President Muhammadu Buhari has urged
ExxonMobil Corporation to collaborate on a bigger scale with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to realize the full potentials of the abundant gas resources in Nigeria.
He spoke recently at an audience with a team from ExxonMobil Corporation led by Liam Mallon, its President on Upstream Oil and Gas, at State House Abuja.
He said:“We look forward to ExxonMobil engaging in deeper collaboration and partnership with the New NNPC and other Nigerian institutions to ensure optimum exploitation of the abundant Oil and Gas resources in Nigeria while also aligning the processes with the global drive towards carbon neutrality”
He also implored operators in the petroleum industry to take advantage of the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to promote their investments in the oil and gas sector.
He added:“I will expect the ExxonMobil companies in Nigeria to avail themselves of the opportunities created by the Petroleum Industry Act and invest in further development of the Nigerian assets in line with our national interest.We expect that your company will also support our desire to deepen gas utilization and monetization aimed at reducing our carbon footprint and facilitating economic growth and development of our country.”
Buhari commended his visitors for their commitment to continue to be a bigger player in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
He added:“We thank you very much for the reassuring words on your continued presence in Nigeria with the promise of expanding your investments in the Deep-water.This will no doubt be further facilitated by the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act which are designed to provide a competitive fiscal framework and a world-class regulatory framework that is at par with our global peers”
In his earlier remarks,Mallon told his host that ExxonMobil, has done business in Nigeria for over 60 years, remained as committed and strong,despite the company’s divestment from the Joint Venture (shallow water) with NNPC.
He said:“Whoever emerges buyer must be a capable operator. We won’t compromise on that at all.The party must have the capacity to make growth vision happen. And we will be very transparent about it.”
He lauded the president on the successful way the country handled the COVID-19 pandemic, and also for the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.
795000cookie-checkBuhari Urges NNPC,ExxonMobil’s Collaboration On Increased Oil Exploration
