Nigeria

For many, offshore hydrocarbons exploration constitutes perhaps the final oil and gas frontier. Offshore drilling targets deposits trapped beneath the ocean floor – or in some cases beneath inland lakes and seas – which are accessed through wellbores in the seabed. It is the most complex and expensive way of exploiting oil and gas deposits. Wells...

Policymakers in Nigeria would like to create a fully market-driven natural gas system. However, ever since – indeed, before – the Gas Master Plan was drawn up in 2008, it has been understood that this objective will not be realised in the short term, and that carefully planned transitional mechanisms are necessary to ensure both that progress and...

Some of the hardest hit players during the 2008 crash, stockbrokers now look set to experience major regulatory changes in the coming years. Alongside stricter oversight and higher capital requirements from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is upgrading its trading platform and spinning off its post-...

An undeniable giant in the energy world, Nigeria faces some challenges in terms of performance and progress of its hydrocarbons sector. These include broad issues like politics and insurgency, in addition to the specifics of regulating a large energy sector. Its natural gas is even more abundant than its oil, but Nigeria has so far failed to realise...

Aerial passenger traffic has risen dramatically since 2007, when 8.5m people took to the Nigerian skies. In 2011 the figure was 14.6m — a 72% increase in four years. Of those, 12m flew on domestic flights, underscoring the key role of the country’s carriers.

At the moment, it is the big international players – or the ventures involving them – that extract most of Nigeria’s oil and gas. In 2011, in fact, the respective proportions were around 90% and 95%. However, local players are not to be underestimated and look to be growing in importance as time passes.