their clients and settle securities in Nigeria through local sponsoring brokers.

Other West African stock exchanges such as Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres SA are expected to initiate similar deals which could be worth an additional USD $2 million a day in capital market liquidity to the Nigeria market.
Commenting on the development, Chairman, West African Capital Market Integration Council (WACMIC) Edoh Kossi Amenounve said, “The council is proud to see the realization of this important target for regional integration’’.
In his own, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Oscar Onyema said “This inaugural trade affirms our commitment to regional integration and highlights the NSE’s resolve to partner with relevant bodies that will provide our various stakeholders’ with platforms that will make them globally competitive.

DailyTrust

Techno Oil N3bn LPG Plant To Produce 5m Cylinders

Techno Oil Limited has announced plans to execute a N3 billion Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, cylinder manufacturing plant in Lagos.
The facility, which is hopefully coming on stream by the end of November, has production capacity of five million units of cooking gas cylinders annually.
“The construction of the plant has since commenced at Lekki, Lagos, and it is valued at over N3 billion and is expected to generate no fewer than 1,000 jobs to Nigerians,” the executive vice chairman of the company, Nkechi Obi, said .
Currently, the machines fabrication and construction of the plant are being monitored in strict compliance to regulatory standards as stipulated by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Obi said that the plant was being constructed in partnership with a European firm which has built similar plants in over 15 African and Asian countries, adding that her company embarked on the project as part of its contribution to the drive by the federal government to deepen the LPG and encourage more Nigerians to embrace the use of the LPG which she described as a cleaner, safer and affordable source of fuel for homes.
She said the Techno Oil LPG cylinder manufacturing plant, when fully operational, would also offer value added services to cooking gas users through the use of an integrated cylinder integrity testing facility.

This would be a relief because most cylinder users do not have access to the facility that helps to test the integrity of their cylinders.
Obi also said that although the use of cooking gas had increased by about 36.8 per cent in Nigeria in the past three years, over 80 per cent of households still relied on kerosene, firewood and other dangerous energy sources.

She lamented that Nigeria had a population of over 170 million people, yet the country has less than one million cooking gas cylinders in circulation.

“The huge capital expended
annually on the importation of LPG cylinders is a monumental loss to this country,” said Obi.

“With the completion of this project, Nigeria will curb this huge capital flight which is estimated at N5 billion annually and further reduce the depletion of our foreign reserve,” she added.

Leadership.ng

We’ve invested 120 million Euros in Nigeria in 3 years — Unilever

Unilever Plc has asked the in-coming administration in Lagos to ensure the business environment is more competitive towards improved ease of doing business in the state.

The Global Chief Executive Officer, Unilever, Paul Polman, who was speaking during a visit to the Lagos State governor-elect, Akinwunmi Ambode, in Lagos, said this would attract and encourage investors to the state.

Mr. Polman, who used the occasion to reaffirm Unilever’s continued commitment to Nigeria, said the company invested over 120 million Euros in the country in the last three years, apart from attracting about $80 mn Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to the Nigerian economy.

He promised to continue to attract more FDIs to Nigeria, underlining the company’s commitment to growing business sustainably, while delivering innovative brands for Nigerian consumers.

“As we grow our business, we also want to showcase the huge business opportunities in Nigeria by inviting foreign investors to set up businesses in the country,” Mr. Polman said.
Unilever, Mr. Polman said, has already made laudable strides in attracting new businesses to the country through the ’Partner to Win’ Africa Investment Conference held last year.

The conference was attended by supplier representatives from across the world, alongside Unilever senior executives, to discuss investment opportunities and explore strategic partnerships.

“For us (Unilever), we will keep investing in Nigeria. We will also sustain efforts that attract other investors, because we understand that these will create value for the economy,” Mr. Polman said.

Although he acknowledged the challenges businesses face in the Nigerian environment, the Unilever boss stressed the need for greater drive to redress the bottlenecks and bureaucracies that translate into lost time, which discourage investors.

Highlighting the company’s re-investment to its operating community, Mr. Polman spoke about the Unilever Sustainability Living Plan (USLP), with evidence in key priority areas, including improved health and well-being of Nigerians, reducing environmental impact and enhancing the people’s general livelihood.

Continue reading: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/184263-weve-invested-120-million-euros-in-nigeria-in-3-years-unilever.html