Chineme Okafor
The British Government has said it would invest in major upgrade of Nigeria’s pipeline infrastructure, renewable energy, gas, and power.
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Paul Arkwright, disclosed this to the Group General Manager in charge of the Group Public Affairs of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, when the latter paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
Arkwright, according to a statement from Ughamadu, said the British government was genuinely interested in the investing in Nigeria’s downstream; midstream; and upstream petroleum sectors, using the British Department for International Trade.
To amplify the potential investment interests in Nigeria’s energy sector by British investors, Arkwright, also urged the NNPC to organise a road show in London to create awareness on the possible investment opportunities available in the country’s hydrocarbon industry.
He disclosed that so many British investors had funds which they were willing to invest in Nigeria, stressing, however, that the process of obtaining Nigerian visa in the United Kingdom was cumbersome with three different levels of visa procurement fees as well as Nigeria’s postal order system.
Ughamadu, who spoke on behalf of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, however told Arkwright that the NNPC would sustain its relationship with the high commission.
He also condoled with the British government over the recent terror attacks in the UK, adding the NNPC was grateful to Britain for its prompt issuance of entry visas to its officials on official functions.
Meanwhile, the NNPC has disclosed that it supplied an average of 64 per cent of the gas used to generate electricity in Nigeria every day in May.
It said its monthly financial and operations report for May 2017 which was recently released, indicated that it supplied an average of 729 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) in May 2017 to the power plants, adding that it was 63.74 per cent higher than 446mmscfd that was supplied in the previous month.
The report said the average national daily gas production for May 2017 stood at 242.70 billion cubic feet (BCF) or an average of 7,829.11mmscfd, representing a slight increase when compared with April gas production of 672mmscfd.
It also stated that NNPC, within the period under review, activated plans to build 500 million standard cubic feet of gas-per-day metering plant to serve the planned capacity expansion of Egbin Power Plant.
Similarly, the report noted that in May, the corporation recorded a decline in the incidents of oil pipeline breaks in line with the steady reduction in pipeline vandalism from the sustained community engagement initiative of the federal government.
According to the NNPC, the number of pipeline breaks recorded within the period stood at 55, a number it said was an improvement from the 82 it recorded in April 2017.
“This figure represents about 33per cent reduction relative to the previous months and also a remarkable improvement to corresponding period of May 2016 which recorded 260 cases,†said the NNPC
