Nnenna Ezeah
18 April 2012, Sweetcrude, ABUJA – THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is intensifying efforts to encourage indigenous participation in the upstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
The company said this was in effort to guarantee national security and to ensure that Nigeria derives more benefits from the exploration of its hydrocarbon resources.
This declaration was made by NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Austen Oniwon, during a visit by a 23-man delegation of Faculty staff and top ranking military officers of the National Defence University of Pakistan to his office.
Oniwon said it was in line with this commitment that two oil wells from which Shell Petroleum Development Company recently divested were ceded to indigenous companies to manage.
He said developments around the globe dictated that nations encourage indigenous capacity in their upstream sector as international political developments might cause foreign upstream players to abandon their post, leaving an unprepared nation in a lurch.
“NNPC was poised to enhance its participation in the upstream sector through its E&P company, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, which target is to increase its production from its current 80,000 barrels per day to 250,000 per day in 2015”.
