By Adedapo Adesanya
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has pledged to support the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to deliver value to Nigerians in the energy sector.
The Director/Chief Executive Officer of the DPR, Mr Sarki Auwalu, gave this assurance when a delegation of the NNPC management team led by the Group Managing Director, Mr Mele Kyari, visited his office in Abuja on Tuesday.
The DPR chief said that as a regulator, it does not stand to look for faults, rather, it helps operators to deliver on business mandates to boost economic activities.
“Being a regulator is trying to catch people that you regulate doing something right, not the other way round; it is better for us to come together like you have done today.
“The most important thing for us is to help operators do something right. Our own is to enable business and create opportunity, and for everything we do, especially for our own company like NNPC, it is to ensure the success of the company.
“This is because the success of the company is the success of Nigeria, and coming together like this is great, and that is why we are excited that the GMD and his team are visiting us, the first in the history of this organisation,” he said.
According to him, the move goes down to change the history and to prove that they are all for Nigeria and the success of the business of oil and gas in our country.
He said that working together would encourage transparency and efficiency, adding that it was a commitment to business and efficiency that brought the NNPC to a profit company.
Mr Auwalu commended the GMD for the various landmarks that had helped to transform the operations of the NNPC which history will not forget.
“Today, in the whole world after 44 years, this is the first year NNPC has recovered and declared profit.
“We are proud of it and we put our head high in the comity of nations that our biggest corporation in Nigeria is no longer the way it is being seen,” he said
He noted that energy security and availability of gas through the East-West pipeline (OB3), Trans Niger pipeline, which the GMD was championing, would help to tackle poverty in the country.
He thanked Mr Kyari for making out time to visit the DPR and assured him of the support of the department to create success in all the corporation was doing.
“What we are doing is to guarantee the success and stability of what you have already done.
“DPR, looking at the success and strategy you embarked on, had created a platform to help consolidate the assets, the licenses, permits and approvals we have issued,” he said.
He noted that DPR was committed to oil exploration in the country and appreciated the effort of NNPC to ensure that more volumes were out to help the country make more money through royalties.
The DPR helmsman also commended NNPC’s effort to enhance production and encourage new production reservoirs.
He noted that the reserve to production ratio was not equal, adding that the profit declared by NNPC had opened a floodgate for investors to the country.
On his part, Mr Kyari thanked the DPR for the support it had been giving to the corporation, which had helped the NNPC operations.
“The fate of the oil and gas industry rests in the hands of DPR and the NNPC, and by implication, the prosperity of the country rests in the hands of the two organisations.
“As we go through the journey of transition to deepen gas penetration and monetisation in the country, to ensure that we create new gas industry, to process new oil, everything leads to making sure there is prosperity in the country.
“Nigerians depend on DPR and NNPC to bring prosperity to this country and therefore as a regulator, you are also the supporter of the National oil company.
“Your presence is to help the National oil company to deliver value to all of us and for us in NNPC, it is our responsibility to make sure that we comply with every regulation to make sure that we are doing the right thing,” he noted.
