The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, started its new week on a cheerful note as the country on Monday stepped into the global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) market for the first time in 22 years.

It was a step expected to strengthen Nigeria’s footprint in the global LNG market after the lifting that occurred from Bonny Island, Rivers State.

The maiden LNG export from NNPC LNG Ltd, an arm of the NNPC Ltd, was a milestone achievement in about 22 years.

The event was attended by the Managing Director (MD), NLNG, Dr. Phillip Mshelbila and the NNPC team led by the Group Executive Director/Chief Financial Officer, Mr Umar Ajiya.

Others in the NNPC were the Group Executive Director, Gas & Power, Mr Mohammed Ahmed; Group Executive Director, Corporate Services, Mrs Aisha Farida Katagum; Group General Manager, NNPC LNG Investment Management Services (LIMS), Ms Nike Kolawole and MD NNPC LNG Ltd, Mr Adamu Umar.

Group General Manager, NNPC LNG Investment Management Services (LIMS), Ms Nike Kolawole, said the historic event was one of the several efforts by the nation’s oil company aimed at exploring viable business opportunities to improve the fortunes of the organisation.

“The import of this milestone given NNPC’s transition from a corporation to a limited liability company is that we are poised to generating additional revenues for NNPC Ltd, which aligns with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), respectively,” she said.

Kolawole said with the successful entry of NNPC into the global LNG market, the company had strongly established its footprint and had become a key player in the international LNG business space.

She emphasised that the current NNPC Management is focused on supporting Federal Government’s initiatives which are geared towards deriving maximum value from gas production and utilisation.

Kolawole also noted that participating across the LNG value chain would expose the company to other benefits, beyond the dividends.

According to her, the NNPC’s present capacity to acquire volumes from the LNG market and trade such volumes at the global market was achievable due to visionary leadership of the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Malam Mele Kyari and his management team that provided the enabling environment.

She expressed commitment to growing the business for the benefit of both the NNPC and the nation.

The NNPC-LNG Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NNPC Ltd with the mandate to manage Federal Government’s investments in the LNG businesses.

Incorporated on Oct. 3, 2012 as the investment entity in all the downstream LNG partnerships and ventures, the Company is the investee in four Marketing Joint Ventures (MJVs) of the NNPC Ltd, established to market LNG and its derivatives.

On Tuesday, the NNPC Limited called for support from leading technologically advanced jurisdictions across the world to enable the country and other developing nations achieve the desired global energy transition.

NNPC CEO/GMD, Kyari made the plea while delivering the keynote address at the Nigerian Association of Energy Correspondents (NAEC) 2021 Strategic Conference with theme – PIA, Energy Transition and the Future of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas.

Kyari, who only recently cautioned that the wholesale execution of energy transition without regard to the peculiar socio-economic conditions of various countries would cause dislocations that could exacerbate security challenges in developing nations, harped on the need to allow less technologically endowed nations time to build requisite capacity to enable easy transition.

“As we speak now, and as a country and for most of the African countries, the realities around energy transition are clearly a major challenge for us.

“Today, as we all know, we are energy deficient, we have challenge in electricity supply and even many other infrastructure,” Kyari said.

According to him, the effects of the energy transition was already being felt in the oil and gas industry as local and international lenders have suspended funding for oil and gas and projects.

He aligned with the call by President Muhammadu Buhari at the ongoing COP 26 in Glasgow for energy justice in the implementation of the energy transition, stressing that though Africa accounted for only about three per cent of the global carbon emission, the continent still had a responsibility to join the world in combatting climate change.

Kyari, however, said Africa must be assisted to do so as most countries on the continent do not have the means to achieve quick switch-over.

He emphasised that the NNPC as the enabler of national energy security, was working arduously to ramp up domestic utilisation of the nation’s gas resources as a viable alternative to heavy fossil fuels via aggressive delivery of all gas infrastructure projects like the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline, Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) pipeline, and Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) expansion project.

The NNPC boss noted that the fiscal framework in the PIA provided great support for this aspiration, adding that on completion, the projects would add additional 8billion standard cubic feet of gas to the national gas grid thus enabling the optimisation of Nigeria’s gas resources as envisaged under the decade of gas initiative.

On the recent concerns about impending fuel shortage, the NNPC CEO/GMD said the company would continue to play its role in ensuring uninterrupted supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.

He confirmed that the NNPC had an inventory of over 1.7billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and was expecting delivery of additional 2.3billion litres within this month to support supply for the Yuletide season and beyond.

NNPC GMD/CEO, Malam Mele Kyari

Still in the week under review, the NNPC’s Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) Transition Committee was charged to hit the ground running to ensure a seamless transformation of the organisation from a Corporation into a world class energy company.

GMD/CEO, Malam Mele Kyari, gave the charge on Wednesday while inaugurating the committee at the NNPC Towers, noting that there was no time to waste as things were changing rapidly in the nation’s oil and gas industry.

The GMD stated that the inauguration was a milestone for the NNPC as it transits into a global International Oil Company (IOC) driven by growth, profitability and performance excellence.

He said the enactment of the PIA means that for the first time since the 1967 Petroleum Act, the Nigerian Oil & Gas Industry would have a legislative framework within which it would prosper and deliver value to Nigerians.

Describing the resultant effect of the PIA implementation as massive, Kyari said as a company governed by the Company & Allied Matters Act (CAMA) principles, there would be no room for non-performance.

He said the PIA is about reforming the National Oil Company (NOC) and as the CEO, he was committed to ensuring that the transition committee delivered on its mandate.

The Transition Committee has 18 months to deliver on the assignment.

Meanwhile, the NNPC Ltd has urged the public not to engage in panic buying of petroleum products as the Company had sufficient stock of the products that would last the festive period and beyond.

The Company said it was engaging all stakeholders to ensure smooth supply and distribution of products to every part of the country.

Mr. Ishaku Abdullahi, Managing Director of Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), the downstream entity of the NNPC, speaks on efforts to ensure seamless nationwide supply and distribution of petroleum products.