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Nigeria to commence local fabrication of modular refineries
Minister of Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said that the federal government has initiated plans to achieve 100 per cent local fabrication of modular refineries in Nigeria and has entered into discussions with Original Equipment Manufacturers, OEM, in this regard.
He said that oil production, excluding condensates, for the month of July was slightly below 1.8 million barrels per day. Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Abuja, he said there had been issues with aging pipelines.
“We continue to have challenges, some of our pipelines are old, so these are basically technical. They are not militancy-induced stoppages, but they are basically maintenance-induced stoppages,” he said. The Minister said that the Federal Government intends to set a deadline for the local fabrication of oil vessels and Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading vessels, FPSO, while the Bank of Industry, said the newly launched $200 million intervention fund can be used for by oil companies for contract financing and loan refinancing.
The BoI also stated through the fund, the BoI would take over the loans of oil companies in commercial banks, slash the interest rates on such loans and reduced the burden on the companies. Speaking at the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony on the implementation of the $200 million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, NCIF, between the Bank of Industry, BoI, and the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board, NCDMB, Kachikwu said Nigeria cannot continue to award contracts, but most set deadlines on when to localise most of the vessels and projects in the country.
He said, “Specifically, areas dealing with vessel fabrication and offshore platforms, FPSO, we must set a benchmark for when we can exit. No country in the world has been able to achieve this by just sitting around and giving contracts. We must be able to see that in 10 years time all FPSO in Nigeria would be localised. We must begin to drive that.” Furthermore, Kachikwu lamented that over the years, Nigerian companies have found it difficult competing with their counterparts from jurisdictions where funding is accessible for 5 per cent or less as compared to our market where bank lending rates hover around 20 per cent. He noted that some Nigerian banks are still unable to provide long-term financing required by the local supply chain to build needed capacity, adding that the banks also lack sufficient knowledge of the oil and gas sector.
“It is a known fact that the exorbitant cost of funds in our market is partly responsible for the high cost of service delivery by Nigerian Oil and Gas Service Providers (NOSPs) and this feeds into the unacceptable high cost of crude oil production,” he argued.
Kachikwu further disclosed that NCI Fund being launched today is a portion of Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF), and is drawn from one per cent of all contracts awarded in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. He said the Federal Government would further engage with the NCDMB, BoI, oil companies and multinational agencies on how to increase the fund from its initial outlay of $200 million to $1 billion.
Speaking in the same vein, Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, stated that the Board has keyed into the drive to discontinue petroleum products importation in Nigeria, adding that its strategic initiative is to achieve 100 per cent local fabrication of our modular refineries.
He said, “We have commenced discussions with OEMs, local fabricators to make this a reality. We have set aside areas in our oil and gas scheme for practical training on operations, maintenance and running of modular refineries as a sustainable business model and for fabrication of the units.”
He added that efforts are on to ensure that the Dangote Refinery, when operational, would be managed and maintained by Nigerians and Nigerian companies.
He said, “The Dangote Refinery project needs all the support it can get to make it succeed, both in the ongoing project execution phase and with subsequent operational phase. We have agreed to provide list of Nigerian companies with capacities for patronage by Dangote Refinery for the development of the project to meet cost schedule, timelines.
“Similarly, a compendium of anciliary businesses required to sustain operations on the refinery would be developed for interested entrepreneurs, so that the 650,000 barrels per day refinery promise can be met, while maintenance operations phase of the plant would be supported by capabilities within Nigeria.”
Also speaking, Managing Director of the BoI, Mr. Olukayode Pitan, said the fund would be used to increase capacity in the industry, generate employment, create linkages that would affect and lead to the growth of the oil and gas sector. He said, “The fund can be used to acquire assets for those who have contracts. The single digit on that kind of facility it would not exceed $10 million and the interest rate on it would not exceed eight per cent. Also we have taken into account community contractors because this fund is trying to ensure that they also are carried along and it even make it much easier.
“For community contractors they can access up toN20 million and the interest on that would not exceed five per cent per annum.” He further stated that the fund can be used by oil companies for contract financing and loan refinancing. This is due to the fact that we are aware that some of you in the industry, because this fund was not operational then, had to go to other banks to borrow money and you are paying 15 per cent and 16 per cent per annum in dollars, and when you are paying that type of interest rate it becomes difficult to make money.
“So for the contracts that are qualified and are running in other commercial banks we might be able to take them over and your interest rates reduced and burden reduced. That would not exceed eight per cent per annum. All you have to do is to apply to us attach your documents and come to us and that would not exceed $10 million. The tenure for the facilities under this intervention fund will not exceed five years and is five years maximum at the interest of eight per cent except for the communities, whose interest rate would not exceed five per cent.”
A new technology transfer agreement between the Nigeria–China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) is expected to open more job opportunities, improve local skills, and expand access to advanced technology for ordinary Nigerians.
In a press statement reaching Vanguard on Friday, the MoU aims to strengthen industrial development, support local content, and create clearer pathways for Nigerians to benefit from China’s growing investments in the country.
PICTT Chairman, Dr Dahiru Mohammed, said the partnership will immediately begin coordinated programmes that support local participation in infrastructure and industrial projects.
Special Adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr John Uwajumogu, said the deal will help attract high value investments that can stimulate job creation and strengthen Nigeria’s economy.
NCSP Head of International Relations, Ms Judy Melifonwu, highlighted that Nigerians stand to gain from expanded STEM scholarships, technical training, access to modern technology, and collaboration across key sectors including steel, agriculture, automobile parks, and cultural industries.
The NCSP Director-General reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to measurable results, noting that the partnership with PICTT will prioritise initiatives that deliver direct national impact.
The MoU signals a new phase of Nigeria–China cooperation focused on practical delivery, local content, and opportunities that improve everyday livelihoods.
EU regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms on Thursday over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in its WhatsApp messenger that would block rivals, hardening Europe’s already tough stance on Big Tech. The move, reported earlier by Reuters and the Financial Times, is the latest action by European Union regulators against large technology firms such as Amazon and Alphabet’s Google as the bloc seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its expanding influence.
Europe’s tough stance – a marked contrast to more lenient U.S. regulation – has sparked an industry pushback, particularly by U.S. tech titans, and led to criticism from the administration of U. S. President Donald Trump. The European Commission said that the investigation will look into Meta’s new policy that would limit other AI providers’ access to WhatsApp, a potential boost for its own Meta AI system integrated into the platform earlier this year.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the move was to prevent dominant firms from “abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors”. She added interim measures could be imposed to block Meta’s new WhatsApp AI policy rollout. “AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond,” she said. This is why we are investigating if Meta’s new policy might be illegal under competition rules, and whether we should act quickly to prevent any possible irreparable harm to competition in the AI space.”
A WhatsApp spokesperson called the claims “baseless”, adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms had put a “strain on our systems that they were not designed to support”, a reference to AI systems from other providers. “Still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.” The EU was the first in the world to establish a comprehensive legal framework for AI, setting out guardrails for AI systems and rules for certain high-risk applications in the AI Act.
Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been built into WhatsApp’s interface across European markets since March. The Commission said a new policy fully applicable from January 15, 2026, may block competing AI providers from reaching customers via the platform. Ribera said the probe came on the back of complaints from small AI developers about the WhatsApp policy. The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com, has taken its grievance to the EU competition enforcer. Spanish AI startup Luzia has also talked to the Commission, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, said if Meta was allowed to roll out its new policy, “millions of European consumers will be deprived of the possibility of enjoying new and innovative AI assistants”. Meta also risks a fine of as much as 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.
Italy’s antitrust watchdog opened a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta leveraged its market power by integrating an AI tool into WhatsApp, expanding the probe in November to examine whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from the messaging platform. The antitrust probe is a more traditional means of investigation than the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the bloc’s landmark legislation currently used to scrutinize Amazon’s and Microsoft’s cloud services for potential curbs. Reuters
The spouses and children of billionaires inherited more wealth in 2025 than in any previous year since reporting began in 2015, according to UBS’s Billionaire Ambitions Report published on Thursday. In the 12 months to April, 91 people became billionaires through inheritance, collectively receiving $298 billion, up more than a third from 2024, the Swiss bank said. “These heirs are proof of a multi-year wealth transfer that’s intensifying,” UBS executive Benjamin Cavalli said.
The report is based on a survey of some of UBS’s super-rich clients and a database that tracks the wealth of billionaires across 47 markets in all world regions. At least $5.9 trillion will be inherited by billionaire children over the next 15 years, the bank calculates.
Most of this inheritance growth is set to take place in the United States, with India, France, Germany and Switzerland next on the list, UBS estimated. However, billionaires are highly mobile, especially younger ones, which could change that picture, it added. The search for a better quality of life, geopolitical concerns and tax considerations are driving decisions to relocate, according to the report.
In Switzerland, where $206 billion will be inherited over the next 15 years according to the bank, voters on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected 50 per cent tax on inherited fortunes of $62 million or more, after critics said it could trigger an exodus of wealthy people.
Switzerland, the UAE, the U.S. and Singapore are among billionaires’ preferred destinations, UBS’s Cavalli said. “In Switzerland, Sunday’s vote may have helped to increase the country’s appeal again,” he said. Reuters
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