Business

The President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Francis Johnson, has died.
The PUNCH reports that Johnson died in the wee hours of Friday.

The General Secretary of PENGASSAN, Okugbawa Lumumba, has confirmed the development, saying, members of the union were on their way to pay a condolence visit to the family.
He said a statement would be issued later on the development.

Boeing Co's 737 MAX is unlikely to return to service before August, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Wednesday, adding that the final say on the timing rested with regulators.

The 737 MAX was grounded globally in March after a crash in Ethiopia killed all 157 people on board, the model's second deadly crash in five months.

"We do not expect something before 10 to 12 weeks in re-entry into service," IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac told reporters in Seoul. "But it is not our hands. That is in the hands of regulators."

A Dutch court said on Wednesday that it had jurisdiction to hear a suit brought against Royal Dutch Shell by Esther Kiobel and three other Ogoni widows with regard to Shell’s involvement in the alleged unlawful arrest, detention and execution of their husbands by the Nigerian military government in 1995.
It ruled in favour of the Ogoni widows, the plaintiffs, that the court does have jurisdiction of the case and that it should not be time barred.

Oil prices fell on Monday, extending a slump from Friday that ended weeks of rallying, after President Donald Trump demanded that producer club OPEC raise output to soften the impact of U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Brent crude futures were at $71.59 per barrel at 0840 GMT, down 56 cents, or 0.78 percent, from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.93 per barrel, down 37 cents, or 0.58 percent, from their previous settlement.

Both benchmarks fell around 3 percent in the previous session.

Boeing estimates that it will spend $1 billion to fix the 737 Max and has pulled its forecast of 2019 earnings because of uncertainty surrounding the jetliner, which remains grounded after two crashes that killed 346 people.

The estimate was disclosed Wednesday in a presentation for investors as Boeing released first-quarter financial results, which missed Wall Street expectations. A spokesman said the estimate covered higher production costs over the next several years.