… “If you walk away, we will stay to explore our resources”
In what looks like a subtle warning to international oil companies (IOCs), the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari, on Thursday said that Nigeria would continue to explore its hydrocarbon resources, even if the multinationals take a walk.
The NNPC says it is a huge company with a $60 billion asset and that it can run without the IOCs. It however acknowledged the fact that it needs help. “We are a huge company. We have a $60 billion asset so we can …so we can run without help , but we need help…no one will stop us…if you want to do so, we will kick you out”
Speaking on the occasion of the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ (SPE) 2023 edition of the Annual Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum (OLEF) in Abuja themed: “Effective Gas Resources Utilisation: A Lever for Enhancing Energy Security and Achieving Net-zero Emission Goals in Nigeria,” Kyari explained that the world is not leaving fossil fuels soon, despite the pretence.
Kyari argued that within the period between now and 2035, it’s not possible to change all the vehicles and tricycles in Nigeria to electric vehicles, that crude oil well continue to be relevant.
According to him, the NNPC has made massive investment to make sure its focus on gas exploration works insisting that: “But no one is going to help, so for us, we need to resort to self-help.”
He added: “We need the cash flow and the cash flow is what we need to make sure tomorrow we become self-reliant. Therefore, we are leveraging the position of the oil industry,” he added.
He noted that before now, everybody was looking for oil , but noted that now Nigeria needs to start looking for gas, with some associated oil instead of the other way round.
He said building Nigeria’s gas resourcss will mean building the country, stating the NNPC was going beyond power point presentations to the reality of actual work.
“We are a huge company. We have a $60 billion asset so we can …so we can run without help , but we need help…no one will stop us…if you want to do so, we will kick you out…we are the largest economy in Africa and many of these countries rely substantially on our prosperity.
“To do this we are building infrastructure…we are engaging and we are having the line of sight to excellent engineering, financing and we will build a line all the way from Brass to Morocco and Europe,” he added.
He explained that the NNPC and government spent humongous sums to reduce oil theft in conjunction with the locals and the security agencies.
“We are almost running solo, some of our partners will say get out…we have talked all the talk. If they walk away we will stay, of course we are working assiduously,” he noted.
Nigeria as a resource rich country with opportunities to sustainability create prosperity, he said, has maintained a strong posture of balanced energy transition that recognises the role of hydrocarbon for years longer than anticipated by other jurisdictions.
With NNPC Limited as a fully commercial enterprise, Nigeria, he said, was well positioned to lead the African continent in a just and gradual energy transition.
“Nigeria, like other African counties is endowed with an increasing young population, which needs a stronger economy to continue to generate beneficial employment to lift citizens from poverty to prosperity.
“This will no doubt continue to push our nation’s energy demand faster than what renewable energy technologies are likely to offer in the near future.
“We are therefore leveraging the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to attract more investment in the Nigerian petroleum sector, to continue to guarantee access to energy while aligning with global energy transition,” he explained.
He restated the commitment of NNPC and its partners to the timely delivery of major gas pipeline infrastructure projects including the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline (AKK) and the $25 billion Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline, amongst others.
Kyari stated that Nigeria’s domestic gas infrastructure network has an existing capacity to transport about 6.9 Billion Standard Cubic Feet (BCF) of gas to support power generation and gas-based industries.
He pointed out that the country’s huge investment in gas infrastructure is hinged on its growing natural gas reserves, thus supporting the nation’s aspiration to create Africa’s biggest industrial hub powered by low-carbon energy.
“NNPC is taking advantage of Nigeria’s huge natural gas reserves of over 200 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) with a potential to grow to 600 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) as more investment is expected due to the recent resolution of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) disputes with partners. This significant reserve will serve as a low-carbon energy alternative that will support growth in the power and industrial sectors, address energy poverty, reduce carbon-footprint and create more employment opportunities,” he affirmed
According to him, the NNPC was playing a leading role in the realisation of the Federal Government’s National Gas Expansion Programme, which seeks to deepen natural gas utilisation as an alternative transportation fuel, and an important feedstock for the development of gas-based industries.
“We are working assiduously to ensure timely delivery of major domestic gas pipeline infrastructure projects including the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline corridor and associated power plants.
“NNPC is also making progress on the planned Nigeria-Morocco and the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipelines, that will connect West African countries to deliver natural gas to the international markets.
“For the gas export market, the on-going NLNG Train 7 will expand Nigeria’s LNG production capacity from 22mpta about 30 million tons per annum (30 MTPA),” he stressed.
For its sustainability strategy, Kyari stated that NNPC is deploying carbon-reduction initiatives to gradually decarbonise its operations and improve its compliances with global emission reduction.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources who is currently overseeing the ministry, Gabriel Aduda, described energy security and achieving net-zero emissions goals as two of the most pressing challenges of this era.
Globally, he stated that there are efforts towards the creation of an international market for fossil energy that minimise gas flaring, methane, and CO2 emissions across the value chain to the fullest extent practicable.
According to him, Nigeria became the first African country to regulate methane emissions from its oil and gas sector in 2022, highlighting the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) goal of cutting anthropogenic methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030.
