Prevailing peace, security in Niger Delta now pushing up petroleum investments—Agip
More International Oil Companies (IOCs) have continued to testify on the positive impacts of steady peace in the oil rich Niger Delta since this year, saying oil and gas productivity are now nearing peak.
This formed key revelation of the Chief Operating Officer, Upstream, Eni, Antonio Vella, when he paid a courtesy visit to Dr. Maikanti Baru, said the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in Abuja.
According to him, “Due to the relative peace salutary to production activities, investors’ confidence in the country’s petroleum industry is now increasing and promising in the nation’s Niger Delta region.
Vella, who was at NNPC with the management team of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) on the visit, disclosed that his company was considering doubling its investment in the country due to the development.
He averred that “The steps the GMD has taken have greatly improved security in our area of operations, that is very important to us as it has given us confidence to come back strongly and raise oil and gas production. And that is what we are doing; we are increasing our budget in Nigeria because we have confidence in Dr. Baru and the entire system”.
While noting that NAOC was redoubling efforts on the ongoing expansion of the Okpai Independent Power Project and the Zabazaba Project to achieve early completion as a result of the improved operating environment, he revealed that the Okpai IPP expansion would be completed by the second quarter of next year, and would raise the power generating capacity of the plant by over 50%
Responding, Dr. Baru said his management was focused on making the operating environment safe and conducive for more investors to come in and therefore gave assurance that the prevailing boom in production achieved by Agip would boost the nation’s chances of meeting production and reserve targets going forward.
