Economy
US tackles OPEC over rising Oil prices

—-rallies allies to saturate global market with excess supply
Eyewitness reporter with agency report
The Joe Biden administration came to this conclusion as the last resort after its appeal to OPEC and its allies, OPEC+, to raise production quota to boost oil supplies failed.
Consequently, governments from some of the world’s biggest economies may have agreed with the US in principle when they said they were looking into releasing oil from their strategic reserves, after a rare US request for a coordinated move to cool global energy prices ahead of a meeting of major oil-producing nations.
The Biden administration has asked a wide range of countries, including China for the first time, to consider releasing stocks of crude.
Other major consumers India, Japan and South Korea were also involved in discussions.
As the world economy rebounds from the pandemic, Washington and other nations have been frustrated that producers in OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, have rebuffed US requests to speed up additional oil supplies.
OPEC nations, for their part, have said that world economies remain too fragile to warrant increasing supplies quickly.
To that end, the market slumped on Friday after Austria announced that it would reimpose a full nationwide lockdown due to soaring coronavirus cases, and Germany, Europe’s largest economy, may soon follow suit.
The market has been weakening for several weeks as investors have started to anticipate an increase in supply worldwide.
With gasoline prices and other costs rising, Democratic US President Joe Biden also faces political pressure ahead of midterm congressional elections next year.
A Reuters poll in October showed 67 percent of US adults agreed that inflation is a very big concern.
Members of Biden’s national security team had discussed the need to meet fuel demand, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
“That is an ongoing conversation and one we are having with a number of partners,” she added.
OPEC+ plans to meet on December 2nd, 2021.
The group has been raising output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) per month, gradually unwinding record production cuts made in 2020 when the pandemic dissipated fuel demand.
This week, Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said OPEC expects an oil supply surplus to begin building next month.
Other countries have been pressing OPEC for some time, including China and India.
“This is not a case of supplies not being available,” Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Oil Minister, told a conference in Dubai on Wednesday.
“There are five million barrels a day of supplies available which have not been released for whatever reason.”
While OPEC+ has been raising oil output by 400,000 bpd per month since July, the producer group still has about 3.8 million bpd in supply cuts that it has not yet returned to the market.
Several of the group’s members have been unable to meet production targets due to years of under-investment.
“Half of (OPEC+’s) members can’t meet their quotas given their own under-investment,” Goldman Sachs analysts said.
OPEC+ in April 2020 cut output by more than 10 million barrels a day in response to the swift spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
China’s state reserve bureau told Reuters it was working on a release of crude oil reserves, but declined to comment on the US request.
It would also mark the first time that China, the world’s No. 2 oil consumer and largest importer, would be involved in a coordinated release with the United States.
China held its first-ever public auction of oil reserves in September.
Consultancy Energy Aspects said in a note to clients that Beijing is expected to release another 10 million to 15 million barrels of crude from its reserves in eastern Zhoushan in its next auction round.
“Any oil released from the Chinese SPR needs to be refilled within 90 days,” Energy Aspects said.
“The market should focus on where these countries will find crude to refill these tanks given just how low stocks are.”
The United States has the largest strategic reserve at more than 600 million barrels.
The US SPR was set up in the 1970s after the Arab Oil Embargo to ensure the nation had adequate supply to weather an emergency.
In the last several years, the shale boom has pushed US output to rival that of Saudi Arabia and Russia.
That has enabled the United States to become less dependent on energy imports from other nations, particularly members of OPEC.
The United States and its allies have coordinated strategic petroleum reserve releases before, such as in 2011 when supplies were hit by war in OPEC member Libya.
Economy
Dangote splashes N720bn on 4000 CNG- powered trucks, lifts 42m MSMEs

Economy
NNPCL raises alarm over syndicated attacks to distract leadership from ongoing reforms

Funso OLOJO
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has raised the alarm over what it described as a coordinated sabotage campaign on its management.
In a statement by the management of the Corporation, the attack was being sponsored by whom it described as ‘known and faceless actors’ to distract its management from its reform agenda that is meant to rid the corporation of the endemic corruption that has eaten deep into the operations of the national oil company.
” The management of NNPCL has uncovered an emerging coordinated sabotage campaign being waged by a syndicate of known and faceless actors, both outside and within various levels of the organisation.
“This group is actively spreading lies and misinformation simply to discredit NNPC Ltd.’s leadership and derail the organisation’s ongoing transformation into a corruption-free, performance-driven energy company, in line with the mandate of His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Their tactics include planting scandalous and fabricated reports, curated to distract leadership, mislead the public, and undermine the commitment of our dedicated workforce and reform-minded Nigerians.
“These are calculated efforts by those who feel threatened by reform, transparency, accountability, and change—clear evidence of the lengths to which they will go to obstruct the transformation of Nigeria’s foremost energy institution.
“We expect a surge of defamatory content in the days and weeks ahead.
” NNPC Ltd. remains undeterred. The transformation is underway, and no amount of sabotage will stop it.
“We urge our dedicated staff, stakeholders, and all patriotic Nigerians to stay focused, ignore the noise and not be discouraged. We remain on mission.
It could be recalled that after the removal of Mele Kyari as the Group Managing Director of the NNPCL, the new management uncovered an homonguous scale of misappropriation of public funds running into billions of dollars which led to the sack of some of the senior staff, including the Managing Directors of the State- owned Refineries.
The investigation launched into the financial recklessness of the past administration of the NNPCL involved the sum of $2.96billion.
In May,2025, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) detained Mr Kyari over the investigation.
The anti- graft agency also uncovered a staggering N80 billion in multiple bank accounts belonging to one of the sacked Managing Directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) refineries.
The discovery was part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged misappropriation of $2.96 billion for refinery rehabilitation.
It could also be recalled that the anti-graft agency arrested former managing directors and senior officials of the three major state-owned refineries, including Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC).
Also recall the new NNPCL management had also fired the Managing Directors of the three refineries under its purview
Economy
Dangote Refinery purchases 4,000 CNG tankers for direct distribution of petrol, diesel to marketers, dealers

-
Customs3 months ago
Agricultural produce tops exports of 11,459 containers worth $986.4m through Apapa port in three months
-
Customs3 months ago
Silent jubilation as Comptroller Kola Oladeji is removed as FOU, Zone A boss.
-
Headlines3 months ago
Edward Osagie, Ikechukwu Onyemekara, Muyiwa Akande emerge finalists at 2025 National spokesperson award
-
Customs3 months ago
KLT Customs laments low volume of trade at the command
-
Headlines3 months ago
NIWA warns waterways passengers, operators of danger posed by sunken Dredger under Eko bridge
-
Customs3 months ago
Adeniyi bags Leadership award for Public service person of the year