Nigeria Content Online

The Group Managing
Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Austen
Oniwon, yesterday said that his administration leveraged on the vision
to operate at world class levels by maximizing value addition as well
as creating high value opportunities for Nigerians and the country in
general.

As a premier
integrated oil and gas company in Nigeria, Mr. Oniwon said the
corporation under his leadership would remain committed to its agenda
to guarantee unimpeded supply and distribution of petroleum products
across the country.

The commitment, he
said, is underlined by his management’s recent decision to partner with
some Chinese investors to build more refineries in the country not only
to boost the country’s local refining capacity, but to facilitate the
creation of more employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed
youths in the country.

The director was
speaking in Abuja on Tuesday while receiving the Senior Executive
Course No. 32 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Study
(NIPSS).

“More than ever
before, the NNPC is determined to build more refineries in order to
complement the existing ones currently operating at optimum capacity.
With the daily increase in the consumption of petroleum products in the
country, the corporation has gone into a strategic partnership with a
Chinese firm to build three additional Greenfield Refineries and a
Petrochemical plant in three different states of the federation,” he
explained.

Presenting a paper
titled: “Imperative of Policy Sustainability for National Security and
Democratic Stability – TheNNPC Perspective”, Mr. Oniwon said the
corporation is currently involved in the repositioning of the natural
gas sector for rapid domestic, regional and export penetration, as
contained in the National Gas Master Plan (NGMP).

Meet the country’s needs

The present drive
for the development of Greenfield Refineries as well as revamping of
the old facilities, he pointed out, was in line with the strategic
effort to revitalize the downstream capacity to support the country’s
growing domestic energy needs.

On efforts to
upgrade its operations to enable the corporation compete with other
integrated national oil companies in the world, the NNPC helmsman
observed that the corporation is currently undergoing a transformation
process, adding that if the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently
pending before the National Assembly is passed, it would facilitate the
reform of key institutions to anchor sustained growth in the country’s
oil and gas sector.

“The main engine of
transformation of the petroleum sector is the PIB. The bill seeks to
reform the petroleum sector, such that the country’s oil and gas
industry will achieve the 21st century global industry performance
record. The bill when passed into law will decentralize the industry
and make it more efficient and result-oriented,” Mr. Oniwon stated.

He called for the
regular review of policies to enhance maximum returns on oil and gas
assets, pointing out that if bureaucratic bottlenecks are eliminated
from the system, it would greatly enhance the corporation’s drive
towards value addition in all the oil and gas value chains as well as
its capacity as a player in the global arena.

The Director of
Studies NIPSS and leader of the delegation, Thomas Imobighe, stressed
the need for successive administrations to retain laudable policies
that impact positively on the economy, assuring of the Institute’s
readiness to help propagate policies that would facilitate the growth
of the Nigerian economy.