By Tochukwu Bliss
The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.), Mele Kyari has called for collaboration between the academia and the oil & gas industry towards addressing the challenges of energy sufficiency and sustainability.
Kyari was said to have made this call while speaking as a Guest Lecturer during the 2024 Faculty Lecture, titled, “Energy Security, Sustainability and Profitability in Nigeria: Advances, Challenges and Opportunities,” organized by the Faculty of Science of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Wednesday.
In a statement Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd., Olufemi Soneye, the GCEO was said to have highlighted the important role academic communities, such as the OAU, play in safeguarding national energy security through research and collaboration with the industry.
He listed the challenges hindering energy security in Nigeria to include rapid population growth, pipeline vandalism, and crude oil theft, adding that energy conservation, diversification, and efficiency are major avenues for enhancing energy security.
Addressing the projected rapid population growth, the NNPC boss harped on the importance of finding solutions to ensure sustainable energy security for the benefit of current and future generations.
He underscored the intensified competition for vital resources and urbanization drive, which could lead to a doubling of Nigeria’s energy demand by 2050.
The establishment of a command-and-control centre has aided the detection and destruction of illegal refinery sites, removal of illegal connections, thereby addressing vandalism across operating corridors since 2021.
On the challenges posed by pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, the GCEO observed that these issues have impacted NNPC Ltd.’s operations, stressing that the establishment of a command-and-control centre has aided the detection and destruction of illegal refinery sites, removal of illegal connections, thereby addressing vandalism across operating corridors since 2021.
“The centre provides livestreaming of surveillance data to security forces, contributing to the detection and destruction of over 5,686 Illegal Refinery (IR) sites and the removal of 4,480 Illegal Connections (ICs) from 2021 to the present,” the GCEO added.
Acknowledging the severity of vandalism and oil theft, Kyari hinted at a strategic shift, focusing on increased products trucking and storage in underground tankages at NNPC filling stations nationwide.
He highlighted NNPC Ltd.’s expanded retail assets, making it the largest single downstream company in sub-Saharan Africa after acquiring OVH retail stations and associated downstream infrastructure in 2021.
While underscoring NNPC Ltd.’s transformation into a fully commercial limited liability energy company following the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021, Kyari said the removal of fuel subsidies has allowed the Company to play a more active commercial role, ensuring profitability and delivering greater value to Nigeria’s growing population.
