Nigeria Can Sue Chevron, Total Over Illegal Exports, Judge Says

Nigeria Can Sue Chevron, Total Over Illegal Exports, Judge Says

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) Nigeria’s government can take the local units of Chevron Corporation and Total SA to trial for illegally exporting oil, a judge said. Justice Cecilia Olatoregun dismissed claims from the companies that they had no cases to answer at a hearing in the Federal High Court in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, on Friday. The trials will begin on Oct. 26, she said. “The government is seeking revenues that it lost due to under-declarations” of…

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Nigeria Banks Find Raising Cash ‘Tough’ in Shrinking Economy

Nigeria Banks Find Raising Cash ‘Tough’ in Shrinking Economy

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian banks are finding it difficult to raise capital as a shrinking economy cuts revenue and deters investors, the industry’s regulator said. “It’s been tough,” Umaru Ibrahim, managing director of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corp., said in an interview in the southwestern city of Abeokuta on Tuesday. Banks require “adequate capital that would help them cushion any adverse effect of loan defaults or losses,” he said. Ibrahim’s comments come as Access…

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Eurobond Investors Warm to Nigeria as OPEC Deal Aids Rally

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria, heading for its first full-year contraction in 25 years and in need of funding to cover a record budget deficit, may take heart from the performance of its dollar debt and OPEC’s agreement to cut oil production as the West African country prepares to tap the Eurobond market for the first time since 2013. Demand for the nation’s U.S. currency-denominated securities drove yields to the lowest in 15 months, handing…

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Gas shortages turn Nigeria’s Dangote to coal to power cement

Gas shortages turn Nigeria’s Dangote to coal to power cement

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s Dangote Cement has turned to locally-mined coal to power its plants in a bid to end disruptions caused by gas shortages and lower its production costs. “All our cement plants have been converted to coal,” Aliko Dangote, the company’s billionaire majority owner and chairman, told a business conference on Thursday, adding they would use 12,000 metric tonnes of coal each day. Dangote’s move is unusual in an era…

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Nigeria’s Sahara puts IPO and asset buys on ice

Nigeria’s Sahara puts IPO and asset buys on ice

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s Sahara has put on hold a planned initial public offering and bond sale that was aimed at financing more oil asset purchases until the investment prospects for oil and gas improve. A year ago Sahara was pursuing a dual listing on the London and Lagos stock exchanges and road showing a bond in an effort to raise more than $1 billion to buy oil and gas assets and…

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Nigeria Mulling Oil Assets Sale That Could Reshape Industry

Nigeria Mulling Oil Assets Sale That Could Reshape Industry

LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: Nigeria’s possible sale of some of its oil and gas assets to raise money and boost the contracting economy in Africa’s most populous country could reduce the government’s influence over its biggest industry. President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic advisers are working on a plan “to generate immediate large injection of funds into the economy through asset sales, advance payment for license rounds, infrastructure concessioning,” to help deal with the slump in oil…

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Oil Halts Loss Before OPEC Meets as Saudis Look to Future Deal

Oil Halts Loss Before OPEC Meets as Saudis Look to Future Deal

ALGIERS, Capital Markets in Africa: Oil halted losses below $45 a barrel after Saudi Arabia signaled it may compromise with regional rival Iran on a future supply agreement as both countries expect no deal when OPEC members meet Wednesday in Algiers. Futures rose 0.4 percent in New York after falling 2.7 percent Tuesday. A dealin November is possible, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih said at a briefing in the Algerian capital, adding that Iran, as well as Libya and Nigeria, should be…

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