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FG, OPEC Forge Ties To Ensure Global Oil Market Stability
The Federal Government has given assurance of its readiness to support every move that will bring about stability in the global oil market.
This was reiterated at a visit by Dr Mohammad Barkindo, the Nigerian born Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Scribe, to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, in Abuja.
They both expressed their readiness to work hand-in-hand to ensure stability of the global crude oil market.
Sylva said that Nigeria, as one of the leading oil and gas producing nations in Africa, would continue to abide by the Declaration of Cooperation (DOC) which has gone a long way in stabilising the market for the collective good of the producing and consuming nations.
On his part, Barkindo applauded Nigeria for the key role it has been playing in the global crude oil market, noting that the 50 years partnership between OPEC and Nigeria has impacted the crude oil market positively.
He presented a book entitled “Nigeria and OPEC: 50 years of Partnership,” to mark the golden anniversary of its membership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Can The Biden Administration Meet Its Ambitious Offshore Wind Power Target?
Earlier this year, the Biden administration said it planned to build offshore wind power generation capacity to the tune of 30 GW by 2030, creating more than 44,000 direct jobs and close to 33,000 indirect ones. To date, the United States has wind power capacity of 118 GW. Of this, only 42 MW is offshore wind. And According to IHS Markit, the 30 GW additional capacity target will almost certainly be missed.
Last year, the United States set a record in wind power capacity additions, at 14.2 GW added during the pandemic year. That was a continuation of another strong year in 2019, which also set a record in wind power additions, according to data from the Energy Information Bureau.
However, the reason for this boom in wind power generation capacity was not a simple response to greater demand for wind power. In fact, the reason for the records set in both 2019 and 2020 was the looming phase-out of the production tax credit, which spurred the mass deployment of wind and solar installations.
In December, Congress extended the production tax credit, which provided wind farm operators with a credit of $0.025 per kWh, until the end of this year. There are other incentives available to the wind industry, too. The biggest is the investment tax credit, which covers between 12 and 30 percent of investment costs at the start of the project. As of December, Congress has established a 30-percent investment tax credit for projects that start construction by December 2025.
So, with so much government help for the wind power industry, the 30 GW target in offshore wind should be a no-brainer. Yet, there are other factors at play besides government incentives and it is these factors, according to IHS Markit, that would make hitting the 30 GW target impossible.
For starters, the permitting process for offshore wind projects is lengthy and complicated, IHS Markit’s Andre Utkin wrote in a recent analysis of the topic. Then, there are not enough manufacturing facilities for the turbines, blades, and other equipment that goes into a utility-scale wind farm. The installation process is also tricky: per U.S. legislation, only U.S.-flagged vessels can sail along the country’s coasts. And there are not enough U.S.-flagged wind turbine installation and service vessels, according to IHS’s Utkin.
Then there is the issue of transmission infrastructure. This is insufficient to accommodate an additional 30 GW of wind power capacity, according to the research firm. The transmission infrastructure problem is a global one, by the way. Earlier this year, IHS’s Utkin reported that global offshore wind power capacity was set to expand sixfold by 2030 thanks to technological advances, cost reductions, and government incentives. However, he added, “the industry needs to rapidly develop and invest in new infrastructure to achieve these ambitious plans.”
Finally, there is a regulatory hurdle, albeit not an insurmountable one. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management tends to conduct lengthy investigations of the impacts of wind farm construction on the environment, which will also likely delay projects.
In all fairness, many of these challenges can be dealt with by legislators, a majority—although slim—of whom are clearly in favor of building the country’s offshore wind power capacity. Some, however, are trickier because they do not depend on favorable policies. One example is the cost of building the necessary transmission infrastructure.
The recent $550-billion bipartisan infrastructure deal struck between the Senate and the White House envisages $73 billion in funding for clean energy generation and transmission. Yet copper prices are rising, and the offshore wind takes massive amounts of copper for its infrastructure. The $73 billion might simply be not enough for that and modernizing the U.S. aging grid.
Slav writes for Oilprice.com
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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