Naira records marginal appreciation, exchanges for N1,700/$

The Naira yesterday appreciated to N1,700 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,705 per dollar on Monday.
Similarly, the Naira depreciated to N1,669.15 per dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEM.

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for NAFEM fell to N1,669.15 per dollar from N1,541.94 per dollar on Monday, indicating N127.2 appreciation for the Naira.

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The volume of dollars traded (turnover) in the official market declined by 2.97 percent to $176.45 million from $181.86 million traded on Monday. Consequently, the margin between the parallel market and NAFEM rate narrowed to N30.85 per dollar from N163.06 per dollar on Monday.

Naira records marginal appreciation, exchanges for N1,700/$

FG exempts VAT payment on diesel, gas, electric vehicles

Determined to arrest the spate of divestments in the nation’s oil and gas sector, the Federal Government (FG) has announced a new fiscal regime with a wide range of tax exemptions in the industry.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, said the fiscal incentives were aimed at revitalizing Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

The tax exemptions were contained in circulars titled: ‘Value Added Tax (VAT) Modification Order 2024’; and in the ‘Notice of Tax Incentives for Deep Offshore Oil & Gas Production’, which are in accordance with the Oil & Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, etc.) Order 2024.

The VAT Modification Order 2024 introduces exemptions on a range of key energy products and infrastructure including Diesel, Feed Gas, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Electric Vehicles, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) infrastructure, and Clean Cooking Equipment.

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In addition, the Notice of Tax Incentives for Deep Offshore Oil & Gas Production provides new tax reliefs for deep offshore projects.

The Minister said the concessions were expected to attract new and massive investments into the oil and gas and to revitalise the industry.

He added that the measures were designed to lower the cost of living, bolster energy security, and accelerate Nigeria’s transition to cleaner energy sources.

Mr. Edun expressed optimism that the initiative would reposition Nigeria’s deep offshore basin as a premier destination for global oil and gas investments.

He said the reforms were part of a broader series of investment-driven policy initiatives of President Bola Tinubu, in line with Policy Directives 40-42.

NNPCL delivers 48.6m barrels of crude to Dangote Refinery

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has delivered a total of 48.6 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote Petroleum Refinery in the past 10 months.

Details of the deliveries contained in official data on the transaction showed that 3.4 million barrels were supplied in December 2023 while 3.5 million barrels were supplied in February 2024.

A report by Vanguard on Wednesday indicated that 3.3mb, 3.3mb, 3.0mb, 5.1mb, 5.1mb, 4.8mb and 5.6 were supplied to the refinery in March, April, May, June, July, August and September 2024 respectively.

The transaction also recorded 11.7m barrels for October 2024.

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It however quoted sources close to the Dangote Refinery as saying the volume supplied remained low compared to the plant’s installed refining capacity of the 650,000 barrels per day.

The NNPCL has not yet disclosed the crude oil requirements of Nigeria’s refineries, including Dangote refinery in the last quarter (October – December) of 2024.

But in the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, the government put the requirements of all Nigeria’s refineries, including Dangote Refinery, at 597,700 barrels per day, indicating an increase of 114.700 barrels per day, from 483,000 bpd in the first half of the year.

The Q2’24 estimate also indicates that the NNPCL may have booked the crude oil needs of Dangote Refinery at less than 50% of the installed production capacity.

NNPCL delivers 48.6m barrels of crude to Dangote Refinery