By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has said that it is poised to deliver energy to its stakeholders through the efficient utilization of hydrocarbons and other new energy sources which the country possesses.
This call was made by the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the state oil company, Mr Mele Kyari, on the opening day of the ongoing Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) 2023 in Abuja.
He said the world today has recognized the need to ensure sustainability in the energy landscape which is in line with the current realities and as key players in the energy sector.
Mr Kyari said the company’s mandate of providing energy for the country remains a priority, adding that NNPC is poised to reliably achieve that with the mix of hydrocarbons and other new energy sources.
“You will agree with me that sustained energy sufficiency directly enables economic growth and development as can be seen in the history of developed countries. This is why we are focused on efficiently producing energy while minimizing the effect on the environment.
“Oil and gas remain a significant component of energy in the global energy mix, therefore, we are unlocking more opportunities across both the oil and gas value chain spanning from supply and infrastructure to the markets,” he said.
For instance, he said, the NNPC Limited is actively supporting the federal government towards the realization of key initiatives such as the Decade of Gas and the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP), which seeks to deepen natural gas utilization as an alternative transportation fuel, virtual gas supply to off-pipeline grid gas customers and gas utilization as feedstock for the development of gas-based industries.
“This is evident in the definite actions taken to utilize CNG and LNG to power vehicles, buildings, and power plants.
“NNPC Limited is also investing heavily in critical gas infrastructure such as the Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline and the OB3 gas interconnector to support 5 Bscf/d of domestic gas utilization including 5 GW of power generation capacity by developing power plant projects along the AKK pipeline corridor and across the country to complement the existing ones,” Mr Kyari said.
For the gas export market, he said the ongoing NLNG Train 7 would expand Nigeria’s LNG production capacity to about 30 million tons per annum (30 MTPA).
“This is in addition to the planned Nigerian Morocco and the Trans Sahara Gas Pipeline projects, which will supply gas to sub-regional African countries and, subsequently, Europe.