The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is not in dire need to sell off its equities in oil companies that are in partnership with the Corporation.
The Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, NNPC, Meyiwa Eyesan, stated this last weekend at the Nigeria Association of Petroleum Explorationists, NAPE, 45th Anniversary lecture in commemoration of the first Akomeno Oteri Annual Lecture with theme “Long Term Funding for E&P Business in Nigeria.
According to her NNPC has gained traction to efficiently partner with other oil companies in the country. “This is the wrong time to sell our equity to any trusted partners”, she said.
She further stated that the Corporation has gained traction and reduced it’s JVC cash call debt from $5 billion in 2015 to $3 billion in five years.This NNPC attributed to the efficient business plan put in place by the corporation.
She pointed out that NNPC was up beat with the current plan to open the $2.3 billion domestic gas market and rehabilitate the nation’s refineries, adding that NNPC had decided not go it alone but to go into partnership with the private investors.
“What we have done in the upstream sector is what we are going to replicate in the downstream by going into partnership with private investors”, she noted.
Accordingto her it’s going to be seen in the rehabilitation of the old pipelines and the refineries. “The pipelines and the refineries are open to partnership on Build Operate and Transfer, BOT, bases”, she explained.
Meanwhile in his opening remark the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mele Kyari said that NAPE should be forward looking and proactive bearing in mind the place of oil and gas in the next 40 to 50 years. According to him NAPE should ensure that it remain relevant in the coming years. The NNPC boss said that there is the need to monitize the resources from the oil and gas sector as well as boost the domestic market for petroleum products.
Other panalists who participated on the online Lecture advocated for Energy Bank as a means to properly fund the oil and gas sector. According to them given the paucity of fund post covid-19 due to fall in the oil price the panalists proposed that the 1 percent of their turnover being contributed to the National Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) should be the take off fund for the Energy Bank.
At the lecture, Seplat Petroleum and Amni International initiated a romance for a merger which if it sails through will give birth to a mega indigenous Oil Company in Nigeria. This will impact positively on the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria.
