•Multinational oil firm pledges to raise its crude oil production in Nigeria to 40,000bpd
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
President Bola Tinubu yesterday, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States, played host to a delegation of the global leadership of ExxonMobil.
According to him, Nigeria was no longer settling for crumbs and leftovers on the investment agenda of the world’s most prolific energy conglomerates, saying, “Nigeria has never been more ready for business than it is now.”
In a statement by presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, Tinubu stressed that following an illustrious private sector career as a professional accountant in the oil & gas industry, he had proven his capacity to take difficult decisions as president and was best prepared to solve problems and crushed all bottlenecks standing in the way of new and large-scale capital flowing into Nigeria’s oil & gas industry.
“The knotty issues require direct supervision on my part. Despite many contending obligations, I will sit down and oversee the process of removing these encumbrances to job and wealth creation for the Nigerian people.
“We know the industry. We grew up in it. We are positioned to solve the problems, and we are pragmatic, and we will solve the problem,” the President assured.
Speaking earlier, ExxonMobil President of Global Upstream Operations, Liam Mallon, assured Tinubu that he was aware of the new and personal commitment that he was bringing to bear on behalf of Nigeria and was well placed to reciprocate the president’s efforts with new investment as he pledged new production of nearly 40,000bpd in its Nigerian operations in phase one of a new investment push in Nigeria.
His words: “What you told us was that your team would collaborate with us, and that has proven true. We have made significant progress since we last met.
“We are growing our production, and we are working hard on expanding in the deepwater production. We appreciate your efforts, and we will respond in kind. The time is right. Thank you for your leadership.”
