The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has called on international investors to tap into the huge opportunities in the nation’s energy sector.
Group CEO of NNPC Ltd, Bashir Ojulari, made the call while fielding questions from NBC’s Hala Gorani during the Energy Talk segment of the Gastech Exhibition and Conference, taking place in Milan, Italy.
Mr Ojulari, in a statement, commended President Bola Tinubu for improving Nigeria’s investment climate and positioning the country as the preferred investment destination in Africa.
Mr Ojulari said that the new NNPCL management was keen on attaining its set targets to deliver value to its shareholders.
According to him, while a number of investors were already entering the country with gas-based industries such as petrochemicals and methanol plants, more investments were still required.
This, he said, would build infrastructure to support the federal government’s aspiration to power the nation’s transportation sector with compressed natural gas.
Mr Ojulari further explained that, apart from gas, the existing crude oil assets have huge untapped reservoirs for investors to tap into, thereby boosting production from the current 1.7 million barrels per day, as well as more than 200 undeveloped oil fields.
Regarding measures taken to make Nigeria an investors’ haven, the GCEO stated that the company is investing heavily in carbon capture projects and technology to enhance energy efficiency and reduce gas flaring, in compliance with the objectives of its financing partners.
He stated that several critical gas infrastructure projects in the country, such as the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, were in advanced stages, while the NLNG Train 7 project was also being progressed.
“Nigeria’s energy transition strategy is focused on eradicating energy poverty. This requires enormous investments in gas as the fuel of choice for industrialisation and liquefied petroleum gas as domestic cooking gas for the more than six million Africans who lack access to clean energy,” he said.
Gastech, a leading annual gas conference where global energy leaders discuss developments that impact the future of the energy industry, is attended by more than 50,000 professionals and over 1,000 exhibitors from 150 countries.
(NAN)