•Refining capacity up 271m litres
Uche Usim (Abuja) and Adewale Sanyaolu
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, has raised the alarm that Nigeria was fast losing foreign investors confidence in the oil and gas sector.
Kyari, stated this while playing host to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) who were on an oversight visit to the Corporation. The NNPC said that the absence of a stable fiscal environment is inhibiting the growth of the Nigerian petroleum industry, especially the upstream sector, tasking the lawmakers to act fast and arrest the situation.“We need to act quickly to move from this unstable situation to a very stable one and the only way is for us to get the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to work so that countries and investors can work with us,” the GMD stated. He said foreign capital was needed in the upstream sector and that the only way to attract it was to have stable laws and a friendly business environment that could guarantee cost recovery and a decent return on investment for investors. He disclosed that the uncertainty in the sector created by the long delay in the passage of the PIB has led to a number of divestments from the country in the recent past.
The GMD also stated that the drive by the management of NNPC to entrench the culture of transparency in the Corporation has improved its business fortunes and creditworthiness as lenders are now willing to grant credit to it. In his remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Musa Sarki Adar, expressed the readiness of his committee to provide the necessary support for the Corporation to discharge its duties without hindrance.
Meanwhile, buoyed by the need to ensure that Nigeria attains self sufficiency in its energy needs, Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company will in the next two weeks add 271 million litres to Nigeria’s refining capacity.
The project, according to the promoters is scheduled for commissioning early October 2020. The initiative is to be achieved between Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited (70 per cent equity) and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) 30 per equity.