Last post of the day- See post 47260 Here's hoping for a "HAPPY WEEKS END"
Oil & Gas
Published: 06/06/2006 12:00 AM (UAE)
Nigeria will boost output by 1.5m bpd
Reuters
Seoul: Nigeria will increase its oil output by 1.5 million barrels per day by next year, contributing to Opec's spare capacity, President of the organisation and Nigerian Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru said yesterday.
Daukoru made the comments after meeting South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun earlier yesterday.
The Opec members agreed on Thursday to leave oil output unchanged near its full capacity, news that failed to soothe oil markets. US crude traded up $1.10 at $73.43 a barrel yesterday, within $2 of a record high.
Uncertainties
A greater volume of spare capacity could help Opec stem an over three-year oil price rally, fuelled in part by fears that producers and refiners would be unable to compensate supplies in the case of any sudden, unexpected outages.
Over the past year Nigeria, the biggest oil producer in Africa, has begun pumping oil from Royal Dutch Shell's 225,000 bpd Bonga field and ExxonMobil's 150,000 bpd field, with more developments led by Total and Chevron expected to follow over the next two years.
The offshore fields have typically been immune to the kind of militant attacks that have shut in 550,000 bpd of onshore production in the Niger Delta, a quarter of Nigeria's total.
But an unprecedented raid on a rig 40 miles offshore last Friday heightened fears about the safety of more remote facilities. Gunmen who kidnapped eight foreign workers in that attack freed the captives on Sunday.
commitment
South Korea offers
to buy oil interests
South Korean Commerce and Industry Minister Chung Se Kyun offered yesterday to buy Nigerian oil interests, officials said.
The proposal came at talks with Nigeria's Petroleum Minister Edmund Daukoru who arrived here on Sunday for a three-day visit, Chung's office said.
Daukoru gave no clear commitment but suggested the oil-rich nation could sell small oil properties, it said.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and the world's sixth exporter with an average of 2.6 million barrels a day. South Korea is one of Asia's biggest oil importers.
South Korean firms are eyeing potentially lucrative Nigerian oil exploration contracts.
AFP
AP
Shell shocked
A Shell Oil rig in Niger Delta. Nigeria's latest hostage crisis came to a peaceful end on Sunday as eight officials held captive for two days were released unharmed.
