The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) started it activities for the new week with words of commendation from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
The Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, stated at the first National Extractives Dialogue (NED) held in Abuja, that the NNPC Ltd. was now compliant with transparency regulations and that they had become more responsive to audit queries.
The event was co-hosted by NEITI and Spaces for Change (S4C), an indigenous civil society organisation, with support of the Ford Foundation.
It was designed to provide stakeholders in the extractive industry a platform to discuss the issues of contract transparency, extractive resources benefits sharing and energy transition in West Africa.
In his opening remarks, Orji said NIETI was proud to see that some of the legal reforms it clamoured for were now being implemented in the oil and gas industry with NNPC now more compliant than ever.
“In Nigeria, we have clamoured for reforms; we are proud to witness some of the legal reforms we clamoured for now taking place.”
He stated that the involvement of Spaces for Change in the programme was in line with NEITI’s objective of deepening engagements with credible civil society organisations.
Speaking at the event, the GMD/CEO of NNPC Ltd, Malam Mele Kyari, said that the company had done so much to keep to the tenets of transparency in every area of its operations.
Kyari, who was represented by the Group General Manager, Governance, Risk & Compliance, Mr Chris Akamiro, said NNPC now implements audit recommendations and was keen on expanding the frontiers of its engagement, by reporting information on upstream costs and revenues.
He said that the ongoing transition to a limited liability company was aimed at repositioning the Company in line with global best practices and in preparation for energy transition.
Kyari stated that the natural resources from the extractive industries were only beneficial when they were extracted in a responsible and cost-effective manner, and the revenues accruing were promptly remitted to the coffers of government.
He said that the low performance of the industry in terms of profitability and contribution to the economy was due to opacity which he said prompted the call for action by stakeholders on the need for a more transparent and accountable industry.
In the meantime, the NNPC Greenfield Refinery Ltd. a subsidiary of the NNPC Ltd. revved up engagement with a Chinese firm, Sedin Engineering to set up a 100,000 barrel per stream day co-located refinery at the complex of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Ekpan, Delta State.
The move was part of efforts by the NNPC to boost the nation’s refining capacity with a view to exiting importation and turning Nigeria into a net exporter of petroleum products.
Speaking at the meeting, the Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals, Mr Mustapha Yakubu, disclosed that engagement with Sedin Engineering had been on for over two years and that the original plan was for the company to establish a number of brownfield refineries across the country.
He said that the original plan had been modified and streamlined over the series of previous engagements to arrive at the establishment of a single 100,000bpsd at the WRPC complex.
He stressed that the firm had commenced feasibility study and that it was the hope of Management to conclude all necessary negotiations speedily so that the project can take off.
In a presentation at the meeting, the Manager, Technical, NGRL, Mr Samuel Ajayi, stated that apart from the proposed co-located refinery by Sedin Engineering, NGRL was working in partnership with other companies to set up two other co-located refineries.
Ajayi said one would be located at WRPC, while the other would be located at the Port Harcourt Refining Company complex in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He also said that there would be four condensate refineries and a modular refinery.
The Sedin Engineering Team was represented by Mr Shagaya, Mr Ma and Ambassador Rasak Lawal, Chairman of Ram Energy.