Oil Minister
Iran’s smog, blackouts made worse by power-sapping crypto mining
Outages have been compounded by cryptocurrency mining, which uses banks of high-powered computers. Cities across Iran have been cloaked in thick layers of toxic smog and darkened by blackouts, as the alleged use of low-quality fuel and power-sucking cryptocurrency mining deepen the country’s hardships. Tehran’s Hamshahri newspaper, the country’s most-read daily, ran the headline, “20 Days Living in Smoke,” on Wednesday over a photo of the capital covered in smog. Power plants have been forced to switch to burning low-grade fuel oils to generate electricity because high levels of domestic consumption have led to natural-gas shortages, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported. Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh denied earlier this week that any of Iran’s power stations are us...
Nigeria drags Kase Lawal to court over $35 million debt
Nigeria has sued an oil exploration production company, ALLIED ENERGY PLC, owned by Texas-based billionaire Kase Luqmon Lawal to demand $35.7 million debt. The suit was filed at a Federal high Court in Lagos by the oil minister, which is President Muhammadu Buhari. The amount in question was for royalty on oil and gas production, concession rental and gas flaring penalty. In a statement of claim, assistant director, planning Division of the Department of petroleum resources Efe Bassey, alleged that Allied Energy PLC in receivership, in the course of it’s mainstream business, applied for and was granted an oil mining lease number 120(OML120) and oil mining lease number 121(OML121) for the exploration and production of petroleum oil and gas assets. Upon the grant of the aforesaid OMLS by min...
