Niger River News

A boat ferrying about 200 people capsized in the northwestern Nigerian state of Kebbi on Wednesday but the number of casualties remains unclear, a state spokesman said.The wooden boat capsized near Wara, a town on the shores of Kainji Lake, part of the Niger River, said Yahaya Sarki, a spokesman the governor of Kebbi.It had about 200 passengers on board, coming from the neighboring country of Niger."Bodies are still being recovered. We can't ascertain the number for now," Sarki said.One survivor…

DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, met with the President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, last week to discuss a trade and logistics master plan to unlock the resource rich country’s economic potential. The plan includes a transportation and logistics strategy with electronic customs processes, replicating DP World’s successful model with Dubai Trade at its flagship Jebel Ali Port and Freezone in Dubai. Regional trade in West Africa connects through ports such as DP World Dakar in Senegal to international markets. DP World Group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, said: “Mali has a long history of trade in gold and agricultural products and though landlocked…

Two local contractors in Nigeria recently took delivery of 10-inch Wolverine Class Dredges, designed and manufactured by DSC Dredge at its facility in Greenbush, Mich. As the political capital of Delta State, Asaba is a rapidly expanding city along the banks of the Niger River Delta. There is a growing demand for infrastructure improvement projects, including roads and livable space along the Niger River. Yet, this fast-flowing river brings sand downstream from the interior of the nation.

Nigeria’s crude oil production and exports have been hit by severe outages as a result of attacks on oil infrastructure by rebel fighters in the Niger River Delta. Various sources report that Qua Iboe Terminal has shut down operations until further notice. All tanks on the facility were emptied of crude, operations have ceased completely and all personnel have been evacuated from the terminal, which is operated by ExxonMobil. Qua Iboe is Nigeria’s largest crude oil stream and exports usually more than 300,000 barrels per day (b/d). Exports of Nigeria’s other large crude oil grades, like Forcados, Bonny Light and Escravos have also been restricted, primarily due to sabotage and attacks on pipelines. As a result of the outages Nigeria’s oil production has dropped below 1.5 mb/d.

The Nigerian Navy has foiled an attempt by suspected pirates to hijack and abduct 25 foreign nationals aboard a container ship operated by A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S carrying general cargo to Nigeria with 25 sailors on board, say local media. Executive Officer of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder Navy Capt. Olusegun Soyemi, said  at Onne Port in Rivers State, that the vessel berthed safely with the rescued crew members unharmed. According to Soyemi, “On Jan. 5 at about 08:00 hours; Safmarine Kuramo was attacked by sea pirates about 60 nautical miles off the coast of Bonny Island (in Rivers) Fairway Bouy. We got may-day distress call that the ship was boarded by unconfirmed number of sea pirates after entering the nation’s territorial waters.

The ports on the Niger River in Nigeria are receiving attention in line with Nigerian government policy. A program of dredging and port refurbishment has led to the Onitsha River Port being refurbished and up-graded during the last year, adding warehousing, port accommodation, storage space and cranes in the shape of 2 Liebherr Harbour Mobile Cranes type LHM 180. These machines have a maximum lifting capacity of 64 tons and a maximum outreach of 35m The cranes will be used to handle a wide variety of break bulk cargoes…

on offshore oil and gas assets in Nigeria, www.TheStandard.com reported. CNOOC is eyeing an offer for Nations Energy, an independent oil producer based in Canada. The move by CNOOC comes after the company announced the acquisition of a 45 percent stake in oil and gas fields owned by Nigerian oil company South Atlantic Petroleum earlier this week. The deepwater fields are contained in a 1,295-square-kilometer tract off the Niger River Delta and contain estimated recoverable reserves of 1.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Nine-year-old Nations first bought assets in Kazakhstan in 1997. It operates OJSC Karazhanbasmunai - Kazakhstan's ninth-largest oil producer - in the west of the country on the Caspian Sea. The company has sunk about $370 million into the Central Asian operation.