NNPC, Total to Grow Oil Output, Reserves

NNPC, Total to Grow Oil Output, Reserves

• Corporation seeks constructive engagement with unions

Ejiofor Alike

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Total Nigeria have expressed their readiness to work together to grow daily national crude oil and gas production and reserves to meet the national target of 40 billion barrels.

Also as part of efforts to place the corporation on a the path of solid growth, its Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, has pledged to constructively engage the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to facilitate industrial harmony.

Mele Kyari, and the Country Chair/Managing Director of Total Nigeria, Mr. Mike Sangster, made the commitment when the Total Nigeria boss led the top management team of his company on a business visit to the NNPC Towers in Abuja yesterday.

Mallam Kyari stated that Total Nigeria was one of the corporation’s most important partners with visible outcomes, adding that the partnership would further grow national production and reserves going forward.

“Total Nigeria in the last five years has very visible outcomes that we have seen and I assure you that we will work together to progress all efforts to grow production and national reserves. I also want to put on record that your downstream company has been very supportive in the supply of gasoline into our country,” Mallam Kyari averred.

He assured the MD of Total Nigeria of more days of very transparent and accountable relationship with frameworks that would be appreciated by all.

Earlier, Sangster, congratulated the GMD on his appointment and expressed Total’s firm belief in the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its readiness to deploy solutions to the challenges facing the industry.

“Total Nigeria will build on recent progress in many areas such as cash-call arrears and our long-standing partnership. In partnership with NNPC, the company has developed the last three Floating Production Storage Offloading’s (FPSOs) in Nigeria and wants to build on this”, the Total boss stated.

Meanwhile, Mele Kyari, has pledged to constructively engage the PENGASSAN and NUPENG to facilitate industrial harmony.

He stated this yesterday at a meeting with the Group Executive Committee of both unions at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.

A press statement by the corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, stated that the GMD expressed confidence in the competence of the corporation’s workforce to exploit the enormous potentials available to change the fortune of the national oil company.

Mele Kyari said the engagement was important to enable management and the unions to x-ray issues with a view to finding solutions to challenges facing the oil and gas industry.

He said the current scoping activity going on at the Port Harcourt Refinery was part of the management’s determination to tackle one of the key challenges facing the corporation with the aim of boosting local refining capacity to end fuel importation.

He stated that the corporation under his leadership was ready to confront challenges with new innovative ideas, noting that the priority of his management was to boost the corporation’s revenue base.

“There is no magic around it. There is no way you can increase your revenue until you produce efficiently in a very cost-efficient manner so that those income will cancel your losses. It is important to note that you cannot run efficiently until global standards are met, best practices are respected and the employees see this company as theirs,” the GMD said.

In his presentation, the PENGASSAN Group Chairman, Matthew Duru, said he had no doubt in the GMD’s ability to deliver on his mandate of taking the corporation to greater heights.

On his part, the NUPENG Chairman, David Edache, pledged the support of the union to all efforts by management to reposition the corporation.

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