₦airaland Forum

Even the financing of shale production is taking a major hit.

Bakken oil pipeline project slammed shut, this was a major project to move crude oil from North dakota



Enterprise Products Partners is shelving a proposed pipeline that would have transported crude from North Dakota to Oklahoma, the company announced on Friday.

The news came in the midst of a brutal slide in global oil prices that have raised concerns about whether U.S. companies will continue to build on the expansion of oil production. Middle East oil producers have yet to announce a cut in production to offset the drop in crude, in what some analysts say is a slow-bleed strategy designed to make pumping crude as uneconomic as possible for the world's fastest growing non-OPEC oil producer.

Enterprise Products—a publicly traded partnership designed to provide financing on oil and gas infrastructure projects — said in a terse statement that investors had "decided not to move forward with development of its proposed Bakken to Cushing crude oil pipeline."

Commitments from potential partners "were not sufficient to support the project," Enterprise Products added. The company did not immediately respond to an inquiry from CNBC on whether the project's closure was related to the drop in oil prices and other factors.

"Enterprise Products Partners management has been consistent in communicating this was a low probability project," said Adam Karpf, a portfolio manager for Atlantic Trust's master limited partnership strategies.

Karpf said that the firm appeared to lose a competitive battle with a different partnership, Energy Transfer Partners, which was also bidding for contracts on a Bakken pipeline. Those commitments left Enterprise the odd man out, he added. Atlantic Trust owns shares of Enterprise in its investment portfolio.

However, oversupply of crude has led to fears that oil's sharp decline could claim U.S. shale production as a victim, as smaller operators may be forced to scale back expansion plans. In recent weeks, oil prices have been in free fall, with U.S. crude settling at its lowest level since May 2009 under $58 per barrel.
Read MoreUS oil ends below $58 for first time since May 2009

North Dakota's Bakken region and Oklahoma's Cushing are two of the most prolific oil-producing regions in the U.S. shale revolution. Pipeline construction projects have taken on increasing prominence as the crude boom picks up speed, sending domestic oil production skyrocketing to more than 9 million barrels per day.

Read MoreElite oil fields redefine meaning of crude's 'Big Three'
Infrastructure partnerships such as Enterprise Products' have raised billions in private capital, in expectation that the U.S.' growing energy independence would create more opportunities to transport domestically produced oil and gas. With Enterprise's actions, that assumption appears in some doubt.
"It's a clear indication that the lowering of oil prices and the dialing down of crude demand for 2015 is taking its toll," said Vincent DeVito, partner at the law firm of Bowditch & Dewey.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102265279

tit:
Nigeria better budgets at about $55/barrel.
Jonathan and Iwella have sown incredibly poor leadership in this matter.
this is why Tambuwal can get millions of dollars per year as salary and Aso Rock can budget 1 billion naira for food and entertainment.
Ao Rock food budget should be slashed by 75%
National Assembly renumeration should be slashed by 90%

I have to agree, the budget benchmark must be between $45-$55.

U.S. oil drillers idled the most rigs in almost two years as they face oil trading below $60 a barrel and escalating competition from suppliers abroad.

Rigs targeting oil dropped by 29 this week to 1,546, the lowest level since June and the biggest decline since December 2012, Houston-based field services company Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) said on its website yesterday.

As OPEC resists calls to cut output, U.S. producers including ConocoPhillips (COP) and Oasis Petroleum Inc. (OAS) have curbed spending. Chevron Corp. (CVX) put its annual capital spending plan on hold until next year. Rigs targeting U.S. oil are sliding from a record 1,609 after a $50-a-barrel drop in global prices, threatening to slow the shale-drilling boom that has propelled domestic production to the highest level in three decades.

“It’s starting,” Robert Mackenzie, oilfield services analyst at Iberia Capital Partners LLC, said by telephone from New Orleans. “We knew this day was going to come. It was only a matter of time before the rig count was going to respond. The holiday is upon us and oil prices are falling through the floor.”

ConocoPhillips said Dec. 8 that would cut spending next year by about 20 percent. The Houston-based company is deferring investment in North American plays including the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico and the Niobrara formation in Colorado. Oasis, an exploration and production company based in Houston, said Dec. 10 that it’s cutting 2015 spending 44 percent.

Lower Capex

“Our capex will be lower,” Roger Jenkins, chief executive officer of Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR), an El Dorado, Arkansas-based exploration company, said during a presentation Dec. 10. “I think this idea of lowering capex 20-something percent is going to be pretty common in the industry.”

Even as producers cut budgets and lay down rigs, domestic production is surging, with the yield from new wells in shale formations including North Dakota’s Bakken and Texas’s Eagle Ford projected to reach records next month, Energy Information Administration data show. Oil output climbed to 9.12 million barrels a day in the week ended Dec. 5, the highest in EIA data going back to 1983, and is projected to increase to 9.3 million barrels a day next year.

“You still have a lot of spending that went on in 2014 that will take effect in 2015,” Joe Overdevest, who helps manage about $4.4 billion at Fidelity Investments and is co-portfolio manager of its natural resources fund, told reporters in Toronto yesterday. “There’s a delay in that production. It will probably take at least a year to start seeing major effects.”

Production Decline

Oil production probably won’t drop until mid-2015, James Williams, president of energy research company WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas, said by telephone. “U.S. shale is unstoppable at $100 a barrel, but it’s clearly stoppable at $60,” he said.

Chevron, the largest U.S. energy producer except for Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), is still evaluating its capital plans and will probably release them early next year, company spokesman Kurt Glaubitz said by phone Dec. 9. The company usually has its budget out in mid-December.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, responsible for about 40 percent of the world’s oil supply, decided Nov. 27 to maintain its collective crude output target, resisting pressure for cuts to shrink a global glut. “Why should I cut production?” Saudi Arabia oil minister Ali Al-Naimi asked Dec. 10, while speaking to reporters as he attended United Nations global warming talks in Lima.

Rigs Forecast

The international benchmark North Sea Brent oil and its U.S. counterpart West Texas Intermediate crude are trading at their lowest levels since 2009. WTI for January delivery tumbled 3.6 percent yesterday to settle at $57.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The 2014 peak was $107.73.

U.S. oil rigs will fall below 1,100 for the first time in three years, bottoming out at 1,073 in August, forecasts prepared by the Louisville, Kentucky-based energy data company Genscape Inc. show.

The Permian Basin lost the most rigs this week, falling by 20 to 548. Counts rose in natural gas-rich plays such as the Marcellus in the eastern U.S. and the Haynesville in the South.

Natural gas for January delivery increased 16.1 cents to settle at $3.795 per million British thermal units on the Nymex yesterday, down 14 percent in the past year. Stockpiles of the fuel dropped 51 billion cubic feet last week to 3.359 trillion, according to the EIA.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-12/u-s-oil-rigs-drop-most-in-two-years-baker-hughes-says.html

Buhari forced himself on us in 1983, we tried him already. He was just a demon.

Just imagine the fresh air. How many Nigerians actually remember SCOA .

You cannot hide the truth, thanks OP.

The missing money from 1978 was N2.8B, app. ($4.6B).

why are you people panicking. Boats are needed for homeland security.

Delegates to the recently concluded 2014 National Conference have launched ed a fresh and elaborate bid to scuttle President Goodluck Jonathan’s plan to implement the report of the conference, PREMIUM TIMES can report today.

The delegates, under the aegis of Northern Delegates Forum, NDF, in a post-mortem presentation to “stakeholders, institution and leaders” of the North, rejected some of the recommendations of the Confab, which they claimed were smuggled into the final report by the Presidency.
They also restated their opposition to the process of nomination to the conference and the procedure adopted by its leadership.
The 492-member Conference began on March 17 and ended August 21 when its report was presented to Mr. Jonathan.
When he received the report, which is in three volumes, including a “Draft Constitution”, Mr. Jonathan assured that the recommendations contained therein would be implemented.

“Let me reaffirm this: Nobody has a monopoly of knowledge. We who are in government need to feed from the thoughts of those who elected us into power. You have done your patriotic duty. We the elected must now do ours.
“As I receive the report of your painstaking deliberations, let me assure that your work is not going to be a waste of time and resources. We shall do all we can to ensure the implementation of your recommendations, which have come out of consensus and not by divisions.”
In September, the president constituted a seven-member panel headed by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, to implement the report.

Mr. Jonathan reiterated his plan to implement the Confab report on November 11 when he declared his re-election bid.
“In the first quarter of this year, our country celebrated its centenary. To prepare the nation for the challenges of the next one hundred years, I convened a National Conference where recommendations and resolutions were reached towards a more perfect union. We shall implement the report,” he said.

During the period the conference lasted, the northerners, under the aegis of the NDF, co-chaired by former Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Coomassie, and former Information Minister, Jerry Gana, objected to some proposals during plenary.
In a protest letter to the Chairman of the Conference, Idris Kutigi, in July, the NDF, opposed the “draft constitution” and demanded its withdrawal from circulation.
“We call upon the leadership of the conference to discountenance and withdraw the ‘draft Constitution’ and the accompanying bills which have been circulated,” the group said.
“We urge the conference leadership to table the draft conference report which contains only the resolutions openly and officially sanctioned and adopted by delegates for validation and adoption as provided for under the National Conference Procedure Rules, 2014 and as envisaged in the Work Plan adopted.”

However, in the latest protest, the Forum, in the 35-page document dated October 15, demanded the jettisoning of the report because it contains some recommendations allegedly smuggled in by the Federal Government.
The document, which suggested the President is working to discredit and weaken the region, is being widely circulated in the region.
It specifically said the proposal for the creation of 18 news states, their capitals and local governments was brought in by the government.
It said, “The importation of a new Nigerian map into the final report with names of additional states and their boundaries, new state capitals and local governments when in effect, the Conference plenary only stopped at presenting various memos received by its relevant committee attests to the description of the conference sponsors to level up, or surpass the North in number of states and local governments, using all foul means at their disposal.”

The Forum contended that it would be “offensive to rudimentary concept of justice” should new states be created on the basis of equality without consideration for land mass, population or economic viability.
“After all, injustice is not only when equals are treated unequally, but also when unequal (s) are treated equally.”
The northern delegates also said that the conference was characterised by a range of irregularities as some items and agenda, which were not part of the original mandates of the sub-committees, were smuggled in.
It listed such items to include issues of referendum, resource democracy and creation of additional states, which it said was not based on any known constitutional criteria.

The group argued that ‘referendum’ clause was neither assigned to any of the 20 Committees as agenda item nor discussed at plenary but nonetheless found its way into the conference report as a recommendation for constitutional amendment.
On “Resource Democracy,” the group it said was brought in by the sub-committee on Environment, though the mandate fell on the Committee on Devolution of Power.
“Nonetheless, the leadership of the conference allowed voice votes to be taken on them despite vehement protestations of several occasions,” it said.

“Again, all attempts to subject voice votes to actual voting were declined by conference leadership, contrary to the rules of procedure.”
The group further alleged that the government deliberately abused both procedure and criteria for selection of delegates at the conception stage of the conference.
It alleged that the government consciously staged-managed the conference as part of a calculated plot to weaken and undermine the unity of the North, while it pursued its consolidation agenda for a greater South.
According to the group, it is on record that the government was funding and working hand-in-hand with media barons from the South, especially of Niger Delta extraction who dominate both the electronic, print and internet-based media.
“That task was to feed the nation on diets of anti-North propaganda – lies, threats, and hate speech,” it said.
The group said apart from making oral and written representations to the Conference leadership, some faith-based organisations and Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, also made physical representations to both Mr. Jonathan and his deputy, Namadi Sambo, on disagreeable issues that arose in the course of the conference, but that there was no remediation whatsoever.
It claimed that the protest to the president was, instead, greeted with ‘addendum list’, which neither impressed, nor assuage the fears of the vast majority of Nigerians, and Northerners in particular.
“In fact, to insult the sensibilities of the North, the addendum list was made up of three legal practitioners from the South, with ties to the present government.”

It also said when the conference insisted on voting over the contentious issue of revenue derivation as it currently stands, the conference once again resorted to “escapism by hiding under the recommendation of the conference’s wise men committee to refer the matter back to the presidency, in favour of an advisory committee to settle the matter, amicably.”
The group therefore demanded that the Draft Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2014,” should be jettisoned while all decisions touching on the constitutional amendments as “proposed Amendments to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999”.
It also called for the rejection of any documents purporting to be “Proposed Bills to Adopt a Draft Constitution, 2014.”
The group also demanded the rejection of the new map of Nigeria with additional states, and local governments, and instead subject all requests to scrutiny based on constitutional and other criteria.

It also asked the government to decline approval of diaspora voting and upward review of revenue allocation formula for oil producing states, which it said was as agreed by the confab.
It said, “Generally, reject all “smuggled” items that were otherwise not deliberated upon, or conclusively resolved in the course of the defunct National Conference such as removal of names of local government from Schedule II of the 1999 Constitution and other potentially harmful proposals to the North and Nigeria in that order.”
A member of the group, Sani Zorro, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES about the moves to stop Mr. Jonathan from implementing the report of the conference.

“It (report) is discredited. We don’t have a report because it has been discredited. We have circulated a pamphlet to the entire members of the National Assembly (on this),” he said.
Mr. Zorro, a former National President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, which it represented at the conference, said the Presidency smuggled in the 18 proposed states.
He said, “The Presidency came with these 18 states. We never knew anything about 18 states.
“In the Conference report, we mentioned those who submitted memoranda for the creation of state but we didn’t approve the creation of states or local government.

“But when it went to these people at the presidency they cooked up these because they said they want to bridge the difference between the North and the South. When they had done that they allocated eight to the North and they took 10.”
Efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to get the response of the presidency to the allegation, failed.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, did not reply a text message sent to him.
However, the spokesperson of the conference, Akpandem James, debunked the group’s claims.
“I have not seen the document you are talking about, however, how can they say the presidency smuggled something into the report and where did the presidency do that?” he told this newspaper in a telephone interview.
Stating that the report of the conference had since become a public document, Mr. James explained that it actually received requests for new states but did not recommended that the states be created.

According to him, the conference merely presented conditions to be met by the proposed states before they are created.
He said, “If any of the states meets the conditions then that they can be created. But these are merely recommendations and it is left for the government to accept or reject. If you look at those requests, many of them cannot qualify.
“The Conference did not create states. The Conference made recommendations based on proposals and the Conference made conditions for the creation of states.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/173189-exclusive-north-launches-fresh-attack-on-jonathan-wants-implementation-of-national-conference-report-halted.html

iluvnaija:
Some people are so daft that their brain has been eaten by mucus.

If 8000 delegates are expected to attend,do you think all delegates will attend?

I leave this question for brainless TANoids to answer.

Spare us that nonsense here. The election process began on Wednesday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial city in the South-West with 7,214 accredited delegates.

http://www.channelstv.com/2014/12/11/muhammadu-buhari-wins-apc-presidential-ticket/

another classic from the pretenders. They cannot do simple arithmetic. Nobody in the entire process noticed a discrepancy of 1,206 votes? This is an unbelievable embarrassment.

Please demand for N100,000 minimum wage. Bunch of lazy maggots, maybe the government recurrent spending should be 100% of the budget

Labour and their supporters should go and die.

As the economy continues to receive the negative impact of the dwindling oil prices typified by introduction of austerity measures and devaluation of the naira, the labour movement may be warming up to demand an upward review of the national minimum wage from the current N18,000, Business Day can authoritatively reveal.

The thinking of labour is that the austerity measures have wittled down the purchasing power of workers and the only way out is for government to increase workers salaries.

Besides, they say their demand which will be made by the first quarter of next year, is in line with the collective agreement reached with government, which stipulates that the wage will be subject to review after five years.

Peter Ozo-Eson, the general-secretary of the NLC, told BusinessDay in a telephone interview that the current minimum wage is due for a review in 2015 when it would have been in operation for five years.

“We are gathering our information on the cost of living in the country. The recent devaluation of the naira by the Central Bank to help the government cope with the falling oil prices in the international market is no doubt impacting negatively on Nigerian workers and their purchasing power.

“All these will form part of our negotiation next year for the review of the minimum wage,” said Ozon-Eson.

But some analysts are querrying the rationale of the demand and asking if that will solve the problem, without fundamental change in the structure of the economy.

They are further querrying the sincerity of labour, which is also opposed to deregulation, which would ordinarily free governemtn of some spending and divert same for investment in employment generationg ventures.

“I have no problem with labour asking for wage incease, but they have to be objective in their demand. We should rather be thinking of how we can make the economy productive and not rely solely on revenue from oil,” said Friday Ameh, energy analyst.

The analysts see the development trickling down to the states, as the recent move to remove labour issues, especially minimum wage, from the exclusive legislative list, to the concurrent list, may have suffered a setback at the National Assembly.

In fact, some of the state governments are currently struggling to pay their bills, including salaries, as their purses are getting leaner, owing to falling oil prices in the international market. Some state governments, including Lagos, had before now, vowed that they would no longer pay federally negotiated minimum wage, insisting they must be allowed to negotiate wages with their workers.

The Federal Government has had to review the 2015 national budget benchmark twice, from $78 to $73 and later $65 per barrel, in response to the oil price slide, with analysts predicting a further slide in 2015.

The subsisting N18,000 minimum wage was signed by president Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, and comes due for review in 2015. Ahead of the expected review, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is gathering data on the cost of living in the country, particularly the impact of the naira devaluation on the purchasing power of an average Nigerian worker.

BusinessDay further gathered that this, among other economic dynamics, would form the document labour hopes to approach the Federal Government with, in their demand for a review of workers’ wages next year.

JOSHUA BASSEY


http://businessdayonline.com/2014/12/labour-to-demand-wage-review-amid-sliding-oil-prices/

Why you people in APC refuse to face reality is remarkable. .

There is no oil glut. We are simply having a market share war and OPEC seems determined to see it through.

Only the living care about human rights. The US and their so called analyst should give us a break. The reversal of fortune on the front lines, must really make them sad.

Imposters will not kill me on this forum

Nairobi (AFP) - Kenya's government wants to beef up security laws after a string of attacks by Somalia's Shebab insurgents, but media and opposition warn some proposals are too severe, reports said Wednesday.

The proposals include boosting the time police can hold terrorism suspects from the current 90 to 360 days, increasing sentences, and more powers to intercept communications, according to a draft seen by AFP.

The draft also proposes capping the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya to 150,000, a dramatic cut to the currently more than 607,000 the country hosts.

New ideas also suggest jail terms of up to three years for journalists broadcasting reports deemed to "undermine investigations or security operations relating to terrorism," while those who use social media to praise or incite acts of terrorism could face up to 20 years in prison.

The changes, due for initial debate in parliament Wednesday, also propose setting up a specialised Counter-Terrorism Centre bringing together all the branches of the security forces.

Opposition lawmakers said they would oppose many of the proposals, with Orange Democratic Movement party chairman John Mbadi saying some were "draconian amendments", according to The Star newspaper.

Kenya's government has been under fire since last year's Shebab attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, in which at least 67 people were killed.

Earlier this month Kenya's interior minister and police chief were removed from their posts after the Shebab carried out massacres in the northeast of the country.

Newspapers said that while action to increase security needed to be taken, some of the proposals were too severe.

"The very real and present dangers must not be used as an excuse to roll back the gains of a free and democratic society," the Daily Nation's editorial read.

The Standard newspaper warned the proposed bill would bring in "massive amendments... which if implemented could see the 'long' hand of government in all spheres of public life."

http://news.yahoo.com/kenya-eyes-tougher-security-laws-shebab-killings-102157096.html

Obj never had any respect for this country's laws.

This from an ex president of Nigeria . I would expect my wife and her friends to have this kind of discussions, not a man almost 80 years old.

Deltagiant:
You're dead wrong. Being ethnic conscious is a way of life in Nigeria; it's superiority complex. little wonder the Hausa Fulani is producing all the three major contenders in APC. The implication of what happened in Delta is beyond Ifeanyi himself. It is a seismic shift. Therefore, whether Ifeanyi alias EKWUEME will "associate" or not is immaterial to the bigger picture.

Even the Edwin Clarks, Junaid Mohammeds, Urhrobos, Yorubas, Hausa Fulanis and the rest of Nigeria are not oblivious of Ifeanyichukwu's identity. So, leave matter for Theresa.

Please look for your fellow tribal trolls mallam, and stay off my mentions.

I like the humiliation of Ihonvbere. Where will he run to now?

otokx:
Pride surely goes before a fall; Ifeanyi Okowa is being portrayed as a sectional governor even before the main election.

Not by deltans, just the usual suspects, suffering from inferiority complex. Senator Okowa will never associate himself with any of them.

hardywaltz:
I think u are the person talking bullshit...

So leadership newspaper is the spokes person for UPU? Some of you should learn to keep quiet. UPU did not support anybody.

This is what vanguard reported on Dec 7th, another hearsay.

Crucially, the UPU supports Obaisi (Barr.) Ovie Omo-Agege. Among the short-listed aspirants recommended by UPU to Mr. President, Omo-Agege is number one on the list as the preferred candidate of the Urhobo Nation. He is experienced in governance having served as Executive Assistant to the Governor, Commissioner for Special Duties, Government House and Secretary to the State Government. Omo-Agege was second in the PDP primaries in 2006. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/12/delta-2015-guber-picks-pdp-ticket-tomorrow

This same man administered Nigeria for almost 12 years? what an empty vessel, I see why IBB called him a fool.

hardywaltz:
The Urhobos have been dealt a big blow. They kept deceiving themselves that they are majority unfortunately their sole candidate lost with their majority votes.
As Deltans usually say "na cooperation they make rice full pot"

If you know nothing about what's on ground, you are better off remaining quiet. Who was the urhobo sole candidate?? Which blow did you deal the Urhobos

Okowa got more support outside his home zone yesterday to win. More than 70% of his votes came from the southern and central zones. Those of you without any idea about politics in delta should spare us the tribal bullshit.

Ruggedbaba:
I just can't help but laugh at the ethnic warlords! This is one of the reasons why Buhari is disliked! He thinks and talk about only the North!
Those from Delta Central and South distrust those from the North, based on one simple reason- they love gloating and scheming! Okowa has not won the election and yet , his kinsmen has started planning how to share the state resources!
How many votes were cast in Delta North during the last Presidential elections? Compare it to the Central and North? Okowa needs toxic votes from Warri North, if not, he is cooked goose! And if you don't know, Uduaghan, Emami and Ejele holds the key to the Itsekiri voting system! He has to come to terms with them, and as you know,our allocations will be involved, or else, the Ngige saga will happen again ! If he does not cooperate, they will blackmail him with electoral malpractices! That is what Uba used to destroy Ngige, and Obi won the case! The people will always be a loser! The leaders ganged up against Engr Kragha , a petroleum godfather in Norway,in 1999, because they felt that Ibori is a bridge between the Itsekiris and Urhobos. He played a fast one on them later.
I weep for Delta State because our future is really bleak, compared to the rest of the Niger Delta. We are the piggy bank of PDP!

99% of the comments from his so called kinsmen are not deltans.

Eya, this baba was finally deceived by a Nigerian. I thought he knew and saw everything.

AZeD1:
Norway -> Statoil 67% owned by the government.
Brazil -> Petrobras 64% owned by the government
China -> Economy is dominated by state run enterprises
South Korea -> Kepco 51% owned by the government
France -> EDF 80% owned by the government.

Its a big lie that government shouldn't do business.

The largest 13 oil companies in the world, are state owned.

Please tell us the role played by government in all the companies you listed? What business is government doing in all these companies?