Uche Usim, Abuja

The Chief Operating Officer, Joint Ventures and Business Development of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Roland Ewubare has resigned from the national oil company.

His sudden exit sent tongues wagging in the oil and gas sector as many wondered what may have propelled him to quit an establishment regarded as a gold mine.

Saturday Sun gathered that Ewubare tendered his resignation on Wednesday (July 1) strictly on the grounds that he needed to reunite with his family in the United States who he has been away from for many years. He was recruited from the US.

His separation from his family has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic which necessitated a global lockdown as a containment strategy.

Reliable sources with full knowledge of his resignation ruled out internal squabbles as possible reason for his abrupt exit.

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Ewubare, who worked in NNPC and its subsidiaries for about five years cumulative, was the only South-South top hierarchy in the Corporation.

He worked as a close adviser to the former Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, who died recently.

In his message to erase claims that he may have been a victim of power play at NNPC, the erstwhile COO reportedly said, “I’m leaving to return to my family in the United States. No feud in NNPC. I worked closely with the GMD, Mr Kyari”.

Just last month, Ewubare granted an interview to Arise TV where he emphasized that the NNPC was taking strategic steps to crash the crude oil production cost to $10/barrel or below as a way of remaining relevant in the international oil market.

“According to Ewubare: “There’s some confusion in the market around the parameters for the production cuts. Nigeria has a full production capacity of about 2.3mbpd. We are currently producing between 1.6 and 1.7mbpd. Our OPEC quota as a result of the cuts is about 1.4mbpd. You and I know that condensate is not included in the computation of the cut numbers. So what we have is 1.4mbpd of crude oil. The little you see above 1.4mbpd is made up of condensate which does not count as part of the basis for assessing our OPEC quota”.

He was at one time the Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).