06 June 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has disclosed plans by the corporation to partner with the Bayelsa State Government to build a power plant in the state.
Baru, who spoke during a visit by the state governor, Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson, to the NNPC corporate headquarters in Abuja, said the move is part of concerted efforts to resolve the nation’s electric power challenge.
Baru said the power plant would be built at the Bayelsa State’s proposed industrial park, stressing that the collaboration would afford the state and NNPC the opportunity to share technical knowledge that would attract investors to the Niger Delta region.
He said, “We have a lot of areas of collaboration. The NNPC will support Bayelsa State Government every inch of the way to deliver on the power plant in the proposed industrial park, ensure security of oil and gas infrastructure and siting of other inclusive projects that would improve the lives of the people in the communities.”
He also expressed interest in the state’s Brass Fertiliser Company, declaring that the NNPC was prepared to invest in the project as a shareholder.
He stated that Bayelsa State was earmarked for the Federal Government’s Greenfield Modular Refinery project which feasibility studies had been concluded, adding however that the project was stalled due to the withdrawal of the foreign partners from the project.
Dickson, in his speech, said the visit was to appreciate the laudable efforts of Baru and his team and to solicit the NNPC’s support for the state’s security, development and the oil and gas industry.
Dickson stated that the state would seek an Oil Prospecting License, OPL, whenever the industry undertakes another bid round, adding that it needed such investment, over time, to augment the monthly allocation from the Federal Government.
