FG Devices New Ways of Funding NNPC’s Joint Ventures

Mon, Dec 7, 2015
By publisher
3 MIN READ

BREAKING NEWS, Oil & Gas

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Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for Petroleum Resources and group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, says the federal government is partnering with investors to raise funds to finance its joint venture with other oil companies

THE federal government has expressed its readiness to raise funds from international investors and the private sector in 2016 to fund the joint venture, JV, cash calls between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and international oil companies operating in the country.

Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for Petroleum Resources and group managing director of the NNPC, disclosed this during an interactive session with Nigerians living in Vienna, Austria.

Kachikwu said already high level discussions were underway with local and international investors to bridge the perennial JV cash call funding gap. He said that the initiative was geared towards rebottling the federal government from bearing the burden of funding capital intensive projects in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

The minister further stated that in the years ahead, the NNPC’s more than 5000 kilometres of pipelines across the country would be privatised in order to enhance efficient management of the infrastructure and to bring to the barest minimum the high incidence of pipeline vandalism currently plaguing the petroleum sector.

Kachikwu further said that in the next 24 months, Nigerians would see a positive dramatic turn in the refinery model in the country, stressing that going forward the new refinery model that would be introduced would not only meet the petroleum products need of the country but that of the West African sub region.

“The new model is that refineries would now buy their own crude oil, refine it and make remittances to the Federal Account Allocation Committee, FAAC. They would operate a semi autonomy system that would enable them to run in a profitable manner,” Kachikwu said.

The minister, had sometimes ago, gave the refineries a 90-day fast track ultimatum that would lapse in December, 2015. He said that from available reports before him, two of the refineries were likely to meet the deadline.

He informed that the NNPC operations were now being transparently and efficiently handled while adding that the corporation now publishes its monthly account, a move which he said had inspired a lot of confidence among investors and improved the perception index of the corporation in a positive light in the eyes of the global community.

Kachikwu disclosed that a ‘clean Nigeria after oil initiative’ would be introduced in 2016.

“I will engage the IOCs to stand up and get counted in the area of best environmental practices in 2016. This initiative would help the IOCs to maintain a cordial relationship with the communities where they operate and the communities too would be satisfied with the efforts at the end of the day,” Kachikwu said.

— Dec 7, 2015 @ 14:00 GMT

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