OpeOluwani Akintayo
02 May 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The collaborative approval process planned between the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, will ensure the achievement of Federal Government’s targeted six months contract approval cycle time, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, has said.
According to him also, it will reduce the cost of crude oil production in the country.
NCDMB and NNPC plan to start using the one-stop shop arrangement for reviewing and approving oil industry projects and contracts in a bid to shorten the industry contracting cycle before the end of this year.
“If you look at the cost components we are trying to drive down; from $28 per barrel, it is now $23 and we are targeting $15. We can’t achieve that if our bureaucracy is slow,” the minister, who announced the plan for the introduction of the collaborative process in Yenagoa, said.
Also, Kachikwu praised the collaboration between NCDMB and the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, particularly on the development of modular refineries, which would help to address the perennial shortage of petroleum products, create jobs and minimise the scourge of illegal refining.
He tasked the board to collaborate with other relevant institutions including Nigerian universities, some of whom have developed prototypes of modular refineries.
