…Corporation expanding gas & non-oil businesses
OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mele Kyari, has said the COVID-19 pandemic has sped up innovation and use of technology to maximise business operations in the oil and gas sector.
He made the statement while delivering the Industry Address at the ongoing Society of Petroleum Engineers, SPE’s, Nigeria Energy Industry Transformation (Virtual) Summit, NEITS on Tuesday.
The summit has the theme, “Changing Global Energy Landscape: Strategies for Industry Sustainability”.
Mr. Kyari said the NNPC, in order to navigate through the pandemic’s global reality, has deployed technology to promote virtual ways of working, which he said, had improved efficiency and optimised the corporation’s operating expenditures.
“With every downturn comes an opportunity to evolve, and the industry is taking advantage of this. The crisis has accelerated our ability to innovate and leverage on technology to get the businesses to operate optimally and reduce impact,” he said.
According to him, the onslaught of the pandemic and the oil price war experienced early this year led to a historical massive demand destruction and supply glut on a global scale.
NNPC obtains circa $1bn to fund NPDC’s upstream operations
“Indeed, no player on the oil and gas industry was spared,” he added.
To reposition the industry for the ‘new normal’ and ensure sustainability, he said the corporation was expanding its non-oil and gas businesses, deploying technology, automating its processes and reducing cost of production.
He said: “We are also investing in domestic gas utilisation projects (AKK, OB3, ELPS), supporting research and innovation as well as fast-tracking energy policy required to expand the horizon of commercial opportunities.”