NNPC GMD, Mallam Mele Kyari (right), exchanging views with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Bitrus Bako Nabasu (left) at the opening ceremony of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit which held in Abuja … Monday.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has stated that it would expand its operational footprints across the globe, saying the move would enable the corporation boost its global profile.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, disclosed this at the 3rd edition of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (N.I.P.S.) 2020 in Abuja.

Mallam Kyari stated that though the primary focus of the corporation was to ensure energy security for Nigeria, it had capacity to meet the energy needs of the entire West African sub-region.

A press release by the corporation’s Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Samson Makoji, stated that the NNPC helmsman said NNPC was working with its technical partners to restore its three refineries to be able to operate at optimal levels.

Mallam Kyari added that already the Phase 1 of the rehabilitation work on the Port Harcourt Refinery had begun with Phase 2 work in the offing.

“We will continue to support the Dangote refinery and the other modular refinery projects in the country to guarantee energy security for Africa. Nigeria welcomes foreign investors to invest in the Oil and Gas Industry. 2020 is year of gas. Nigeria will deepen domestic gas use and monetization of our huge gas resources,” Mallam Kyari said.

The NNPC helmsman stated that Nigeria was ready and accessible for investments from all interested countries, individuals and partners, assuring that their investments were secured with high returns in the country.

Speaking further at the summit, Mallam Kyari noted that NNPC would sustain its business culture of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE), even as the corporation remains the only entity in the world that publishes its financial and operations monthly.

He assured that NNPC was more than ever committed to improving transparency to win the trust of all its stakeholders as the largest oil corporation in Africa.

Mallam Kyari also informed that Nigeria had found oil in new territories with huge potentials, adding that NNPC was expanding the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System 2 (ELPS) and building the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline as part of efforts to expand domestic gas utilization for the benefit of the Nigerian economy.

Speaking in a similar vein, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, who launched the Nigeria Gas Network Code, said that the Nigerian Gas Sector had the potential to lift over one 100million Nigerians out of poverty in line with the aspiration of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, said the Federal Government was determined to entrench transparency and reduce cost in the nation’s oil and gas value chain.

He assured that the Federal Government would continue to ensure that investments were well secured in Nigeria, assuring that it would put in place policies to promote conducive business environment in the interest of all investors.

Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, who was represented by the Senate Committee Chairman, Upstream, Senator Bassey Akpan, reassured players in the nation’s Oil and Gas Industry of the commitment of the 9th National Assembly to enact legislations that would promote the growth of the nation’s petroleum sector.

The summit with the theme: “Widening the Integration Circle: Technology, Knowledge, Sustainability, Partnership”, attracted goodwill messages from the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and other local and international players in the Oil and Gas Industry.