(Bloomberg) Chevron Corp. (CVX), the world’s fourth- largest energy company, said its Nigerian Escravos gas-to- liquids plant is more than 70 percent complete and on course to start production in 2013. The facility, which will refine natural gas to produce 33,000 barrels a day of fuels including diesel, is set “to be completed at the end of 2012,” Andrew Fawthrop, chief executive officer of the company’s Nigerian unit, said in an interview yesterday in

(BLOOMBERG) Nigeria’s naira headed for the biggest gain in three weeks after the central bank doubled the amount of dollars banks can sell to foreign-exchange bureaux. The currency of sub-Saharan Africa’s second-biggest economy appreciated 0.3 percent to 152.55 per dollar, heading for its largest increase since July 12 by 4:40 p.m. in Lagos, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The central bank doubled the amount of money banks can sell

The Federation Account and Allocation Committee met and shared the sum of N1.317 for the month of June. Federal Government share was N222.467 billion, while States got N112.838 billion and the Local Governments had N88.993 billion. The distributable VAT for the month of June, 2011 was

(Bloomberg) Nigeria’s dollar bond yields fell to a record as its debt stock is low compared with that of European peers and on expectations Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a managing director at the World Bank, will help spur policy changes to encourage investment when she returns to the Cabinet. The yield on the 6.75 percent Eurobonds due 2021 of Africa’s biggest oil producer fell two basis points, or 0.02 percent to 5.87 percent, the lowest level

(Reuters) Nigeria's First Bank will issue a $500 million Eurobond at the end of the year to refinance its maturing paper, the bank's chief finance officer told Reuters on Wednesday. Bayo Adelabu said the lender was finalising arrangements with its bookrunners on the deal, which he expected to be concluded by the last quarter of 2011. Adelabu said the lender which is Nigeria's oldest, will commence an African expansion strategy from next year to

(Bloomberg) Nigeria’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the fourth time this year as rising wages and higher energy costs threaten to boost inflation. The monetary policy rate increased by three quarters of a percentage point to 8.75 percent, Governor Lamido Sanusi told reporters in the capital, Abuja, today. The key borrowing and lending rates climbed by the same amount to 6.75 percent and 10.75 percent respectively. The

(UK Press Release) Prime Minister David Cameron has travelled to Nigeria on the second day of his two-day visit to Africa to boost trade. Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the potential of trade to lift millions of people out of poverty in Africa and end the continent’s dependence on aid. At the start of his visit, the Prime Minister delivered a speech at the Pan African University, Lagos, Nigeria before holding talks with President Goodluck

(Bloomberg) Nigeria’s borrowing costs plunged to the lowest in 10 months in the first bond auction since dropping requirements for investors to hold government debt for at least a year. Africa’s biggest oil producer sold 70 billion naira ($460 million) of bonds due 2014, 2015 and 2018 yesterday, the Abuja- based Debt Management Office said in a statement published today on its website. Yields on the 4 percent debt due 2015 tumbled to 10.7

The Omidyar Network, founded by eBay’s billionaire founder, Pierre Omidyar has awarded a $200,000 grant to fund the Co-Creation Hub, Nigeria’s first open living lab and pre-incubation space. The hub has also received a $45,000 grant from the Indigo Trust, a unit of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts of the U.K. According to a press release, the Co-creation Hub is a “non-profit, social enterprise centered around a shared work space where stakeholders from multiple

(proactiveinvestors.co.uk) Africa-focused oil and gas firm Afren PLC has cut its 2011 production guidance as a result of facilities stoppages and also said its output level at the end of the year would be lower than previously forecast. The company, which mainly operates in Nigeria, now expects average production in 2011 to be between 25,000 and 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). It had forcast 40,000 boepd in May.

(CNN) -- Nigeria is Africa's top oil producer, with exports worth $59 billion last year, but the industry has long been dominated by foreign players.

Overseas corporations, with a multinational workforce, have traditionally been chosen to carry out drilling operations, but one company bucking the trend is Seawolf Oilfield Services, Nigeria's only offshore drilling contractor.

(Reuters) Nigeria's Afribank has called off deal talks with Vine Capital over doubts the private equity firm has the ability to raise the necessary funds to recapitalize the rescued lender, banking sources said on Tuesday. Afribank signed memorandum of understanding with private equity firm Vine Capital in May to begin acquisition negotiations and exchange information before proceeding to having a take-over agreement in place.

(realbusiness.co.uk)Monitise founder Alastair Lukies – currently on a trade mission with PM David Cameron in sub-Saharan Africa – on bringing mobile banking and payments services to Nigeria. - British technology company Monitise launched a pilot scheme in Nigeria in March this year – and has signed up more than 6,000 people. The scheme highlights the appetite for mobile banking and payments in Nigeria, particularly among the unbanked population and in rural areas

(Bloomberg) Nigerian inflation slowed to 10.2 percent in June as the naira gained to a four-month high against the dollar, curbing the cost of imported food in Africa’s most- populous nation. The inflation rate fell from 12.4 percent in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement released in the capital, Abuja, today. Prices rose 1 percent in the month. The naira climbed 2.8 percent against the dollar in June, with the interbank rate reaching

(Bloomberg) Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, surpassed Iran as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ second-largest exporter in 2010 as security improved in the African nation and as Iran used more crude at home. Nigeria shipped 2.464 million barrels a day last year, followed by Iran with 2.248 million barrels, according to OPEC’s Annual Statistical Bulletin published today on its website. Iran’s refining capacity rose by 18 percent last year, the

(Bloomberg) Oceanic Bank International Plc (OCEANIC), a Nigerian lender rescued by the central bank in 2009, rose the most in almost nine months after Diamond Bank Plc (DIAMONDB)’s finance chief said it was in “tentative” talks to acquire Oceanic. Oceanic jumped 6 kobo, or 5 percent, to 1.26 naira, the biggest jump on a closing basis since Oct. 29, at 3:18 p.m. in Lagos. “It’s very early days,” Diamond Chief Financial Officer Abdulrahman Yinusa,

(Arab News) It seems that the influential governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is winning the “hearts and minds” debate over the introduction of interest-free (Islamic) banking into Africa's most populous yet highly sectarian nation. Following the introduction of new guidelines for non-interest banking by the CBN on 21 June 2011; the issuance of a license to Jaiz International Bank to launch

(oilprice.com) Nigeria's total trade investments with China for 2011 now total $8.2 billion, compared to their 2010 level of $7.7 billion, according to China’s Economic and Commercial Counselor at its embassy in Abuja, Rong Yason. A major part of the trade is Chinese imports of Nigerian oil and China wants to raise crude oil imports from Nigeria to 18 million metric tons a year from 2012-13 onwards, compared with its current rate of 13.2 million tons.

(Reuters) - The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Friday - - - - -EVENTS

* Botswana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zimbabwe due to release inflation data for June anytime beginning Friday.

Iran and Nigeria have called for expansion of their bilateral ties in different economic and industrial fields. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who is in the Nigerian capital to attend a Group of Eight Developing Countries (D8) summit, met on Wednesday with his Nigerian counterpart Olugbenga Ashiru, IRNA reported. During the meeting, which hinged on finding ways to boost Iran-Nigeria relations, the two ministers discussed increasing the