President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration has attracted over $3 billion in investment in the Oil and Gas Sector.
Mr Femi Adesina quoted Buhari as stating this at the inauguration of the Kolmani Integrated Development Project in Bauchi.
Such investment, he said, is coming at a time of near-zero appetite for investment in fossil energy.
The company is a fully integrated in-situ development project comprising upstream production, oil refining, power generation and fertiliser blender.
“Considering the landlocked location and the huge capital requirement, the economics of the project is a challenging proposition.
“I have instructed NNPCL to leverage its vast asset portfolio to de-risk the project and to attract the much-needed investment.
“It is, therefore, to the credit of this administration that at a time when there is near zero appetite for investment in fossil energy, we are able to attract investment of over $3 billion to this project.”
He commended NNPCL and its partners for the successful discovery of oil and gas in the Kolmani River Field.
“Huge investment will be a reference subject for discussion in the industry as we pursue energy transition programme.
“This will culminate in our country achieving Net-Zero position by the year 2060”.
According to him, benefits of the project include energy security, financial security and the overall socio-economic development of the country.
He charge the NNPCL to explore other oil and gas fields beyond the Niger Delta Basins had yielded commendable results.
“This is indeed significant as efforts to find commercial oil and gas outside the Niger Delta Basin, were without the desired outcomes for many years.
“The successful discovery of the Kolmani Oil and Gas field by NNPC and its partners has finally broken the jinx
“This is delightful by the confirmation of commercial deposits of hydrocarbons in the Kolmani River field.
“The discovery emanated from our charge to the NNPC to re-strategise and expand its oil and gas exploration footprints to the frontier basins of Anambra, Dahomey, Sokoto, Benue trough Chad and Bida Basins.”
According to the president, similar activities across the other basins are currently ongoing.
“We are pleased with the current discovery of over one billion barrels of oil reserves and 500 billion Cubic Feet of Gas within the Kolmani area.
“And the huge potential for more deposits as we intensify exploration efforts,” Buhari said.
While looking forward to the successful delivery of the project, Buhari urged NNPCL and partners to work with all stakeholders for smooth execution of the project.
Also speaking, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, expressed happiness on the success of the project.
Also speaking, the Group CEO of NNPCL, Mele Kolo Kyari said that the search for oil and gas in the frontier basins had spanned decades without significant outcomes.
The basins include Chad, Sokoto, Anambra Platform, Calabar Embarkment, Benue Trough, Dahomey, Bida and the Ultra-Deepwater Niger Delta.
Kyari commended the determination of President Buhari to ensure optimum exploration and exploitation of the nation’s natural resources.
According to him, this resulted in discovery of oil and gas deposits in commercial quantity in the area in 2019.
“Your Excellency’s consequential directives for NNPC Limited to utilise available human, technological and other material resources to prosecute exploration activities resulted in the discovery of oil and gas deposits in the Kolmani,” Kyari added.
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