01 July 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja — With the successes recorded in the investors’ roadshow in China, the Federal Government has also announced plans to raise funds from investors in India and some Gulf states to finance oil and gas projects in the Nigerian petroleum industry.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, who led a team of top management of the corporation and key industry stakeholders to showcase the investment opportunities which abound in the oil and gas value chain in Nigeria to investors in China, said the planned roadshow in India and other Gulf states is in view to attracting funding and partnerships that would turn around the sector and place it among the best in the world.
Commenting on the Chinese roadshow, Kachikwu said the NNPC has achieved its bid to bridge the infrastructure funding gaps in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, with the signing of memorandum of understandings (MOU) with some Chinese investors, worth over $80 billion.
According to him, the fund is to be spent on investments in oil and gas infrastructure, pipelines, refineries, power, facility refurbishments and upstream facilities.
Speaking during the plenary of a special Investors’ Roundtable which had in attendance over 200 Chinese investors with key focus on the Oil and Gas Sector, Kachikwu reiterated that the roadshow was organized as a follow up to the working visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to China in April 2016.
According to Kachikwu, some of the companies that are involved in the signing of the $80 billion MoUs are NORINCO, CINDA, CNOOC, SINOPEC/ADDAX, ICC-NDRC amongst others.
Kachikwu further stated that the International Cooperation Commission (ICC) of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in charge of implementing cooperation between Chinese governments, foreign governments and organizations have committed to developing an overarching master plan for the Nigerian oil and gas.
This, he said will include a detailed feasibility study of current status of existing infrastructure in the industry, while they would also develop bankable projects that would attract Chinese investors on this Government-to-Government platform.
According to Kachikwu, this initiative would move the country to a much more profitable and efficient state, adding that the master plan would form the basis of massive inflow of further investment from Chinese companies into the sector.
He expressed his gratitude to the Chinese government and investors for the show of support which reflects the growing international confidence in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector following major reform which has been overseen under his leadership as both Group Managing Director of NNPC and Minister of State, Petroleum Resources over the last seven months and also the belief in the government and integrity of President Buhari by foreign governments and investors.