Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Mart Resources Inc has released a further update on its Umusadege operations on oil prospecting licence (OPL) 283. UMU-11 well commenced drilling operations on August 14, 2013 and reached a final total drilling depth of approximately 8,910 feet on September 27, says the company. Drilling activities have progressed very well from early in September when drilling had reached 1,100 feet.

The next phase of operations will include open hole well logging, conducting pressure surveys on prospective zones, and acquiring fluid samples. Well operations will then continue with running 9 5/8 inch casing in the open hole. The primary objectives of the UMU-11 well are to appraise and produce the proven oil reservoirs encountered but not completed in the UMU-9 and UMU-10 wells. The completion and testing of UMU-11 is expected to take approximately 30-45 days.

The main objectives for the UMU-11 well are to appraise and produce proven oil reservoirs encountered but not completed in the UMU-9 and UMU-10 wells. The UMU-11 objective is to test four of these oil-bearing sands, and if successful, complete these sands for production.

The company's co-venturers in the field are Midwestern Oil and Gas Company, the Operator of the Umusadege field, and SunTrust Oil Company Limited.

Mart also reports that the co-venturers are working with the Nigerian Department of Petroleum Resources and Agip to reconcile the rate and calculation of the ongoing pipeline and export facility losses. Additional data has been requested regarding the calculation and distribution of the losses among the affected parties that inject production into the Agip pipeline.

Umusadege field production averaged 9,235 barrels of oil per day ("bopd") during August 2013 based on calendar days, while average field production based on production days was 12,085 bopd during August 2013.

Umusadege field net deliveries into the export pipeline were approximately 293,600 barrels of oil ("bbls") in August 2013 before pipeline losses. The group says that pipeline and export facility losses for May 2013, June 2013 and for July 2013 have averaged 19% for the first seven months of 2013.

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Shell has lifted the force majeure declaration on its Bonny Light exports, which resulted in the deferral of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude. The force majeure was lifted on Thursday following the re-opening of the 24-inch Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP). The force majeure on liquefied natural gas remains in place even though it has resumed supply to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company. Shell said in a statement that it "will decide when best to lift the force majeure declared on that (supply) activity."  

Shell has been badly affected by rampant oil theft from its pipeline and says that its production is down 15 per cent as a result. The company, which has the capacity to produce 2.5 million bpd said that repairs on the often targeted TNP and the Nembe Creek pipeline were progressing.

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has revealed its total year-to-date earnings from sale of crude oil in 2013 as just over $20.9 billion.   

In a presentation to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) NNPC gave details of the earnings from sales, but not including petroleum profit tax for joint venture operations which are paid directly to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.   

Presenting the figures, NNPC's Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, Dr. Timothy Okon, gave the following breakdown for the 191,939,235 barrels of crude oil sold by the Corporation during the period under review:

Introduced on 16 June 2005, the new OPEC Reference Basket is currently made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).   

As OPEC forecasts continue to predict a fall in demand, OPEC Secretary General, Abdullah al-Badri remains unperturbed. He said he was comfortable with the market outlook for 2014 which forecasts a drop in demand for OPEC crude to 29.61 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2014, down 320,000 bpd from 2013, due to rising non-OPEC supply. "It is not a huge drop in the call on OPEC," al-Badri is reported to have said.

Meanwhile, OPEC daily basket price stood at $106.79 a barrel Thursday, 3 October 2013 compared with $106.08 the previous day, after rising every day since the 1st of October.

With the hotting up of the political scene in preparation for elections next year, it was assumed that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), intended for a wholesale reform of the petroleum industry, would die a natural death. Senate has now revealed that it will begin a new public hearing on the Bill on the 9th of October. This will enable those who had previously complained of being excluded from the initial hearings to make their representations. Among those are the Nigerian Bar Association and the Nigerian Labour Congress.

Some industry watchers are sceptical that the Bill can be passed before the elections, even with the resumption of public hearings next week. Many fear that continuing public hearings at this stage means that the process is so far behind it will not be possible to recover the lost time. It now looks like a wait for the next government before the legislative process can start again. Depending on who wins the elections, it might be back to the drawing board for the ill-fated PIB.

In Abuja however, Chairman of the joint Committee, Sen. Emmanuel Paulker (PDP-Bayelsa) seemed upbeat about the process. He said the decision of the senate to resume the hearing was to ensure that the new oil law was an aggregate of opinions in the oil and gas industry in the country.

"We want to do this before the report is presented to the whole Senate for consideration so that at the end of the day when the new law is passed, nobody will complain that they were left out," he explained.

Four Senate Standing Committees: Petroleum Resources (Upstream and Downstream), Gas and Judiciary, Legal and Human Rights are mandated to conduct the hearing.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has revealed that it is currently putting measures in place to enable regular sampling of petroleum products from storage tanks at depots. This measure is to eliminate the chances of unwholesome products getting into the distribution chain. The Operations Controller for the Lagos Zone of the DPR, Mr Gbenga Koku, revealed this at its annual meeting with depot owners in Lagos.  

He urged operators to install positive displacement meters at the inlet pipes at all depots as this was now the global standard, which Nigeria should not be left out of.

He said it was incumbent on the depots operators not to compromise the quality of imported petroleum products and this would be reduced by the use of only accredited laboratories for recertifying imported products.

He said the DPR would continue to monitor the quality of products to ensure that they meet correct specifications.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) is patting itself on the back as it continues to insist that it is winning the war on oil theft. Setting out some encouraging statistics, the Nigerian Navy, a crucial part of the JTF, said that over 968 crude oil tankers successfully lifted just over 82 million metric tons of crude oil on behalf of the federal government between January and September 2013. This, says the Navy, is due to the surveillance operations they are mounting on oil installations in the operational areas, which meant that these tankers were able to ply their trade without any reported incidents from pirates or thieves.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba, revealed this through the Director of Operations at Naval headquarters, Commodore Joseph Okojie, who said: "In line with this trinity, arrested suspects are regularly being handed over to the EFCC, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp and the Nigeria Police for prosecution," adding that "a recent example is the handing over of 61 oil thieves to prosecuting agencies on September 25 by the Central Naval Command."

The scale of the problem is enormous as Commodore Okojie explained: "It is estimated that there are over 5, 779 oil wells, 9, 717kilometres of pipelines, 112 flow stations, 16 gas plants and 126 production platforms, floating Production Storage offloading and Floating Storage offloading platforms, as well as other critical maritime assets and infrastructure".

The Navy is now better equipped to deal with these security issues following the acquisition of Towards seaward defence boats, helicopters and support facilities to support the war they are waging on oil thieves.

The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) is to join in the fight against oil theft following the disclosure by the Mr Oluwole Oluleye, the Executive Secretary of the PTDF, that they will be funding the training of pilots for aerial surveillance of pipelines. The Federal Government will provide the aircraft to be used for the surveillance, which will be manned by pilots trained with funding from the PTDF.

Mr Oluwole, who was represented by Mr. Jacob Neeka, Head, Research and Documentation, PTDF, disclosed this at the Upstream and Downstream Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference, in Abuja.  

Although the Navy, as part of the Joint Task Force (JTF), is scoring some successes in the fight against oil theft, the magnitude of the issue has diminished their effectiveness. As a result, the government now wants to attack the problem from the air and has enlisted the help of the PTDF to fund the training of the pilots. The pilots will be able to identify crude theft points and relay the information to the JTF who will then be able to take action on the ground.

Mr Oluwole said, "PTDF has undertaken the training of 20 Nigerians as pilots. They will do the real surveillance, through piloting of our oil and pipelines right of way and other facilities in the country."

"It is a huge contribution in saving the cost of maintenance, repair or replacement of some of the broken down pipelines," he added.

Recently, the Public Relations Officer of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, Chika Onuegbu said oil thieves steal as much as 10 to 20 per cent of Nigeria's crude oil production.

Stockbrokers are continuing to recommend Oando as a good buy. The company has seen its share price drop after being linked with former governor, James Ibori, in the UK attempt to freeze Ibori's assets. During the hearing, an allegation was made that Ibori owns shares in Oando.  

Oando has since denied the allegations and sought to distance itself from the disgraced former governor by publishing a list of its shareholders at the date of the alleged ownership of shares by Ibori.

Analysts say that Oando Plc currently offers investors a good investment opportunity with its shares trading currently below that of other oil and gas investors. The company is the only integrated energy firm listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It is dually listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Oil tycoon, Kola Aluko and fashion designer, Ozwald Boateng have launched a $500 million fund for African infrastructure investment. The launch of the Made in Africa Fund, which took place at Nasdaq in New York was also attended by Hollywood actor, Jamie Foxx who created some extra razzmatazz around the event.

African Development Bank (AfDB) co-founded the fund, which they will co-manage. They will invest $50 million while Aluko will invest $50 million. It is not clear how much co-founder Boateng will invest in the fund. The ambitious founders have already raised a record $250 million and are planning to raise the remaining half by Q2 of 2014.

Head of Infrastructure Finance for the African Development Bank Tas Anvaripour, Quintin Primo III who is also the Chairman of the fund's financial partners, Capri Capital, said: "The promise of Africa is now. The extraordinary growth potential of the continent cannot be truly unlocked until critical infrastructure investments are conceived, championed and delivered."

Echoing seasoned fund-raiser, pop star Bob Geldof's move away from demanding aid to seeking trade for Africa, Primo continued: "These projects must not be charity. Rather, they must be commercially viable projects in which investors can responsibly invest. And ideally, they should not only be high impact, but offer attractive risk-adjusted returns."

Founder of Live Aid, the biggest fund-raising concert ever, Bob Geldof founded the 9Miles private equity fund to invest in Africa. Aluko and Boateng are following in his footsteps as socially conscious private equity funds now appear to be much more in vogue for those who are passionate about African development.

In a boost to local oil and gas capabilities, multi-disciplined indigenous oilfield services company, AOS Orwell has launched a new operational base in Port Harcourt. The new base will enable the company to carry out its expansion plans.  

Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Management Board, Ernest Nwapa said that Nigeria's Local Content Act has made a positive impact especially in terms of developing indigenous infrastructure.

He stressed the importance of alliances and partnerships between Nigerian and foreign companies in order to better enable technology acquisition to create local value and the domiciliation of services in Nigeria.  

Engr. Nwapa also took the opportunity to talk about the Oil and Gas Industrial Parks Scheme, saying: "The launch of AOS Operational Base is, therefore, coming at a time NCDMB is promoting the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industrial Park Scheme, (NOGIPS) as the concept of the industrial park is to spur small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to grow their capability in manufacturing through partnerships with multinationals and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)."

Commenting, the Chairman of AOS Orwell, Mr. Azad Shivdasani said the company had made large operational strides including over an 80 per cent market share of fishing tool inventory.

Continuing, Shivdasani stressed the company's belief in the Nigerian Content philosophy, saying: "With tremendous commitment AOS Orwell succeeded and is bold to say it can be done in Nigeria and we are proud of it."

Established in 1981, AOS Orwell is the one of the largest multi-disciplined indigenous oilfield services companies in sub-Saharan Africa, offering well construction services such as remedial tubular recovery, directional drilling, casing & tubular running and drilling tools rentals to the upstream sector, providing value added technical service well solutions to E&P clients in Nigeria and the West African.  

The company is one of the main contractors on the Egina project - a $15 billion offshore investment in Nigeria. The company is funded with majority Nigerian shareholding and private equity funding.

Nairobi, Kenya

13 - 15 October 2013

www.thefricagas.org

World Energy Congress

Daegu, South Korea

13 - 17 October

6th International E&P Upstream Conference

Houston, USA

16-17 October 2013

www.ziffenergy.com

Deep Offshore Technology International

Houston, United State of America

22 - 24 October

OTC Brasil

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

21 - 29 October 

www.otcbrasil.org  

Africa Oil & Gas Finance and Investment Forum

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

22-23 October 2013

www.aogfi.com

Oil and Gas Trade and Investment Forum 2013

Onne, Rivers State, Nigeria

24-25 October 2013

www.nigeriaoilandgasinvest.com