Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria has told foreign oil investors that the country was open to business, which it said can guarantee them high returns on investments.
President Muhammadu Buhari, speaking at the ongoing Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja on Monday, said, “Let me assure our foreign investors that your investments in Nigeria are very much secured and this can’t be better anywhere else.”
The President, who was represented by the Secretary General of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, lamented that Nigeria’s oil production and exports have been dealt a huge blow in recent times from pipeline sabotages by militants in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta which have crippled production and exports of the joint ventures of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with foreign oil firms.
He, however, assured that over the past two years, militant activity has subsided, allowing Nigeria to boost its crude oil production, and also making Africa’s largest oil producer a full-fledged participant in the production cuts of the OPEC+ coalition.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, said that Nigeria was set to the introduce new bill that will regulate the petroleum industry before the middle of the year after almost twenty years of delays.
“We are on the same page as the National Assembly,” he said, adding that he hoped international oil majors were also on board,” the Minister, who deputises for President Buhari as Minister of Petroleum Resources, said.
He also noted that pipeline vandalism and oil theft were major concerns for the industry and investment climate.
Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Mele Kyari, who was present at the summit, stated that the country was working with stakeholders to increase crude oil production.
“We are, more than ever before, committed to working with stakeholders to increase our crude oil production from 2.3 million barrels per day to 3 million barrels per day,” he said.
He stated that the recent amendment to the Deep Offshore Act will improve financial stability and investor confidence, adding that NNPC was working with technical partners to revamp its three refineries in Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri.
He said that the national oil company has completed Phase 1 of the Port Harcourt project and was moving to Phase 2, while it also works on Phase 1 for the other two refineries.
The energy conference will hold from February 9 till 12 and will feature Nigeria’s oil and gas industry players, political decision-makers, government officials as well as directors and specialists from the Ministries, NNPC and other relevant governmental bodies on the one part and Directors of National &International companies, multinational and multilateral organizations, the academia and other relevant stakeholders to deliberate on the way forward for the energy sector.
