US crude production is on course to overtake Saudi Arabia and rival Russia, the International Energy Agency said, as it revised higher its 2018 growth forecast and stressed that “explosive” expansion in shale was offsetting Opec-led supply cuts.

In its closely watched monthly oil market report published on Friday, the IEA said production growth was returning “to the heady days of 2013-2015”, even as the Paris-based body said global supply and demand would broadly find balance this year.

The latest body to raise US estimates, following the US energy department’s statistics arm and Opec’s own research unit, the IEA said: “This year promises to be a record-setting one for the US.”

US growth of nearly 1.4m barrels a day — to a record 10.4m b/d — will help propel non-Opec supply by 1.7m barrels a day in 2018. Total output from outside the cartel is forecast at 59.8m b/d.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it will aggressively push and support farmers to boost the production of tomato, cocoa and palm oil across the country in 2018.

CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this when he visited the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, in Abuja on Wednesday.

Emefiele said the drive was to support government’s effort toward ensuring that the country feeds itself and reduce food importation.

The governor said he was at the ministry to liaise with Ogbeh, to fashion out strategies to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari’s pronouncement that the importation of rice would end by 2018 was realised.

According to him, we will galvanise Nigerians, the private sector, and big companies to join us in this assignment.

The Central Bank of Nigerian, CBN, Monetary Policy Committee scheduled next week to decide on interest rates is unlikely to hold as a result of delay in approval of new committee members.

The development followed the failure of the Nigerian Senate to approve the appointment of at least five new MPC members, which means the committee will probably not be able meet to discuss policy decisions, or make an announcement on interest rates on Jan. 23.

Chairman, Senate Committee on banking, Rafiu Ibrahim told Reuters news agency that: “We are not considering the confirmation” of the MPC members. The senate has an issue with the executive. Anything to do with a confirmation will not be considered.”

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is currently presiding over the National Economic Council meeting at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The meeting which started at about 12:20pm is being attended by some state governors. The National Economic Council has the Vice President as Chairman while the state governors, Minister of Budget and National Planning, FCT Minister and the Governor of the Central Bank are members.

Indian Government says it is providing 3.5 million dollars as capacity building assistance to train Nigerian government officials under its India Technical and Economic Cooperation, ITEC, programme. The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Nagabhushana Reddy, disclosed this at an event to mark the, ITEC, Day in Abuja, Nigeria.

The price rally on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on Wednesday with the market capitalisation hitting all-time of N16.080 trillion. The market capitalisation, which opened at N15.782 trillion inched N298 billion or 1.89 per cent to close at N16.080 trillion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has injected another sum of $210million into the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market, to meet customers’ requests in various segments of the market.

Figures obtained from the Bank on Monday, January 15, 2018, showed that the CBN offered $100million to authorized dealers in the wholesale segment of the market, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) segment received the sum of $55 million. Customers requiring

foreign exchange for invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), among others, were also allocated the sum of $55 million.

The Taraba state Government has rejected plans by the Federal Government to establish Cattle colonies across the country as part of efforts toward resolving the perennial violent clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers. The Taraba state Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr. Yusufu Akirikwen made the position of the state known on Wednesday in Jalingo, during a chat with newsmen.

Nigeria has filed a claim against JP Morgan Chase for more than $875 million, accusing it of negligence in transferring funds from a disputed 2011 oilfield deal to a company controlled by the country’s former oil minister.

A spokeswoman for JP Morgan dismissed the accusation on Thursday, saying the firm “considers the allegations made in the claim to be unsubstantiated and without merit”.

The suit filed in British courts relates to a purchase of the offshore OPL 245 oilfield in Nigeria by oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and Eni in 2011.

The price rally on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on Wednesday with the market capitalisation hitting all-time of N16.080 trillion.

The market capitalisation, which opened at N15.782 trillion inched N298 billion or 1.89 per cent to close at N16.080 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index rose by 830.52 points or 1.89 per cent to close at 44,885.24 compared with 44,054.72 achieved on Tuesday.

Mr Oscar Onyema, the NSE Chief Executive Officer, attributed the market growth to outstanding performance of 2017 which boosted investors’ confidence.

Onyema said that the foreign exchange exporter window introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2017 contributed to the market growth.