Oil & Energy
Nigeria’s Energy Sector In Retrospect
The year 2012 has been a mixed grilled for Nigeria in its energy sector. This is so because the experience during the last year under review has been a combination of the “good” and the “bad”, though the bad seems to be dominating the “good” therefore having remarkable impact on the nation’s economy.
This impact, naturally tilt this piece to reflect on the “bad” in the sector.
Nigerians woke up on January 2012 to the ugly reality of the removal of fuel subsidy which led to the astronomical increase in pump price of petrol from N65 per litre to N140 per litre. This sparked a series of protest across the country which crippled economic activites thus forcing the federal government to resort to partial deregulation by pegging the pump price of petrol at N97 per litre. This, off course, obtains in some parts of the urban areas with close monitoring as in rural areas and most parts of the rural parts of the country that are not closely monitored sell between N120 to N160 per litre.
No doubt the oil and gas aspect of the energy sector which has shrouded in darkness was to some extent unshrouded by the various probe reports from the Nuhu Ribadu’s to Dotun Suleman’s and Kalu Idika’s that were set up in the wake of the protests that greeted the subsidy removal.
There have, however, been spirally controversies clogging the implementation of these probe reports inclusive of the one carried out by the Farouk Lawan’s House of Representatives ad hock Committee on subsidy payment.
The reports by Farouk and Ribadu generated heated arguments for and against due to the revelations that emanated from them. While the Farouk’s Committee report was tainted by the $620,000 bribery alleged by Femi Otedola, the Ribadu’s committee report though openly challenged by two members of the committee who accused him of not doing a thorough job made open some starkling revelation that left Nigerians dumbfounded.
Also, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that was compiled by Senator Udo Udoma’s committee before being sent to the National Assembly was strongly opposed by the Northern Senators and International Oil Companies. These were the same factors that resulted to abortion of previous PIBs. Recent reports have it that the House of Representatives has postponed the hearing on this controversial bill to between the third and the fourth week of January 2013.
The indictment and prosecution of several petroleum marketers in respect of fuel subsidy had the resulted effect of the perpetual scarcity of petroleum products in many cities across the country as these marketers who cushion government’s importation were not importing. Nigerians, inadvertently bear the brunt as government’s importation alone cannot meet up public demands.
Also of note is statement issued by Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) at its Annual International Conference and Exhibition in Lagos recently that the nation’s potential of generating about 2.26 metric tones of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) annually will never be achieved unless issues of infrastructure deficit and lack of access to finance of players in the sector were addressed.
The statement, said the attainment of the nation’s vision 20:20 objective can only be achieved with stable power supply with gas production playing important role.
The statement presented by Mr. Mustapha Jibrin further noted that recent discoveries in other parts of Africa was negatively affecting Nigeria’s natural gas potential and its competiveness.
“The competitiveness of Nigeria’s natural gas and the numerous opportunities… it would be impacted by recent discoveries of large reserves of gas in other parts of Africa, especially offshore East Africa, as well as huge exploitation of shale gas in different parts of the world,” the statement reads partly. The country reveals a poor state of services amidst a monthly outrageous bills. This is inspite of all the news about the implementation of power sector reform such as the increase in electricity tariff, privatisation of generation and distribution companies as well as the management takeover of the Transmission Company of Nigeria by Manitoba, a Canadian firm (a deal which has a lot of controversies). Earlier this month, it was reported that the country was still generating about 4,300MW of electricity. Significant energy is still lost to weak transmission lines coupled with incidence of system collapse which is still prevalent.
Some believe that if the privatisation timetable was followed to the letter, we would have been singing a new song as new owners of the generation, transmission and distribution companies would have commenced operation in earnest leading to a break through in the sector, and this reform for some Nigerians is tied to the old order.
Therefore, their hope dwindled with the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Alison Madueke represented by Mr Austin Olorunshola, a director in the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) at the same occasion corroborated this view as she said Nigeria was coming under extreme competitive pressure from African neighbour.
According to her, the oil and gas, discovery in neigbouring African countries and shale gas discovery globally was a major challenge to the nation’s oil and gas industry.
She also disclosed that the lack of discovery of oil in commercial quantity in the Chad basin was a cause of concern for the sector but allayed the fears saying “the lack of activity in the Chad basin is not a signal of lack of prospect.
The low level of production was also attributed to security challenges experienced in some parts of the country and pipeline vandalism.
President Goodluck Jonathan in his Christmas Message urged Nigerians to continue to trust in his unwavering commitment to fully achieve the objectives of his administration’s agenda for National Transformation for the benefit of all Nigerians. It is hoped that as we enter 2013, the president will have the political will and determination to deliver positive changes as he has promised and make the new year much better in all ramification, especially in the energy sector.
Researchers in Hong Kong and China have developed a new form of battery that is more eco-friendly and longer lasting than lithium ion batteries – and it runs on tofu brine. The new water battery is still in research phases, but if the technology proves to be scalable enough to hit commercial markets, it could be a game-changer for the energy and tech sectors.
“Compared with current aqueous battery systems … our system delivers exceptional long-term cycling stability and environmental friendliness under neutral conditions,” the research team, composed of scientists from the City University of Hong Kong and Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, Guangdong, said in a paper published this month in Nature Communications.
The researchers found that their battery model can be recharged over 120,000 times. “At over a hundred thousand cycles, this could mean a single water-based battery could last at least a decade or so,” states a recent report on the breakthrough from Interesting Engineering. “For applications like grid storage (solar farms, wind balancing), that’s extremely valuable,” the article went on to say.
This kind of lifespan would represent a drastic improvement over the battery technologies that dominate today’s market. Lithium-ion batteries degrade after between 1,000 and 3,000 charge cycles. This could prove revolutionary, as finding an alternative to lithium-ion batteries to power rechargeable devices is a major priority for Big Tech and the global energy sector.
Moreover, these tofu-brine batteries could prove safer and more environmentally friendly than lithium-ion batteries. According to the study authors, the full cells are environmentally benign and nontoxic and can be directly discarded to environments according to various standards.” Water based (also called aqueous) batteries can also potentially be cheap to produce as they rely on ingredients that are less rare in addition to being less hazardous.
Lithium is environmentally harmful to extract, prone to fires, and its supply chains are geopolitically fraught. Currently, China alone controls half of the global lithium market, and is rapidly increasing its stake. In 2024, more than eight in ten battery cells on the planet were made in China. This means that finding a battery model that can compete with lithium-ion batteries in applications like grid-scale energy storage and electric vehicles would have revolutionary implications for global markets.
Researchers around the world have been racing to develop battery models that could diversify the market and make it more competitive and resilient. These models range widely in size, components, and application, with models currently under development for next-gen sodium-ion batteries, quantum batteries, nuclear batteries, and even sand and dirt batteries.
Of course, the irony is that the leading alternatives to lithium-ion batteries are also being developed in Chinese labs. If this new tofu-brine battery proves scalable and applicable outside of a laboratory environment, it could just be another step toward Beijing’s goal of near-total domination of clean energy technology value chains and status as the world’s first and premiere ‘electro-state.’
China’s extreme advantage in global battery making gives it a major point of leverage in global economies as the world continues to electrify at a rapid pace. It is estimated that European demand for lithium in batteries will reach kilo tonnes (thousands of tonnes) of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent by next year, and North American demand will reach 250 kit LCE. it’s all but certain that the vast majority of that demand will be supplied by China.
Other nations are aware of the risk of this dependency, and are taking pains to protect and promote domestic battery manufacturing, but these efforts may be too little, too late. “For globally competitive battery manufacturing industries to emerge outside of Asia over the next ten years, companies will need to do far more than ensure regulatory compliance,” summarizes a McKinsey & Company report released in January. “Challenges will need to be overcome on multiple fronts spanning supply chains, talent management, operations and technology.”
By: Haley Zaremba
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) says it will spend N100 billion in 2026 to deploy hybrid mini-grids for government agencies within and outside Abuja.
The Managing Directors, REA, Abba Aliyu, disclosed this while addressing newsmen on the sidelines of the 2026 budget defence session
The approved funds form part of the National Public Sector Solarisation programme, a component of the agency’s broader N170 billion budget proposal for 2026.
The initiative is designed to improve electricity reliability for public institutions while reducing operational costs and easing pressure on the national grid.
Aliyu explained that the agency’s total proposed budget for 2026 stands at N170 billion, with N100 billion of the amount dedicated specifically to the solarisation initiative targeting government agencies.
He said the hybrid mini-grid systems combine solar power with complementary energy sources to ensure an uninterrupted electricity supply.
“The total budget size for 2026 operations is N170 billion, out of which N100 billion had been approved for National Public Sector Solarisation.
Aliyu cited the National Hospital in Abuja as an example where similar infrastructure had been deployed to ensure stable power and cut operational expenses.He added that beyond the Solarisation
Recall that earlier in February 2026, REA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to deploy solar power systems to 15 public institutions across Nigeria.
The project will be implemented under the Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP), a World Bank-supported initiative aimed at expanding off-grid electricity access across West Africa and the Sahel.
ECOWAS will provide a $700,000 grant to fund the installation of solar photovoltaic systems in selected rural health centres and schools in the Federal Capital Territory, Niger, and Nasarawa States.
Oil & Energy
PIA: TotalEnergies Transfers OLO Oilfield HCDT Obligation To Aradel ……Says HCDT Enabled Completion of 100 Projects In 2 years
In his remarks, the Community Affairs Manager, Aradel Holdings Plc, Blessyn Okpowo, affirmed the company’s commitment to honouring all PIA obligations and continuing Total Energies’ community engagement approach.“We want to say that in line with the PIA, we will honour commitments and duties required of the settlor and we want to work very smoothly with the way TotalEnergies has worked with them,” he stated.
He recognised the Commission’s role in approving the Community Development Plan (CDP) before project start, underscoring regulatory excellence.The parties noted that between 2023 and 2025, the trust has enabled the completion of more than 100 community projects, spanning water supply, electricity, road infrastructure, education, and healthcare with a further 40 projects currently ongoing.
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