NNPC plans first oil assets IPO for 2018

                                       Mr. Emmanuel Kachikwu

It has now emerged that before the next general elections in 2019, the Muhammadu Buhari administration plans to sell key oil assets to the public, Emmanuel Kachikwu, Petroleum Resources Minister of State and managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), revealed yesterday in far away Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate (UAE).

“It’s inevitable,” Kachikwu, who also heads the NNPC, said on Tuesday in an interview in Abu Dhabi.

“Part of the cleaning up process that we’re doing is to prepare for that,” Bloomberg quoted him as stating.
The plan is to sell NNPC’s shares in its refining and distribution business and “select” exploration and production assets to the public, he said.

NNPC manages Nigeria’s stakes in joint ventures with international oil companies that pump the country’s crude. It also operates refineries and a distribution network of depots and pipelines across the country of about 180 million people.

Kachikwu also said yesterday that some members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had requested an emergency meeting, adding that current market conditions support the need to hold such a gathering before the June 2 scheduled meeting of the cartel.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), however, moved to quash talks of a potential emergency meeting as the country’s Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said that the current OPEC strategy was working, adding that a period of between one and one-and-a-half years was needed to allow oil prices to rebound.

Reuters quoted Kachikwu as telling reporters at an energy conference in Abu Dhabi that there was a lot of push from various blocs within OPEC for the meeting.

“A couple of countries, I don't want to mention names,” he said when asked if any had requested holding an emergency meeting.
According to him, any meeting that would take place would be to review OPEC’s position to see if there was any need to change its strategy, adding that the meeting could take place in February or March.

OPEC heavyweight, Saudi Arabia, which has resisted calls for a cut in production to help boost prices, was also said to be against an emergency meeting.

But Kachikwu insisted that “Saudi Arabia has never held the position that it does not want to talk”.
“In fact, it was very supportive of a meeting before June, at the time when we held the December meeting, if (there was a) consensus call for it,” Kachikwu added.

However, the UAE has moved to quash talk of a potential emergency meeting of OPEC.
UAE Energy Minister later told the same conference that the current OPEC strategy was working, adding that time was needed to allow this to happen — perhaps between one and 1-1/2 years.

“I’m not convinced OPEC alone can change or can solely unilaterally change this strategy just because we have seen a low in the market,” Mazroui said.

Mazroui added that while the first half of 2016 would be “tough” for the oil market, there would be a gradual recovery later in the year, aided by an expected drop in non-OPEC production.

But two OPEC delegates from outside the Gulf were sceptical an emergency conference would take place.
“There won’t be any meeting,” Reuters quoted one of the OPEC delegates from an African OPEC country as saying.

OPEC’s strategy of maintaining production levels, instead of reducing supply to allow prices to recover, has been aimed at defending market share at the expense of higher-cost producers such as those in the U.S. shale sector.

The supply glut is likely to be exacerbated in 2016 by the return of Iranian supply to the market, once Western sanctions have been lifted.
“I think all the members including Iran have the right to increase their production. I don’t think we are going to restrict anyone,” Mazroui said.

Such prospects have led oil analysts to downgrade their forecasts in recent days, with Standard Chartered saying prices could drop to $10 a barrel, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted $20 per barrel.

Despite UAE’s reluctance for the emergency meeting, Nigeria and other non-Gulf OPEC members might get their way, as oil dropped below $30 a barrel in New York for the first time in 12 years on concerns that turmoil in China’s markets will curb fuel demand.

According to Bloomberg, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude tumbled to the lowest since December 2003. Concerns that China’s economic growth may slow have soured investors on the prospects for a quick recovery, turning hedge funds the least bullish in five years.

A rapid appreciation of the US dollar may send Brent oil to as low as $20 a barrel, Morgan Stanley also said yesterday.
Oil extended a 70 per cent drop since June 2014 as volatility in Chinese markets fuelled a rout in global equities and US stockpiles remained more than 120 million barrels above the five-year average.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s biggest crude exporter, confirmed on last week that it was studying options for a share sale, including listing “a bundle” of refining subsidiaries.

“Psychology has completely taken over,” said Stephen Schork, president of the Schork Group Inc. in Villanova, Pennsylvania. “Market sentiment has shifted so far that it’s self-fulfilling. There’s been a big cutback in CFTC positions, which shows that everyone is heading for the exit.”

WTI for February delivery fell $1.28, or 4.1 percent, to $30.13 a barrel at 2.07 pm on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract touched $29.93, the lowest intraday price since December 2003. Prices lost 30 per cent last year.

Brent for February settlement decreased $1.05, or 3.3 per cent, to $30.50 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It touched $30.34, the least since April 2004. The European benchmark crude traded at a 37 cent premium to WTI.

Withb Thisdays News

Obama Delivers Final State Of Union Speech

                                                     SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Hearkening back to the themes of change that helped sweep him into office eight years ago, President Obama used his seventh and final State of the Union address to illustrate how different the nation looks as he prepares to leave but largely avoided most of the flashpoint topics that created the most controversy during his presidency.

Going through a laundry list of accomplishments, Obama focused on the progress the nation has made under his watch: The growing economy and the focus on shrinking income inequality, the fight on terrorism and keeping America safe and the need to maintain focus on American technological innovation.

But the President used the word “gun” just one time over the course of the speech, despite an enormous effort in recent weeks to focus on gun control — including the announcement just days earlier of a slew of controversial executive actions on the matter.

Instead, he maintained an optimistic and unifying message, and, in a subtle nod to the upcoming 2016 election, encouraged Americans to embrace change and reject fear.

“We live in a time of extraordinary change — change that’s reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world,” Obama said. “And whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate,” he said, before acknowledging that many find such change scary.

“America has been through big changes before,” he said. “Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control,” he said.

“And each time, we overcame those fears,” he said. “We made change work for us, always extending America’s promise outward, to the next frontier, to more and more people. And because we did — because we saw opportunity where others saw only peril — we emerged stronger and better than before.”

But “such progress is not inevitable,” Obama warned.

“It is the result of choices we make together,” he said, in a thinly veiled nod to the upcoming election. “Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together?”

Obama appeared to reject much of the claims made by Republican presidential candidates, such as GOP front-runner Donald Trump, of American decline at home and abroad.

“All the talk of America’s economic decline is political hot air,” Obama said to grand applause from Democrats in attendance. “So is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It’s not even close.”

“What I’m asking for is hard. It’s easier to be cynical; to accept that change isn’t possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don’t matter,” he said. “But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future.”

“As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don’t look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background,” he said.

“But democracy does require basic bonds of trust between its citizens. It doesn’t work if we think the people who disagree with us are all motivated by malice, or that our political opponents are unpatriotic,” Obama said. “Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise; or when even basic facts are contested, and we listen only to those who agree with us.”

“Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention,” he said before offering a prescription — and an uplifting trope that resembled a calling card for his desired legacy.

“The future we want … is within our reach. But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates,” Obama said.

“It will only happen if we fix our politics,” he said.

“A better politics doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything,” Obama added, according to his prepared remarks. “This is a big country, with different regions and attitudes and interests.”

“Whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or nonparty, our collective future depends on your willingness to uphold your obligations as a citizen,” “Obama said. “To vote. To speak out. To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us. To stay active in our public life so it reflects the goodness and decency and optimism that I see in the American people every single day.”

But he notably avoided many of the most controversial achievements and most divisive unfulfilled policy proposals.

Facing an audience filled with Republican lawmakers who have thwarted much of his agenda, Mr Obama also issued a clarion call to "fix our politics".

"It's one of the few regrets of my presidency - that the rancour and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," said the president, who swept to the White House on a unifying promise of hope and change.

He also totally skipped over the biggest news item of the day out of the Middle East — that Iran had detained 10 U.S. sailors after a pair of Navy patrol boats drifted into its waters.

By contrast, he referred to the economy at least 15 times and used “ISIL” — the acronym for the terrorist group also known as ISIS — nine times and referred to “terrorists” or “terrorism” another seven times.

Despite Obama having ignored the refugee issue and of gay marriage, both topics were represented in the form of the President’s personal guests.

Among them were Refaai Hamo, a Syrian scientist who received refugee status and moved to Troy, Mich., after his wife and daughter were killed in a missile strike; and Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the historic Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S.

Also in attendance was Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses. She was a personal guest of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Just as noteworthy were those who were not in attendance.

Obama somberly honored the countless victims of gun violence in the U.S. during his address by leaving a seat empty in the House chamber.

The empty seat, in First Lady Michelle Obama's box, was meant to "illustrate the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice," the White House said earlier this week.

The NRA seized on the gesture by preemptively announcing a formal rebuttal to Obama’s speech, before it even occurred, that will air Wednesday morning.

Republicans, for their part, didn’t wait as long.

The official Republican response to his address was delivered by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Ms Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, called on the nation to resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" in anxious times, according to excerpts.

Her remarks in defence of immigrants were also interpreted as a veiled swipe on Mr Trump and other hardline conservative White House hopefuls.

Nobody who works hard and follows the laws “should ever feel unwelcome in this country,” she added.

In his speech, Mr Obama unveiled no specific policy proposals, but instead sought to generate support for items high on his to-do list, including closure of Guantanamo Bay and tighter gun laws.

As the two-term Democratic president seeks to define his legacy after seven years in the White House, he focused on accomplishments such as his signature healthcare law.

Mr Obama also touted more recent achievements including a nuclear deal with Iran, a diplomatic thaw with Cuba and a huge budget deal with Congress.

However, his remarks on Tehran came amid the Iranian seizure of two US Navy vessels and their 10 crew in the Gulf.

With News Wire Services 

last minute Dummet thunderbolt rescues point for Newcastle

Paul Dummett's late strike rescued a point for Newcastle as Manchester United missed the chance to go level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham.

It was a remarkable end to a game that had seen the away side lead twice.

Wayne Rooney's penalty and Jesse Lingard's finish put them 2-0 up before Georginio Wijnaldum and Aleksandar Mitrovic's penalty levelled the scores.

Rooney's second looked to have won it for Louis van Gaal's side but Dummett salvaged the draw in the last minute.

The point earned is not enough to lift Newcastle out of the bottom three - they remain a point and place behind 17th-placed Swansea - but it represents another notable improvement following three successive 1-0 league defeats.

For Louis van Gaal's side, it will represent two points lost and a step backwards after back-to-back Premier League and FA Cup victories had offered improvement on a winless December.

Following criticism of Manchester United's attacking prowess, in a season that had seen them score just 24 goals in 20 league games prior to Tuesday, Van Gaal himself admitted on Monday that he has been "very bored" at times watching his side.

He can have no such complaints after this hugely entertaining, see-saw game, which produced some of their best attacking play of the season.

Rooney was magnificent.

The England striker gave them the lead from the spot after Mike Dean's controversial call to award a penalty against Chancel Mbemba after his arm blocked Marouane Fellaini's back-post header from a corner.

But it was his role in setting up Lingard for the second - holding the ball up before rolling a perfectly timed pass into the winger's path for a low, angled finish - and his superbly struck 20-yard second, after Memphis Depay's shot had deflected to him, that really showcased the 30-year-old's talent.

Ultimately, though, Van Gaal will be left bemoaning an area in which his side have largely excelled this season, as a series of defensive lapses cost them victory

This game screamed dull like a toddler who drops an ice-cream after one lick. Neither side has been playing well, both have struggled to score goals and nobody expected them to offer anything different after a gruelling schedule

With both managers under pressure, it promised to be a tight, cagey affair with little to entertain a live television audience. But this is the season of shocks and instead of drab, we were given a thriller, full of drama, wonderful individual performances, controversial decisions and some spectacular goals. It is a contender for game of the season and befitting of the tremendously entertaining United teams of years gone by.

It sounds like Paul Scholes doesn't really mind if United lose games as long as they entertain him. It would be great to see how Scholes might get on as a manager - he's spent most of this season slagging off Van Gaal's tactics and how boring the team has been. Now they've dropped two points to relegation candidates - let's not forget that this is what has happened - he sounds almost pleased that at least some players ran down the wing.

Managers Reactions:

Steve McClaren has said that having watched the replay of that opening penalty the decision was "ridiculous" and that it was Mbemba's momentum that put his hand where it was. Hmmm.

"I think we deserved the point. Boring United? They weren't boring.

"Building and growing, fighting for 90 minutes and tonight we got the rewards.

"People are questioning [the player's effort] and the players have come through showing fantastic character - especially Coloccini."

Mr Van Gaal looks absolutely furious and a bit sad at the same time. Sort of like when you lose a cup final in the last minute on Football Manager.

"I think it was a duel - I've seen the video and you see Mitrovic is pushing with the hand, the head of Smalling. You cannot decide which is the most worse I think, but the referee is not losing the game for us.

"When you want to avoid a hazard of Fellaini - your hands to the ball? I do not think is ball to the hands, it is hands to the ball. I do not think it is a discussion.

"I think also we were unlucky. When you see where the ball is going [Dummett's last minute equaliser] it is going into the hands of De Gea. Before that we are running behind and you have to push forwards, you have to push the ball under pressure, and then you get these kinds of things.

"They have to finish of course but it's always difficult. Rooney had also a very big chance in the first half. We could have made here six goals I think. There were big possibilities so when you lose two points it's very sad and everybody knows it is our own fault.

"Now we have given two points away. It is a big game for Man Utd and for Liverpool but now I am still with my mind with this game and yeh... that is not so happy ending."

Oil could crash to $10 a barrel as the bears are out in force

            The oil bears are out in force

Petrol prices could fall back to levels last seen in 2009 in a $10-a-barrel world as major banks say there is no bottom in sight for the world's lopsided market.

Oil prices have fallen to fresh lows of less than $30 a barrel amid warnings the price rout could reach as low as $10 and bring down petrol prices to levels last seen in 2009.

Standard Chartered became the latest major bank to downgrade its oil outlook, joining the likes of Goldman Sachs, RBS and Morgan Stanley in making ultra-bearish calls as prices have collapsed by 15pc this year.

Brent crude has now slipped to a fresh 12-year low of $30.41 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate - the US benchmark - is trading at $29.93. Analysts warn the oil market remains fundmentally out of balance as record over-supply and stagnant demand weighs on traders.

Standard Chartered said there would be no bottom in sight, until prices fall to $10 and "money managers in the market conceded that matters had gone too far".

"Given that no fundamental relationship is currently driving the oil market towards any equilibrium, prices are being moved almost entirely by financial flows caused by fluctuations in other asset prices, including the dollar and equity markets," said Standard Chartered.

Oil last slumped to $10 during the height of the Asian financial crisis in 1998. A $10 world would lead to petrol prices falling back to 86p-per-litre - said Simon Williams at RAC.

"The last time we saw average prices this low was in early 2009", said Mr Williams. "However, for prices to get this low the pound would have to get no weaker against the dollar than it is today."

Christine Lagarde, chief of the International Monetary Fund, said supply and demand factors meant commodity prices would "likely to stay low for a sustained period".

The warnings came as Opec - the cartel that controls a third of the world's supply - said it would not cede to requests from some of its members to hold an emergency meeting.

Opec meets twice a year, but its latest gathering in December ending in a fractious stalemate over production targets, as Saudi Arabia and Iran struggle for dominance of the world's market share.

With the next regular meeting is scheduled for June, Nigeria's oil minister yesterday said at least two members had called for an extraordinary gathering to address the price rout. But hopes were quickly dashed after the United Arab Emirates said dismissed the prospect.

Energy minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said Opec's decision to maintain production and crowd out rivals was still bearing dividend, hinting that it would take another 18 months for prices to start picking up.

"I'm not convinced Opec alone can change or can solely unilaterally change this strategy just because we have seen a low in the market," said Mr al-Mazroui.

The 13-member cartel has previously said it would only agree on lower production targets if non-Opec states - notably Russia - also signed up to reduce their record output.

"Something has to give," warned analysts at Energy Aspects, who calculate that demand for oil ground to halt due to an unsesaonably warm end to the year.

"The scale of supply declines has to be even higher to kick-start the rebalancing. So even though weather is normalising somewhat, and supplies are starting to decline, the risk of further price falls and weakness in spreads is still on the cards."

With The Telegraph

Quadri, Toriola To Compete ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup in Sudan

                            Segun Toriola

Africa’s number two table tennis player, Aruna Quadri and six-time Olympian, Segun Toriola as well as Olufunke Oshonaike and Edem Offiong have been confirmed as Nigeria’s representatives at next month’s ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup holding in Khartoum, Sudan.

In the list of qualified players released by the Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Quadri who won the tournament in 2014 in Lagos will battle for the title against his rival, Egypt’s Omar Assar who has remained a threat to the Nigerian rise in the continent.

The tournament scheduled to hold on February 14 to 15 has the top 15 players in the continent including a player from the host country to complete the top 16.

Toriola will join Quadri to cmpete for the laurel in the men’s event while Oshonaike who has already secured a place at this year’s Rio Olympic Games in Brazil will be joined in the women event by Edem Offiong who is at present plying her trade in the Portuguese elite league.

Having claimed three titles in 2015, the Egyptian duo of Omar Assar and Dina Meshref, top the list of invitees for the two-day tournament to be staged at the International Conference Centre in Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan.
Winners in the men and women events will represent the continent at the 2016 World Cups.

The players competing at the event are:

Men: Omar Assar (Egypt), Quadri Aruna (Nigeria), El-Sayed Lashin (Egypt), Saheed Idowu (Congo Brazzaville), Segun Toriola (Nigeria), Idir Khourta (Algeria), Suraju Saka (Congo Brazzaville), Olouwachehoun Guiganfode (Benin), Mawussi Agbetoglo (Togo), Sofiène Boudjadja (Algeria), Adem Hamam (Tunisia), Fessou Lawson-Gaizer (Togo), Alain Patrick Jague Niken Jiotsa (Cameroon), Derek Abrefa (Ghana), Emmanuel Ngwe Nikeng (Cameroon)

Women: Dina Meshref (Egypt), Nadeen El-Dawlatly (Egypt), Han Xing (Congo Brazzaville), Olufunke Oshonaike (Nigeria), Offiong Edem (Nigeria), Sara Hanffou (Cameroon), Islem Laid (Algeria), Lynda Loghraibi (Algeria), Zodwa Maphanga (South Africa), Amma Liobaka (Democratic Republic of Congo), Onyinyechi Nwachukwu (Congo Brazzaville), Cynthia Kwabi (Ghana), Harriet Ntumnyuy (Cameroon), Celia baah-Danso (Ghana), Isabel Albino (Angola).

Egypt’s Omar Assar and Dina Meshref are the defending champions of the competition.

With Channel Television