BY CLARA NWACHUKWU
Nigeria has opened invitation to the Russian business
community to take advantage of its enormous human and natural resources, and
invest in its petroleum value chain – upstream, downstream, and gas.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, issued the
invitation on behalf of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani
Alison-Madueke, at an investment dinner organised by the Nigerian National
Committee, NNC, to the just-concluded 21st World Petroleum Congress, WPC in
Moscow, Russia.
Represented by the Group Executive Director, Commercial and
Investments, NNPC, Dr. Attahiru Yusuf, the minister urged the Russians to key
into Federal Government’s special focus on gas monetisation, and join other
countries to invest in any of the gas sub-sects.
She said that government is already building a commercial
industrial pact to house major gas based industries including gas conversion
and utilisation plants, fertilizer plants, methanol and petrochemical.
According to her, “Many countries and their companies have
expressed interest in different areas of the gas sector, like Saudi Arabia,
which has indicated interest in petrochemical; while companies from India want
to build fertiliser plants. So we invite all potential investors to consider
participating in these initiatives to invest in the industrial pact.”
Apart from enumerating the numerous potentials along the
petroleum value chain, the minister reiterated that “the long term plan for
Nigeria is to become a gas hub for the West African region.
“To achieve this, there is an ongoing government initiative to
develop the gas resources of the country, which will also lead to growth in our
crude oil reserves.
“Furthermore, to create an enabling environment government is
pursuing a reform agenda to enhance industry efficiency and entrench good
governance and reinforce the linkage between oil and gas, and other sectors of
the economy.”
The minister noted that gas development is part of the industry
reforms, following the launch of the gas revolution and the Gas Master Plan.
Besides, the sub-sectors already mentioned, she said there is
also a significant opportunity in the liquefied petroleum gas, LPG or cooking
gas sector, to boost domestic usage.
“The development of LPG in Nigeria has opened up significant
opportunities in the areas of building LPG plants and other facilities,
manufacturing of cylinders, and the development of ports and jetties for
loading LPG,” she said.
She added, “These initiatives are very big ones and will
naturally lead to other significant opportunities in engineering designs,
fabrication and construction, pipe-laying and other support activities
including equipment leasing and financial services.
“Accordingly, investment opportunities in Nigeria’s oil and gas
sector are huge for all to come and play a part, and I hereby, invite all to
pay good attention, explore the opportunities, analyse them and take investment
decisions.”
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