The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has attributed the high volume of oil losses to measurement inaccuracies not theft as it is widely believed.

Last year, Nigeria was said to have lost up to 80% of its oil production to theft, significantly depleting its oil-based revenue generation.

Speaking at the petroleum club quarterly dinner held in Lagos, Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer, NUPRC, was quoted in a statement saying that about 40% of the purported crude oil theft was losses emanating from measurement inaccuracies.

He said the NUPRC uncovered the truth following a forensic audit it conducted on the volume of stolen crude oil from January 2020 to November 2022.

Nigeria’s oil revenue generation dropped to nearly zero in the third quarter of 2022, triggering a national inquest into where most of the produced crude oil went. Komolafe said the Commission conducted the audit to ascertain, with accuracy, the stolen volume of crude oil between January 2020 and November 2022.

To forestall the losses, the NUPRC boss said that the Commission is committed to dealing with the issue of metering errors by ensuring that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are licensed directly. He added that agents of the Commission will be responsible for the deployment and maintenance of metering facilities across Nigeria’s oil and gas establishments, for transparency in hydrocarbon accounting, according to a statement.

“The reform measure adopted by the commission offers a paradigm shift from the trajectory in Nigeria’s hydrocarbon measurement since oil was discovered in Nigeria in Oloibiri in 1956 and is aimed at ensuring that no one becomes a judge in his own case,” he said.

“Admittedly, one major area of value erosion in the industry is the menace of crude oil theft. Our records indicate that the menace of oil theft has negatively impacted the oil and gas sector for about two decades with attendant huge financial losses to our nation.

“The commission, in collaboration with the various arms of the security forces, the NNPC Limited and the host communities, has been able to suppress the ugly trend of hydrocarbon value decimation. Now, our nation has continued to record good dividends of these collaborative efforts as production figures are progressively increasing.

“The January 2023 volume is approximately 1.5 million barrels per day of oil and condensates. It is expected that this number will continue to increase as further measures are introduced and sustained to remove all illegal connections that aid crude oil theft.”

Mele Kyari, the head of Nigerian National Petroleum Commission Limited (NNPCL) had in October last year, told a legislative committee that a 4-kilometer pipeline from the Forcados export terminal has been used to steal oil for nine years, resulting in the theft of hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day.

Kyari said as a result of the illegal pipelines, Nigeria was losing an alarming 600,000 barrels of oil every day, triple the figure initially estimated. The high volume of stolen crude oil contributed to Nigeria’s inability to meet its quota from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), enabling the country’s failure to cash in on the oil windfall orchestrated by Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Since Dogecoin hit the market, it has proven to be a worthy investment option for investors. The popular meme coin is a decentralized, open-source crypto designed to facilitate the transfer of value quickly, efficiently, and securely. It was one of the standout performers in the crypto market, initiating a meme coin frenzy within the crypto sphere.

The crypto quickly gained popularity across social media platforms thanks to its fun logo of a Shiba Inu dog. One of the key catalysts for its price rise in 2021 was high celebrity endorsement and support from a dedicated Dogecoin community.

Although DOGE fell in value, along with other cryptos, in 2022, the best meme coin is slowly regaining its status, and experts believe that the price could see another bull rally soon.

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Factors That Affected Dogecoin’s Price

The increased hype and popularity of Dogecoin made it a viable payment alternative with low transaction fees for merchants across the globe. There are over 1900 merchants that accept DOGE as a payment, and the list includes established names like Tesla, Dallas Mavericks, etc. The crypto is also used for tipping services, allowing Reddit and Twitter users to send quick gifts to other users.

Strong Community Support

Its dynamic and staunch value has created a strong fan community that puts faith in its rise. The Dogecoin communities on social media platforms like Twitter, Reddit, and TikTok have rebounded from time to time, to make DOGE popular and acceptable in the mainstream. Therefore, it is no secret that social sentiments have increased the adoption rate of this crypto to new highs over the years, making it one of the most sought-after cryptos in the market today.

The Musk Factor

From billionaire American corporate heads to Hollywood stars have actively promoted Dogecoin across social media platforms in its initial days. The biggest name among them is none other than the billionaire and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk. Musk started hyping the coin since 2020, which grabbed the attention of other celebrities and investors. Tapping into the already high social media hype, Musk tweeted that it is the “people’s crypto” and went as far as to call himself the “Dogefather.” His regular tweets championing the meme coin skyrocketed it to all-time high values. Since Musk’s Twitter takeover, there has been sufficient community-anticipation that DOGE might get listed as the official cryptocurrency of Twitter. If that happens, the crypto will most certainly reach new all-time highs.

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Dogecoin Social Sentiment Surges To Last year Levels

One of the significant growth drivers for any leading coin is the popularity, support, and fan wave revolving around them. And Dogecoin proved this in 2021, with its price hitting an all-time high of $0.7376 in May, followed by hype, celebrity endorsement, and community support. However, the 2022 crypto market crash adversely affected the DOGE’s price, bringing it significantly down from its all-time high. But according to reports, social sentiment around it is slowly regaining its pace and has not been this positive since October of 2022, when DOGE pumped 160%.

Crypto enthusiasts believe that a key catalyst for this could be Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in 2022. DOGE’s rally in Musk’s takeover of Twitter was initially positive, and experts believe that this could again take Dogecoin to the moon. Also, the fact that Musk SpaceX is ready for launch and around the corner, and the mission is funded entirely by Dogecoin will boost its value in the long term.

The sentiment chart clearly shows the eventual rise in its prices. Previously a rise in DOGE’s social volume and the weighted sentiment was when it rose above $0.14 in the first half of 2022.

DOGE Can Rally Off Social Sentiment Alone

Over the years, Dogecoin has proven that it can rise high merely based on social sentiment, and the real value lies in the confidence the buyers have and the community support it gets. At the time of writing, DOGE is trading at a price of $0.088, down over 2.3% in the last 24 hours but up around 5.45% in the last seven days.

Although it is a highly speculative crypto, if DOGE repeats the history and follows the same trend of October 2022, it is possible for the crypto to clear its resistance level and reach $0.1 shortly.

Dogecoin can also go further upside if the positive sentiment remains consistent and high, making it a good buy now. The crypto has plenty of room for growth as there is a lot of potential in the digital payments space. Also, the DOGE price could see another bull rally soon as Musk considers integrating a new payment system into Twitter. Speculations say that the well-liked meme coin would be his top priority as one of the payments.

However, despite these use cases and popularity, the crypto lacked strong fundamentals and utilities. But the core team is working vigorously to upgrade its blockchain with several bugs and features like memory management that can reduce high network traffic.

Another promising factor that could push DOGE’s price in 2023 is the team’s plan to enhance the token’s utility. The major focus is to make DOGE highly efficient to its users for payments and make it mainstream. The increased adoption rate and additional use cases would significantly boost the coin’s value proposition.

Dogecoin Price Forecasts

Regardless of any development or predictions, hype on this meme coin has historically foreshadowed market conditions. If things go as planned, the Dogecoin price prediction could see another bull rally soon. However, the meme coin is a highly speculative investment option, and investors are advised to conduct thorough research before investing.

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Crypto asset investing is highly volatile 

Read more

• Best Cryptocurrency to Invest in today
• How to Invest in Dogecoin 2023
• Is Dogecoin a Good Investment

There’s a great chance that Bitcoin’s price could increase significantly, exceeding the $25k to $30,000 range, if a specific event happens on Wednesday, namely during the release of the FOMC minutes from the US economy.

This opportunity has generated interest and conjecture in crypto and the financial markets. Therefore, many are looking forward to the outcome of this event and how it could affect Bitcoin’s value.

How Bitcoin Could be Affected by the Release of FOMC Minutes on Wednesday

The release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes on Wednesday could influence the price of Bitcoin. This is because the FOMC is responsible for determining the US monetary policy. Any sign of policy changes could have a domino effect on the financial markets, including cryptocurrency.

James Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, recently talked about the ongoing deflation process at the Economic Club of Washington, commenting specifically on the decline within the goods sector. Powell further expressed great confidence in reducing inflation to a 2% target rate from the Fed’s end. Although Powell’s response to the full January report doesn’t indicate much change in the approach of central banks to a future rate hike, he has warned about sustained robust labor data leading to an increased terminal level of the Fed funds.

During the February 2023 Federal Reserve meeting, there was a 25 basis point rise in the fed funds rate of the targeted range, which now stands at 4.5% to 4.75%. This is the second meeting in a row where the proportions of the rate hike have decreased, despite borrowing costs now being observed at their highest point since 2007. Those who trade or invest in Bitcoin will be closely monitoring the FOMC minutes, as any indication of concerns regarding inflation or alterations in interest rates could potentially affect Bitcoin’s price.

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Regulators Move Toward Cryptocurrency

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the latest custody regulation on Feb 15th that could restrict asset managers from investing customer funds in crypto assets. This proposal follows a series of recent measures regulators took to improve investor protection within a market known for its considerable price swings.

Additionally, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) directed crypto firm Paxos to halt issuing the BUSD stablecoin, because of its association with the crypto exchange, Binance. In cooperation with the NYDFS’s directive, Paxos will halt the issuance of new BUSD tokens starting on Feb 21st.

The BTC/USD is increasing as investors have returned to the unpredictable digital asset market space despite repeated assurances from authorities and politicians to regulate the crypto industry.

A Hotel Based in Bahrain Announces Crypto as a Mode of Payment

Arabian Business announced on Feb 13th that Novotel Bahrain Al Dana is now accepting crypto payments, making it the first hotel within that area to do so. The resort has teamed up with Eazy Financial Services to provide guests with the ability/option to pay their hotel expenses with cryptocurrencies. To allow this payment option via the Binance app, the hotel will set up personalized terminals at its locations.

Furthermore, Changpeng Zhao, the Binance CEO, has recommended that entrepreneurs involved in the crypto industry consider moving to countries like France, Bahrain, and Dubai (UAE), which have demonstrated their backing for bitcoin. He thinks that business owners who are devoted to their ventures should consider the option of relocating to another country without hesitation.

#Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao named favorable countries for #bitcoin business. So, the best countries for the development of new crypto projects can be Dubai, Bahrain and France.

What do you think about the development of #crypto products in these markets? pic.twitter.com/VUpKsRQkan

— GEO Pay (@geo_pay) February 15, 2023

Over the past months, several hotels in the Arabian Peninsula, such as Palazzo Versace Dubai and W Dubai – The Palm, have joined the movement of digitizing financial assets and have started accepting payment modes of cryptocurrencies. These hotels have followed the lead of Novotel Bahrain Al Dana Resort and have implemented the option for their guests to pay using digital currencies for their services.

Moreover, the Central Bank of Bahrain has approved Novotel Bahrain Al Dana Resort’s decision to accept crypto payments, making it one of the first hotels in the country to enable this payment option. This move by the hotel comes at a time when the use of digital assets is becoming more widespread and has contributed to a sharp increase in the value of popular digital assets like BTC/USD.

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Bitcoin Price Forecast

BTC/USD opened at a trading price of around $24k and is presently being traded at about $24,645, thus, reflecting a small rise in the last 24-48 hours. Bitcoin has managed to obtain a technical recovery after receiving backing near the $23,325 50% Fibonacci retracement level. This has induced a surge in purchases within the crypto market as candles have recently closed above this level. Nevertheless, the lack of price fluctuations is limiting Bitcoin’s trading range.

Looking ahead, Bitcoin price prediction is encountering initial opposition at around $24,350, and a positive intersection could push it toward the range of $25,300. Within the 4-hour chart, the appearance of a “doji & spinning top” candle suggests uncertainty among traders, potentially resulting in a rebound following the FOMC minutes.

In addition, Bitcoin’s upward trend is backed by the 50-day moving average, indicating the likelihood of it continuing. Hence, investors may want to observe the $24,300 level to decide whether to purchase or sell BTC.

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The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has reiterated its commitment towards umpiring and delivering a free, fair, credible and inclusive election on Saturday, February 25, for the Presidential and National Assembly polls as well the Gubernatorial and State Assembly polls slated for March 11.

During the reception of the Commonwealth Election Observation Mission on Monday in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu assured Nigerians of the commission’s readiness and capacity to facilitate a free, fair and credible electoral process despite the huge responsibility foisted on the commission. The chairman of the Nigerian highest electoral body made the following remarks:

“We are aware of the responsibility that lies on our shoulders, but we cannot do it alone.

“Our work is clearly cut out with assigned responsibilities for the security agencies, the parties and others.

“As a commission, we have constantly engaged with all stakeholders.

“Every three months, we meet with stakeholders made up of political parties, civil society organizations, the media and security agencies, but we can meet several times a year depending on the issues.

“We are committed to a free and fair process. I want to assure you that INEC is not a political party.

“We don’t have a candidate in the election. The choice of who becomes what during the general election is entirely the choice of the Nigerian people.

“We are committed to free, fair, credible, inclusive election and verifiable elections.

“Elections in Nigeria are huge. We understand the magnitude of the responsibility placed on our shoulders and we also understand that a credible election is a pillar on which good governance rest.

“I want to assure you that we will never let Nigerians down and we will not let the international community down.”

Leading the Commonwealth Election Observation Mission, Thabo Mbeki, former South African President remarked that this is the seventh election the team will be observing in Nigeria, adding that whether the 2023 elections become successful or otherwise primarily depends on INEC and members of the electoral body.

“That understanding on our part is important because, in the end we will make a statement about the election and more importantly, make recommendations about whatever we see in the conduct of this election and give a comprehensive picture of what we see during the election as much as possible,” Mbeki stated.