… Nigeria Is Safe for Investment-Eyesan
Miami: The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd says it is planning to participate in the licensing bid round for the 12 oil blocks as part of moves to fulfill its mandate of increasing the country’s oil production.
The Executive Vice President (Upstream), NNPCL, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan said this on Tuesday at the Miami International Roadshow for the 2024 licensing round hosted by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in collaboration with the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) and Zetse Advisory & Consulting.
The EVP said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government has been very responsive in opening the oil and gas sector with executive orders.
According to her, Nigeria is focused on increasing crude oil production which would improve the Nigerian economy.
She said being an energy company, the NNPC will be at the forefront of the bid round.
She said, “NNPCL is at that point where it is optimising its assets because we are hungry for growth, We see this as a major opportunity. We will be going into the bid round as well in partnership in some instances and in other instances, we will be going solo for some of the assets.”
The EVP said Nigeria is making progress to develop its oil and gas resources that would bridge the energy poverty gap in the country.
Eyesan said that the country is also targeting bigger markets with its $25bn Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project.
Eyesen added, “We have the PIA enacted in 2021, and how many years down the line, we are making monumental changes to our fiscal environment. In the spirit of government’s responsiveness, I believe the industry is moving at a very fast pace especially, to address the energy transition challenges as well as decarbonization and the government is constantly reviewing the general horizon to see when tweaks need to be made.
“For NNPCL, again, this is a major opportunity for us because part of our mandate is to increase production for the country. Also, our role is not just to increase production but also to make the energy transition a lot more seamless, and we are focused on using gas as a transition fuel.
“We see this opportunity as a great one to achieving those objectives. We are willing to partner with us. We have received some interest already. Feel free to contact us.”
The NNPC EVP Upstream told investors that the country is safe for investment, adding that the government is doing much to eliminate vandalism and oil theft in the oil-rich Niger-Delta region.