The Nigeria’s Minister for Petroleum, President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that his administration will undertake appropriate reforms and implement fresh policies in oil and gas production, in an aim to boost the nation’s income from the sector.
Highlights of some projects and achievements:
• Reorganization/restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) into a focused, accountable and transparent institution with autonomous Units (Upstream; Downstream, Gas & Power; Refineries; Ventures and lean Group Headquarters)
• Reduction of operational deficits in NNPC by over 50% as at March 2016 as a result of Increased Transparency and Commercial focus
• Conduct of NNPC outstanding Annual Audits from 2011 to 2014, and the publication of Monthly Financial and Operations Reports to ensure transparency
• Introduction of third-party financing in order to eliminate direct funding of cash calls by the Federal Government
• Renegotiation of existing service contracts under Joint Venture and Production sharing contracts (PSC) Operations by about 30% leading to operational efficiency improvements and cost reductions
• Elimination of the Offshore Processing Agreement (OPA) through the introduction of the Direct Sales and Direct Purchase (DSDP) scheme with reputable off-shore refineries thereby yielding annual savings of US$1 billion
• Resuscitation of Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries presently producing about 7 million litres of products per/day
• Repair of products pipe lines and the resuscitation of supply of products from Atlas Cove-Mosimi- Ibadan- Ilorin after a six-year lull
• Repairs of Escravos/ Warri and Bonny/Port Harcourt crude oil pipe lines
• Introduction of a Price Modulation framework for downstream petroleum product pricing to encourage responsiveness to market dynamics
• Guided deregulation of the downstream sector to allow market forces determine product price and eliminate subsidy payments
• Introduction of the initiative on refinery co-location to increase domestic refining capacity and minimize the drain on scarce foreign exchange for product importation
• Commenced policy reforms for gas monetization, flare out and infrastructure development, to fast-track power supply and economic diversification.
