The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it is set to supply 300,000 barrels of crude oil to Dangote Refinery, TheCable reports.
Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group chief executive officer (GCEO), NNPC, spoke on Thursday at the Nigeria oil and gas opportunity fair.
The event was held at the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) conference centre in Bayelsa state.
The Dangote Refinery, a 650,000 barrels per day integrated refinery project, is scheduled to be inaugurated on May 22, 2023.
“The NNPC saw the strategic interest of doing business, and we will be supplying 300,000 barrels of Nigerian crude to Dangote Refinery from NNPC. That is a marketing opportunity,” Kyari said.
Meanwhile, the NNPC GCEO said Nigeria must focus on gas production, adding that the country must begin to expand its gas footprint.
With that, he noted, the country will begin to achieve the industrialisation it seeks.
“The only way this industry can become the catalyst and fuel for that is for us to build gas, and we are focused on domestic gas, as we are also looking for gas that can go to other countries. We are focused on domestic gas,” he said.
“Everyone is talking about domestic refining. We see what we are doing. We don’t talk about it. We will keep lamenting till we all will see.”
Kyari also the security situation in the Niger Delta is the industry’s main obstacle.
But he assured that the NNPC had risen to the challenge through its collaboration with government security agencies, which is paying off.
“Production last year was at 1.1 million barrel per day. In March, we hit 1.67 million bpd. We have suffered some operational issues in the last 23 weeks, but we know that we will achieve our objectives of recovering production,” he said.
“Then, if we can come back and put their money into new ventures because no one is putting in money now. This is very simple because no one is going to produce oil for someone who did not contribute unless it is guaranteed.
“This is the reality. That is why [I] took the front line and decided that we will contend with the security situation.
“We are glad with the progress we have made now. There is a clear connection between energy and poverty. We are talking about climate change and energy transition. So, we need to provide a cleaner source of energy.
“There is no country that is developed without energy. Industralisation is guaranteed with energy. No industry works without energy.”
Kyari added that industrialisation and prosperity can come to Nigeria when issues bordering energy are addressed.
