Business
Nigeria Lost $1.7bn To OML 25 Closure – NNPC
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says Nigeria lost about $1.7 billion dollars to the closure of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 25 flow station in Rivers State in the last two years.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari, disclosed this at the reopening of the OML 25 flow station and commissioning of water plan in Kula community in Rivers State at the weekend.
According to him, “There was shutdown of the Belema flow station due to absolute breakdown of law and order in this community (Kula) two years ago, and there was loss of over 35,000 barrels of oil production per day per day.
“In monetary terms, that is worth about 1.7 billion dollars which could have been put to use for the benefit of the community and the rest of the federation.
“What we have done is to engage the community and its leadership, to ensure that dispute between it and Shell is brought to a closure, as a result of which there will be more community engagements.’’
“They have agreed to vacate the facility and allow petroleum operation to continue in this facility,”.
It would be recalled that women of OML 25 host communities had shut down operations at the flow station two years ago over the failure of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to fulfil its corporate social responsibility to the host communities.
Kyari said that immediate priority of government and NNPC was to ensure peace to help other things to fall in place in the community.
”We know that ultimately when peace comes, oil production will come back and we can see the return of about 35,000 barrels of oil production per day”, he stated.
The GMD said that for the oil production to resume, there would be a re-entry process and validation of the state of damages done on the facility over time.
He assured that within the shortest time, Shell would come up with a plan.
According to him, community engagement is the solution to resolving dispute with oil producing communities.
“We have found a solution, and this would enable people to go back to their work, offer social service and all that is needed will come back”, he said.
Kyari advised communities and leaders in the Niger Delta to resolve issues affecting them and oil production.
He noted that through peaceful engagements, oil producing communities in the Niger Delta could earn more revenue from oil and gas investment opportunities.
According to him, there would be more developments as against the constant cases of hostility, disruption of oil production and underdevelopment.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, said the relationship with the community had come to stay.
“We need unity in Ijaw land today, and it is time for us to change strategy on our engagements to bring investment to our communities.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
