News
China Dumps Nigeria’s Oil, Heads for Angola
Nigeria has lost its status as Africa’s biggest exporter to Asia, particularly the China to Angola and this is coming as the latest oil and gas outages by oil giants, ExxonMobil and Shell continues to reduce Nigeria’s production, denting the nation’s reputation as a reliable energy supplier.
Exxon warned customers of supply disruptions from Nigeria’s biggest oil stream Qua Iboe on Thursday, and Shell said gas supplies to one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas terminals would be delayed. Both are due to pipeline damage.
Nigeria’s oil has been highly sought after for decades by the United States because it is easier to refine into gasoline, but the world’s biggest economy is increasingly serving its fuel needs domestically.
Asian buyers have a far greater choice of oil producers in Africa than a few years ago, especially Nigeria’s West African neighbour Angola, which often provides China with more oil than Nigeria.
“The timing of the force majeure on Exxon Mobil’s Qua Iboe oil grades could not be more stark,” said Rolake Akinkugbe, head of oil and gas research at Ecobank, a leading West African bank.
“Nigeria’s first quarter in oil cargo market has already suffered a slump in demand mostly from North American and Asia.”
The demand for imports is falling in the United States and Asia has an increasing choice of suppliers.
The latest outages follow a raft of problems at the end of last year when four oil majors – Shell, Exxon, Total and Eni – announced outages due to rampant oil theft and the worst floods Nigeria has seen in 50 years.
Ecobank estimates in the last year that oil theft and pipeline vandalisation cost Nigeria up to $7 billion in revenue from its two million barrel per day crude export business.
Exxon said despite declaring force majeure – an inability to fulfill contracts due to unexpected events – on Qua Iboe exports, which can reach 400,000 bpd, it continued to produce the benchmark grade and the export terminal was open.
EFCC
The African Development Bank Group last week approved an investment of €6.5 million in the Saviu II fund in order to support technology start-ups through their seed phase and first institutional fundraising, mainly in French-speaking Central and West Africa.
The Bank will invest €4.5 million as equity and €2 million as a first-loss hedging tranche on behalf of the European Commission, under the Boost Africa Programme.
This participation of the Bank Group will enable the Saviu II fund to give priority to companies with a strong technological or digital component.
Saviu II, the second investment vehicle of Saviu Partners, plans to invest between €500,000 and €3 million in about 20 technology or technology-oriented business-to-business start-ups in the seed phase or carrying out first institutional fundraising.
The Saviu II venture capital fund aims to make at least 60% of its commitments in the French-speaking countries of West and Central Africa: Côte d ‘Ivoire, Cameroon, Benin, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali.
The fund can also co-invest in promising technology companies in East Africa that have a strong team and business model, and whose strategy includes entering the market in French-speaking West African countries and establishing a strong presence there.
In addition, the fund will devote a dedicated envelope to pre-seed investments, focusing on minority equity investments, usually in co-investment with studios, incubators or other ecosystem partners.
Nigerian Government has signed a $1.3 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) via the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) to fund an alumina refinery, national geoscience mapping, and a strategic investment vehicle for mining growth.
Special Assistant to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Segun Tomori, said the refinery will process one million tonnes of bauxite yearly using a modern Bayer process, powered by an on-site gas-fired cogeneration plant.
Minister Dele Alake called it a transformative milestone boosting GDP, aligning with reforms that improve investment climate, regulations, and licensing to attract private capital. He directed agencies to fast-track permits.
The 20-year project at 95% utilization eyes 19 million tonnes total output, $1.2 billion annual GDP addition, $25 billion economic impact, and $8 billion forex earnings, per feasibility studies.
SMDF Executive Secretary Fatima Shinkafi termed it the agency’s biggest funding deal, supporting value-addition policy.
The partnership extends to geoscience mapping for mineral data, de-risking exploration, and a joint vehicle for mining assets.
Permanent Secretary Engr. Farouk Yabo praised the reforms. Shinkafi signed for government; AFC’s Franklin Edochie for the corporation, witnessed by AFC CEO Samaila Zubairu.
Tomori positioned it as Nigeria’s largest private mining investment and FDI magnet.
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