OpeOluwani Akintayo
02 November 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has said oil companies in Nigeria get 25 to 40 percent returns on investment despite challenges in the oil and gas sector.
Kachikwu described the returns as “bullish”.
The minister on Wednesday, while addressing common notion that oil investors are discouraged to withdraw their investments and leave Nigeria, said regardless of challenges with issues such as security, militancy, transparency and governance, Nigeria is still an attractive business environment for serious investors.
“…It is the assets that are important, and Nigeria is truly blessed with very vast resources that are waiting to be explored.
“Historically, yes we have struggled with transparency issues, governance issues and all that. But that is something over the last two years we have been very bullish in correcting.
“Returns on investments in Nigeria are absolutely bullish and that is why most oil companies focus on Nigeria despite all the difficulties with securities, militancy, transparency, and governance issues. The returns are very bullish with 25 to 40 per cent category,” the minister said.
The minister explained that in the past two years, government has been making efforts to build a conducive business environment for investors in the oil and gas sector, which, according to him, have yielded positive results.
He said: “For the first time, we are beginning to look at third-party investment in our refineries which has not happened for a very long time. We are beginning to look at a lot of private sector participation in pipeline infrastructure.
“And when you talk about investment, Nigerian investors are also bullish. Unknown to very many people, over the last five to six years, investors from Nigeria, who are Nigerians are very bullish in their investment both in upstream and downstream sectors.
“In fact, our downstream sector is largely controlled by local investors. And increasingly, upstream marginal operators are beginning to see Nigerian investors who are going out to invest in some African countries”.
