Adewale Sanyaolu
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed plans to raise fresh funds from the nation’s capital market to fund some new oil and gas projects.
Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, stated this in his keynote address at the Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Conference 2018, which entered its second day in Abuja yesterday.
Baru listed some of the new projects to be funded from the stock market funds to include the NNPC/NAOC JV Idu-redevelopment, South Gas Project, North Gas Project and Central Gas Project. Others are NNPC/TEPNG JV’s Ikike Project, NNPC/SPDC JV Southern Swamp and Associated Gas Solution Step 2 Project, among a host of other new projects.
“We intend to sanction the multibillion US dollars Bonga South West/Aparo (BSWA) project as soon as we conclude an agreement on the Heads of Terms with SNEPCO on the various pending Production Sharing Contract (PSC) arbitration disputes. This will jump start the resolution of all the other PSC arbitration disputes,’’ he said.
On gas production, he said the domestic demand for gas in Nigeria is unprecedented, with a current daily realistic gas demand of 4,000mmscfd and expected to grow exponentially to about 7,500mmscfd in the next five years.
“However, within the next three years, with our Joint Venture (JV) partners, we are committed to increasing natural gas availability from the current 1.5bscf/d to about five billion standard cubic feet per day in 2020. Consequently, the government will supply enough gas to generate up to 15GW of electricity to the power sector by 2020 and stimulate gas-based industrialisation.
“We would continue to progress with our 7 Critical Gas Development Projects (7CGDP), which has also been established to deliver about 3.5bscfd of gas to the domestic market by 2020, which is expected to support power aspirations and boost the economy.
Aside infrastructure, Baru said the continued implementation of the gas master plan remains a core focus of NNPC, adding that gas pricing has been adjusted to export parity, as legacy debt owed by the various sectors to gas suppliers are being paid through an intervention fund arranged by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
On the other hand, he said gas supply agreements will continue to be made effective with terms that assure bankability to provide the relevant comfort to the producers.
He disclosed that the World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) will be sustained to provide securitisation of gas revenues, assuring that these interventions are boosting confidence in the gas sector.
“On the gas export market, part of our strategic aspiration for gas is to strengthen our footprint in high value gas export through Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and aim to secure about 10 per cent of global market share of traded LNG.
On the expansion of the existing 22 Million Tons Per Annum (MTPA) NLNG plant, he said NNPC is at the verge of taking Final Investment Decision (FID) this year for additional 8MTPA NLNG Train 7 Plant.
With respect to frontier exploration, Baru said NNPC is optimistic that in the Benue Trough, it will drill an appraisal well in Q3 of 2018 to test the extent of the Kolmani Structure in the Benue Trough, explaining that Kolmani River-1 exploration well drilled by Shell in 1998 encountered 238ft net hydrocarbon interval.