Stakeholders in the Nigerian oil and gas industry have raised concerns over the persistent challenges faced by the upstream segment, prompting renewed calls for the federal government to divest its majority shareholding in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to finance significant upstream projects.<\/p>\n
This appeal stems from the industry’s funding difficulties, compounded by the ongoing departure of international oil companies (IOCs), resulting in a decline in oil production, foreign exchange earnings, and infrastructure deficits.<\/p>\n
During the management session at the 41st annual international conference and exhibition of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), themed “Repositioning the Oil and Gas Industry for Future Energy Dynamics” in Lagos, speakers emphasized the urgency of addressing the funding challenges. Apart from advocating for the sale of NNPC’s majority shareholding, they urged the government to promptly implement the Incorporated Joint Venture (IJV) model, as outlined in the recently enacted Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), drawing inspiration from the successful Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) model.<\/p>\n
To tackle the funding gap hindering essential investments in upstream projects, stakeholders proposed that the government intervene by allocating $15 billion from the $20 billion Nigerian Pension Fund and invest it in long-term oil and gas initiatives. This strategic move aims to stimulate much-needed growth in the sector.<\/p>\n
Notably, in June, shortly after President Bola Tinubu assumed office, his Policy Advisory Council recommended the sale of major stakes in NNPC across the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. The proposal, outlined in the May 2023 Policy Advisory Council Report, anticipated a potential $17 billion revenue for the government from this divestiture.<\/p>\n
Addressing the NAPE event, industry expert Attah suggested a nuanced approach, emphasizing the need for the government to sell down its stakes rather than completely exit NNPC. This strategic divestment, he argued, would generate funds crucial for reinvesting in critical oil and gas infrastructure, thereby revitalizing the industry and mitigating the decline in crude oil and gas production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stakeholders in the Nigerian oil and gas industry have raised concerns over the persistent challenges faced by the upstream segment, prompting renewed calls for the federal government to divest its majority shareholding in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to finance significant upstream projects. This appeal stems from the industry’s funding difficulties, compounded by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6483"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6547,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6483\/revisions\/6547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}