Can NNPC effectively satisfy home, Ghana, and now Cote d’Ivoire gas demands?
Whereas the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Wednesday, revealed having received request from Cote d’ Ivoire to extend the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) from Ghana to Cote d’ Ivoire, an issue of meeting market demand has risen.
Though Nigeria has a world class proven reserve of gas, issues bordering on pipelines vandalism have been hobbling investments in the sector.
In the last few weeks, there has been severe drop in power supply and technicians in several power stations say disruptions due to pipeline vandalism remain a key security issue.
In a statement by the NNPC, the planned extension of the pipeline was part of the Federal Government’s West African energy integration policy.
The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Mr. Saidu Mohammed, disclosed this while receiving a delegation from Cote d’Ivoire in Abuja.
He further explained that the extension of WAGP to Cote d’Ivoire would facilitate easy transmission of gas within the West African sub-region.
Baru noted that the visit would afford the NNPC and Cote d’Ivoire the opportunity to open a new vista for further bilateral discussion which would lead to the growth and development of the oil and gas sector.
While recalling that NNPC has being into the business of oil and gas exploration and production for over fifty years, Baru stressed that the interface would enable the NNPC to share its vast experiences in the sector with the delegation.
According to him, “Petroleum exploration and production dates back to over fifty years in Nigeria and a lot of experiences in technology and personnel management have been acquired. We are ready to share our experiences with you so as to help you to avoid the mistakes we made in the past”.
Responding, leader of the Ivoirian delegation and Deputy Director, Production, of Ministry of Petroleum, Cote d’ Ivoire, Mr. Patrick Marshal, said the visit was to learn from Nigeria some of its best practices in personnel management, exploration and production in the oil and gas industry.
The highpoint of the visit was a technical session on the mode of operations of the NNPC in the petroleum sector.
