… Cuts debts in JV with Shell, Chevron, others to $2bn
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has made a rethink on selling its equity in oil assets over low oil prices and general poor state of the industry.
The corporation’s Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, disclosed this in a keynote address at the 45th Anniversary Lecture of the Nigeria Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), saying the national oil company is proactive bearing in mind the place of oil and gas in the next 40 to 50 years.
Similarly, the Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy, Mrs. Meyiwa Eyesan, confirmed the development, adding that the NNPC has reduced its cash call debts in the Joint Ventures (JVs) with International Oil Companies (IOCs) to $2 billion.
According to her, the reduction in JV with Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Eni and Total was achieved between 2015 and 2020 from $5 billion in 2015 to over $2 billion in five years, paying about $3 billion of the JV cash call arrears.
Speaking during the virtual lecture to commemorate the first Akomeno Oteri Annual Lecture themed “Long-term funding for E&P Business in Nigeria: Strategies and sustainability,” Mrs. Eyesan, said the corporation is not in dire need to sell off its equities in oil companies that are in partnership with NNPC.
She said: “This is the wrong time to sell our equity to any trusted partners. What we have done in the upstream sector is what we are going to replicate in the downstream by going into partnership with private investors.
“The pipelines and the refineries are open to partnership on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) bases.”
However, other panelists lecture advocated for Energy Bank as a means to properly fund the oil and gas sector.
