14 March 2014, Abuja – Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Engineer Andrew Yakubu has condemned criticisms made against the state-owned oil company, describing them as unfair.
According to him, the criticisms arose from public misconceptions of the operations of the NNPC.
Speaking yesterday at the 2014 Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum organised by the Nigerian Council of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Yakubu noted that such criticisms were not only unfair, but also dampened the morale of the company’s workers.
Recently, the NNPC came under attacks over the alleged unremitted $20.8 billion to the federation account.
The spate of criticism forced President Goodluck Jonathan to approve the forensic audit of the orporation.
At the forum yesterday, Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo said that with the changing global demand and supply balance, the industry must begin to expand and grow processing capacity for local utilisation as well as export of finished products.
Sambo, who was represented by Engr. Yakubu, noted that government was ready to support the industry to join the shale gas revolution in the next decade.
Shale gas is found within shale formations and has become an important source of natural gas in the United States.
Meanwhile, the Royal Dutch Shell has declared a loss of nearly $1 billion, through theft and various disruptions to its Nigerian oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) operations in 2013.
The Anglo Dutch company, updating investors yesterday, also said the proposed Nigerian legislation has curbed investment, hindering production, while security became a daily challenge.
Meanwhile, the federal governmenthas paid the sum of N41, 074,772,210.95 to oil marketers as petrol subsidy reimbursement.
The details released by the Ministry of Finance said the amount was paid to 27 marketers whose claims have successfully gone through the verification processes.
According to the spokesperson of the minister, Paul C Nwabuikwu, the details of payment was made public in line with the ministry’s focus on transparency and accountability in the management of the subsidy regime.
The marketers have partly blamed government for the ongoing fuel scarcity, claiming delay in releasing the subsidy reimbursement to them.
– Daily Trust