The group managing director of the transiting Nigeria National Petroleum (NNPC), Mr Mele Kyari has said that transiting from a state owned to a competing, commercialised entity, the company would take advantage of Nigeria’s huge gas reserves, to deepen natural gas utilisation to reduce energy poverty.
He also said the new company will boost investment in clean energy technology and products. Speaking on the sidelines of the just concluded NOG 2022, Conference and Exhibition, the NNPC boss said the company is mindful of the fact that Nigeria is the number three gas producer.
“We shouldn’t be number three, we should be number one because the number one in asset and reserves should also be number one producer. But you can’t do this except you have the right financing to put in place and all the technology you need to produce the gas,” Kyari said.
According to him, no one is drilling today except NNPC and a few of our other partners. “So if you don’t drill and decline continues, you are not only going to see the effect of theft and other challenges we are seeing today, you are also going to see collateral effect of lack of investments.
“And it’s very understandable that no one wants to put their money to produce for somebody to pick it up along the path. That’s very obvious. But more than anything else, the complication actually came before the security challenges,” he argued.
Kyari said this the time to reset NNPC financing strategies to make sure that companies and multilateral institutions speak to each other in a manner that ultimately, money would be put where it is needed.
Earlier, minister of state, petroleum resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, noted that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was set to provide the necessary reforms designed to strengthen institutions, solidify regulatory and fiscal frameworks, and attract much needed investment in Nigeria.
He posited that the only way to ensure attraction of foreign capital was to have stable laws and a friendly business environment that will guarantee cost recovery as well as a decent return on investment for investors.
“Globally, the oil rich countries are currently having conversations around moving away from fossil fuels to an energy mix dominated by low carbon sources of energy – renewables.
“For us in Nigeria, fossil fuel will always have a share in our energy mix for the foreseeable future, and we will not at this time abandon our fossil fuels. We have however, adopted our vast gas resources across the country as transition fuel,” he said.
Be the first to know when we publish an update
