The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, says the organisation is being transformed to become the fifth gas producing establishment in the world.
To this end, Kyari said the NNPC is currently working on a platform that would create a hub of gas industries that would potentially compress gas and deliver with ease to the masses.
He spoke on Wednesday in Abuja, at a session tagged: “Changing Strategies for the Future of NNPC,” at the ongoing fifth Nigeria International Energy Summit (NEIS 2022).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA 2021) restructures and empowers NNPC as a new entity, a limited company.
Kyari also said the NNPC is working on establishing the gas platform in July. “This is our target; it is possible, practical because the resources and will are there.
“NNPC Limited will ensure that gas is the focus of our country and bring the backbone for gas and potentially create the opportunity of bringing more gas into the domestic market to every part of the country,” he said.
According to him, NNPC Limited is expected to drive Nigeria’s economic growth, because it is not just an oil and gas company, but also an enabler energy company, even as it struggles with the fiscal changes and getting the right environment for business since 1967.
We also work with our partners to ensure that we monitise gas in its different forms and get gas based industries.
Investment inflow
Kyari informed that in the last 10 years, sub-Sahara Africa has witnessed substantial investment inflow, with Nigeria’s hovering at about N3.5 billion, adding that NNPC is a real capital intensive company that is designed to improve on current situation and production.
He recalled that before the passage of the PIA, there was no right physical structure, regulatory stability and framework and physical system for business and people lost faith.
“Without President Muhammadu Buhari, we would not have had a PIA because the passage of the legislation was resisted by the industry and all but we kept struggling.
“Currently, by all standards, the PIA is sufficiently competitive and world class and assures all gains when you invest.
“That is what brought NNPC Limited on the table as a commercial company that will deliver dividends to its shareholders and enable its partners dependent and independent. It also makes NNPC to be the guarantor of energy security of the country.
“We also work with our partners to ensure that we monitise gas in its different forms and get gas based industries.” he said.
According to Kyari, this means the NNPC must operate in world-class standard, fully automated and must embrace technology to recognise the necessity for energy transition.
Also speaking, the Managing Director, Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited, Eberechukwu Orji, said NNPC is expected to be at the forefront in keeping pace with the energy transition.
Orji called for a robust joint venture partnership, investment flow and finance structure to enable NNPC meet its obligations as a new limited company.
This, he said, would demonstrate to its shareholders a focus that it could deliver as a new entity.
“We want to see a technologically-enabled NNPC for timely business transactions and to tackle challenges,” he said.
