Royal Dutch Shell has indicated that it will soon throw 6,500 out of jobs as a way of stepping up spending cuts, to deal with an extended period of lower oil prices.
The Anglo-Dutch company also said that it is planning more asset disposals, bringing total asset sales between 2014 and 2018 to $50 billion.

“We have to be resilient in a world where oil prices remain low for some time, whilst keeping an eye on recovery,’’ Chief Executive Officer, Ben van Beurden said.
Shell said it anticipated 6,500 staff and direct contractor reductions in 2015 from a total of nearly 100,000 employees. Lower oil prices have contributed to a 37 per cent drop in the oil and gas group’s second-quarter profits. And the group said it would reduce 2015 capital investment for the second time this year to $30 billion (by 20 per cent) from a year ago.
Big oil companies have cut 2015 spending by 10 to 15 per cent from 2014, to cope with a halving of oil prices over the past year to below $55 a barrel. Rivals BP and Total  also announced further cuts this week.
Meanwhile President of the Association of Outsourcing Professionals of Nigeria (AOPN), Dr. Austin Nweke has said that more workers will  lose their jobs in the Nigerian oil and gas  sector  as the full impact of continued drop in oil prices  comes to bear on the industry.
Nweke said the highly technical workers such as geologists, engineers and others have lost their jobs, adding that those in maintenance and security may lose their jobs if there is no improvement in the sector.
He said that the recession in the global oil market has worsened the problems of oil companies operating in Nigeria, with resultant effects on their employees adding that outsourcing companies are owed by their clients due to the bad economy, and many of them are not ready to compound their woes. [myad]

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has announced the commencement of preliminary production of petroleum products the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries after successful test-runs.

The refineries started operation after they were successfully re-streamed within a nine-month rehabilitation exercise that was conducted by its in-house engineers and technicians.
in a statement today, the corporation, said that both plants

A statement by the corporation today said that while Port Harcourt refinery was ramping up its operation to about 60 per cent of its 210,000 barrels per day capacity, the Warri refinery’s production is being projected to hit 80 per cent of its installed 125,000bpd capacity.
The NNPC said the Port Harcourt refinery was projected to boost the nation’s local refining capacity with a product yield of five million litres of petrol per day, while Warri refinery would contribute 3.5 million litres of petrol.
The corporation said that it had to adopt the phased rehabilitation strategy after the Original Refinery Builders, who were initially contacted for the project, came up with unfavorable terms.
“Though a decision was taken in 2011 to rehabilitate all the refineries using the ORB of each of the refineries, we were impelled to switch strategy after the ORBs declined participation and nominated some partners in their stead who came up with outrageously unfavorable terms.”
The NNPC stated that the nominated partners, as sole-bidders, came up with humongous price offers after two years of thorough and exhaustive scope of work definition and price negotiations.
It added that the proxies were also unwilling to provide post rehabilitation performance guarantees.
“The phased rehabilitation strategy which entailed phased and simultaneous rehabilitation of all the refineries using in-house and locally available resources in line with the spirit and letter of the Nigerian Content Law, also involved the use of Original Equipment Manufacturer representatives to effect major equipment overhaul and rehabilitation.”
The national oil firm said the phased rehabilitation programme, which started in October 2014 after the required funding stream was established, created a 70 per cent reduction in costs which helped largely in mitigating the financing challenges of refinery rehabilitation.
It observed that with the successful re-streaming of the PHRC and WRPC, attention has now moved to the 110,000 barrels per day Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company which was billed to come on stream soon.
In a related development, NNPC disclosed that it had successfully recovered the System 2B Pipeline which was breached last week at Arepo, Ogun State.
The corporation stated that its team of engineers, who were deployed to the scene of the incident, were able to access the pipeline after the fire was put out and commenced repair work immediately.
“We wish to announce that the vital System 2B Pipeline which was breached at Arepo last week has been fixed and brought back on stream. Pumping of products through the system commenced on Monday upon successful completion of repair work over the weekend.
“We also wish to call on all those engaged in the criminal acts of pipeline sabotage and oil theft to desist in order to avoid such horrendous deaths as was witnessed in the recent incident.” [myad]

There are indications that President Muhammadu Buhari is already in possession of Nigerians who have been stealing oil and blaming it on Niger Delta militants. The list was believed to have been compiled and handed over to the President by the United States of America.

Sources close to the President hinted: “I can tell you that the President already has the list of names of the people engaging in the stealing of Nigeria’s oil. The list, when released by the President, will shock Nigerians. But let’s wait and see first.”

It was leanrt that President Buhari was taken aback when he saw the names on the list and that the list given to the President by the US might compel him to probe the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

It was gathered the US gave Buhari two separate lists – one listing the names of top government officials who have been stealing the country’s oil, using their high offices to perpetrate the stealing; and the other containing the names of illegal oil bunkerers.

The President had said last week that some ministers in the cabinet of Jonathan were stealing as much as 250,000 barrels of Nigeria’s crude daily. The President is said to have vowed that those whose names appeared on the list would not go scot-free.

“The President will probe all of them and make sure they return whatever fortune they had made from their thievery.”

Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has thrown its support behind the President for the probe of the Jonathan administration in the light of mind-boggling corruption that had been uncovered by the Federal Government.

“Some people have insinuated that the Buhari administration should ignore the massive looting of our patrimony and move on. We say no responsible government can afford to do that, because it will amount to endorsing corruption and impunity,’’ the party said in a statement issued in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

The APC said billions of dollars had been skimmed off by “pathologically-corrupt public officials” in the oil sector alone, wondering how the government of the day could meet its obligations to the citizens if it refused to recover the huge funds taken away by thieving officials

The statement reads: ‘‘It is an irony that those who are suggesting that the Buhari administration should turn a blind eye to the incomprehensible looting are the same ones accusing the government of not doing anything.

“It is even a cruel irony that the same party that presided over what is fast emerging as the worst governance in the history of our country is the same one that is daily bad-mouthing an administration that is cleaning up its mess.

‘‘Where does one start from? Is it the fact that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation failed to remit N3.8tn to the Federation Account or the mind-blowing stealing of 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day?

“Is it the fact that the NNPC itself does not know how many bank accounts it had or into which ones the payments for Nigerian crude are made? Could anyone have imagined that a government minister would steal the unprecedentedly-huge amount of US $6bn of public funds as being alleged?

‘‘How does any sane person rationalise the fact that $1bn was unilaterally and illegally withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account just because, as the immediate past Minister of Finance has disclosed, the President ordered the withdrawal? What about the billions of naira waivers recklessly approved to dubious importers by the Jonathan administration?

“Is it not clear now that the stealing and the profligacy – more than anything else, including the fall in oil price – helped to drastically reduce the monthly allocation from the Federation Account from about N800bn to about N400bn , thus pauperising the states and the local governments, and by extension the citizenry?

“Against the background of the stunning revelations, what message will any government be sending to its citizens and indeed the global community by looking the other way, when it could still recover some of the looted funds for the benefit of the people?

“This is why we are supporting the Buhari administration’s probe decision and we are calling on all Nigerians to support ongoing efforts to get to the root of the matter.”

The APC said that it was clear that the Jonathan administration had deliberately delayed giving the then incoming Buhari government the handover notes so as to avoid being asked critical questions pertaining to the looting under its watch.

Also, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said that it was on the same page with Buhari in the fight against corruption, but that due process must be followed.

The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in Abuja yesterday, said the clarification became necessary so as to remove any misconception that it was against the decision of the present administration to probe some past officials of government because they were PDP members.

Metuh said: “The PDP supports the decision of the Federal Government to fight corruption in our country.

“However, we make bold to state that it should not be disguised to victimise innocent citizens. Democracy has come to stay in Nigeria and no citizen, irrespective of political, religious or ethnic affiliation, should be denied access to due process and the rule of law in the process.

“Furthermore, we make bold to state that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. In that regard, therefore, we advise members of the APC blowing the horn ahead of the cart to keep quiet because many of them have been major beneficiaries of corruption and sleaze associated with themselves and their allies, especially one of them who as a disguised errand boy of a well-known APC leader is a major beneficiary of the largesse of perpetrators of corruption.

“Apart from Mr. President, who for now, is not associated with any sleaze or corrupt activity in this democracy, most APC leaders are still those who as governors, ministers and labour leaders have been the worst corrupt set of Nigerians ever to bestride the political landscape of the country.

“It is a great miscarriage of perception therefore for the APC leaders who are perpetrators of sleaze and corrupt acts to attempt to deceive Nigerians with imaginary holiness in this anti-corruption war by the President.”

Consequently, he called on the President, as the leader of the APC to remove the log in the eyes of his party while “we support his commitment to remove the speck from the eyes of others.” [myad]