PENGASSAN, NUPENG call off strike

  
NIGERIA’S striking oil workers on Friday suspended their five-day industrial action after a lengthy meeting with the Federal Government, TheCable reports.

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) on Monday embarked on a strike in protest of unresolved labour issues, prompting long queues for fuel in the Federal Capital Territory and other parts of the country.

Two among the unions’ protestations were the failure of the government to carry out turn around maintenance of the nation’s refineries and cut down the prices of petroleum products in line with the fall of global oil price.

 Another grouse of the unions was the sacking of a member, Elo Victor Ogbonda, by Total, after she was elected a zonal executive of PENGASSAN. The unions demanded her immediate reinstatement, but the oil giant’s refusal to reinstate Ogbonda was believed to have the tacit sanction of the government.

 However, after a 12-hour closed-door meeting, representatives of the unions and the government delegation led by Taminu Turaki, the supervising minister of labour, issued a joint communiqué with a promise by the government to resolve the issues raised by the unions. The scarcity of petrol caused by the strike was biting in the capital city, as motorists complained that a litre of petrol at the black market was sold for N250.

Nigerian interbank rates ease on expectation of budget disbursal

Nigerian interbank lending rates eased to an average of 15.25 percent on Friday, from 42.5 percent last week, after some lenders re-discounted their treasury bills to access some cash and dealers anticipated a budget disbursal.

The overnight lending rate had climbed to 80 percent on Tuesday, as banks scrambled for naira cash to pay for their foreign exchange purchases and meet other obligations.

The central bank last month hiked the CRR on private sector deposits with commercial lenders to 20 percent, from 15 percent, to support the local currency. It also raised interest rates by 100 basis points to 13 percent.

Dealers said cash from monthly disbursal of budgetary allocations to government agencies is expected to hit the banking system by close of Friday, which should further increase available cash.

The balance that lenders hold with the central bank closed at a surplus of 93 billion naira ($504.07 million), compared with debit of over 100 billion naira last week.

Nigerian Qua oil loadings to fall, helping ease glut

 

Shipments of Nigeria's largest crude stream will fall by a third in February, a loading programme showed, potentially supporting differentials which have slid to multi-year lows due to a glut.

Nigeria will export 271,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Qua Iboe crude in February, down from 398,000 bpd in January, a schedule provided by a trade source showed on Friday. The oil will be loaded on eight cargoes, five fewer than in January.

The drop comes as Nigerian crude oil differentials have fallen to the lowest in years. The United States, traditionally a big buyer, is importing less due to higher domestic output, and demand in Asia has slowed.

Further details on the maintenance were not immediately available. The U.S. press office of the operator of the Qua Iboe stream, Exxon Mobil, had no immediate comment on any planned work.

A cargo of Qua Iboe is currently worth a premium of 65 cents a barrel to benchmark dated Brent, according to Reuters data, the lowest premium since 2009.

Oil traders estimate between 25 and 30 January-loading cargoes of Nigerian crude - or 25 to 30 million barrels - out of 69 originally available, are still for sale. The release of February loading plans over the next few days will add at least another 50 cargoes.

While supply of Qua Iboe will fall in February, output of Nigeria's smaller EA stream has resumed and operator Royal Dutch Shell has lifted its force majeure on exports after repairing a mooring platform.

One 950,000-barrel cargo of EA is scheduled to load in February, a trade source said. Output has been shut since June.

NCP approves sale of NITEL/MTEL for $252m

THE National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has ratified the sale of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTEL) to NATCOM Consortium at the price of $252 million.

According to the chairman, technical committee of the council, Atedo Peterside, who spoke to State House correspondents in Abuja, after a meeting of the council chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo, with the ratification, documentation and payments would now follow.

Also speaking, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Musa Mohammed Sada, said the council also reviewed reports on the monitoring and evaluation of the entities so far privatised.

He said the exercise was carried out to ensure that the objectives of privatisation were met by the new owners, saying most of the companies evaluated were not doing badly.

New N100 note goes into circulation

The commemorative N100 banknote unveiled recently by President Goodluck Jonathan is going into circulation from today.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)  in a statement signed by Ibrahim Mu’azu, head, corporate communications, on Friday, directed all branches of the bank to commence issuance of the currency in their respective locations.

It recalled that the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, at the unveiling of the new banknote, explained that it was designed with enhanced security to offer robust resistance against counterfeiting.

It added that the authentication features of the note included window micro-optics, showing the national flag and numeral 100 indicating the value of the denomination and the attainment of the centenary period.

According to the statement, the QRC application, the bar code on the banknote, can be scanned by users to read a brief history of Nigeria.

It recalled that the apex bank, in 2010, issued commemorative N50 polymer note to mark Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary celebration.

A weakening of auction demand for FGN bonds

The DMO held its final monthly auction of FGN bonds for the year on Wednesday, and raised N54bn (US$300m) from the sale of three debt instruments.

 These were all reopened issues (13.05% Aug ‘16s, 14.20% Mar ‘24s and 12.15% Jul ‘34s).

The marginal rates (effective cut-off points) widened in each case from the previous month, by between 240bps and 350bps.

The total bid of N94bn was the lowest of the year and about 10% below the previous month. This is due in part to concerns surrounding pressures on the naira exchange rate following the slide in oil prices. Furthermore, participation by local investors waned due to the lure of higher yields on money market instruments.

At this auction, offshore investors showed very little interest while the participating PFAs concentrated on the longer dated instruments. The DMO only achieved its sales target for the long bond (Jul ’34), and then at a price.

CBN intervenes to prop up sliding Naira

 

The Central Bank of Nigeria intervened again to prop up the Naira on Thursday after its efforts to stamp out speculation by barring commercial banks from holding dollars failed to prevent the currency hitting another record low.

Confused by a central bank edict restricting domestic dollar holdings, dealers initially refused to quote prices for the naira, which has lost more than 12 percent since September due to a collapse in the price of oil, Nigeria's main export.

The standoff lasted for nearly an hour before Governor Godwin Emefiele confirmed that the emergency measures were designed to end speculative pressure on the currency of Africa's biggest economy.

Nigeria officially devalued the currency by eight percent last month and widened its target trading band to 160-176 against the dollar, but few analysts believe that level can hold, given dwindling state oil revenues and declining reserves.

As of Dec. 8, foreign reserves stood at $35.95 billion, down nearly 20 percent from a year ago after attempts to defend the naira in the face of a near-halving of global oil prices in the last five months.

Thursday's decline for the naira followed a record closing low on Wednesday after Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala slashed the economic growth forecast in her 2015 budget.