Nigeria needs right framework to attract new oil investments: NNPC

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, has said Nigeria is in need of the right framework to attract new investment to the oil and gas sector.

Kyari reiterated the corporation’s commitment to ensuring effective stewardship of the nation’s hydrocarbon resources to guarantee energy security and drive wealth creation in Nigeria.

“We see a nation that must integrate by developing midstream and downstream infrastructure as the intersection and bridge to value. We see a nation in need of right policy framework to attract new investment while encouraging existing players,” he said at the 2021 Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said the NNPC was working towards bridging the energy gap to multiply wealth for its varied stakeholders.

He said the corporation has completed the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System Phase II project, thereby expanding the gas supply channel for domestic gas utilisation.

Kyari said the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline project had started, while the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben gas pipeline project was billed for completion soon.

The GMD maintained that the corporation’s vision was to put in place the critical backbone infrastructure, create liquidity and provide the necessary linkage to markets.

He noted that NNPC and its partners were harnessing and exploiting the nation’s huge gas potential, citing the Nigeria LNG Limited’s Train 7 project as an example.

According to him, the Train 7 is a flagship project expected to increase the nation’s LNG production capacity by 35 per cent and seal Nigeria’s position as one of the top LNG nations in the world.

On the refineries, he said the programme for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the existing refineries was on course.

He said while work had already started on the Port Harcourt Refinery Company, work would soon start on the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited.

“The NNPC plans to take 20 per cent equity in the Dangote Refinery and acquire stakes in other private modular and condensate refineries in the country. Our priority is to meet our local fuel demand because that is the right way to go thereby making Nigeria to become the hub of petroleum products supply to other African countries in the years ahead,” Kyari said.

He said the NNPC, as a national oil company, had made strategic decisions that would enable Nigeria to be energy sufficient through its partnerships and several business portfolios that would add value to the nation.