The Federal Government, on Tuesday, said about $5bn worth of investments are expected in Nigeria from oil and gas companies this year.
It disclosed this during the ongoing oil and gas sector retreat organised by the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources in Abuja, adding that efforts were being intensified to make the operating environment conducive for investors.
In his address at the retreat, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, stated that one of the key mandates of his ministry was to ramp up crude oil production.
He noted that it was important for the country to attract investments in order to achieve this, stressing that the FMPR was working with its agencies and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in particular, to meet this goal.
“I’ve worked very closely with NNPCL to meet this target, which is to ramp up crude oil production,” the minister stated, adding that the Federal Government had been tackling issues of insecurity and pipeline vandalism in the sector.
To attract more investments in the industry, Lokpobiri stated that the sector must be able to boast of a globally competitive regulatory framework, and noted that investors were still showing interest in Nigeria’s oil and gas space.
“We have a number of investments that are lined out for this year. We have investments of over $5bn to come from oil companies. So we have to continue to ensure that our environment is conducive for investments,” the minister stated.
This came as the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, while speaking at the 2024 Strategic Women in Energy, Oil and Gas Leadership Summit in Abuja, revealed that less than 60 per cent of Nigerians have access to stable electricity.
He said, “Energy is the lifeblood of our nation’s development, powering industries, homes, and driving economic growth. In our country and across our continent, Africa, there is energy poverty.
“With over 70 per cent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa not having access to clean cooking fuels, less than 60 per cent of Nigerians with access to stable electricity and very limited refining capacity, development and economic growth of the country and the region has been stifled.
“As an NOC (national oil company), we are mandated by law to guarantee energy security in Nigeria and provide optimum value to shareholders through production and processing of our hydrocarbon resources. Our role in ensuring energy supply is very critical to the economic development of the country and the region.”
Commenting on the vision of the oil firm in the next decade, Kyari said NNPCL envisions a Nigeria propelled by the oil and gas industry.
This he said, would be through the “monetisation of our vast 203 trillion standard cubic feet gas resources, increasing crude oil production to three million barrels per day, and raising domestic refining capacity to over one million barrels per day.”
He outlined others to include “expanding our retail network to over 1,500 stations across sub-Saharan Africa, growing our renewable energy portfolio, and optimising dividend pay-outs to shareholders.”
On her part, the President, Women in Energy, Oil and Gas, Oladunni Owo, explained that the International Women’s Day amalgamated into international women’s month and concluded as a period when women are recognised for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.
She said WEOG keyed into this, adding that “hence the annual IWD celebration was on the charter of WEOG right from inception and formative days.”
SOURCE: PUNCHNG
