…Mulls partnership with developers to reduce nation’s housing deficits
BY ONYEKA AJUMOBI ONOCHIE
As part of measures to cope with the boom and bust cycle in the global crude oil market and to sustain revenue generation for the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is firming up a bouquet of business portfolios in the power, medical, housing and other sectors with capacity to strengthen the profitability of the national oil company.
A press statement Thursday in Abuja by the corporation’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, quoted the NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer, Ventures and Business Development, Mr. Roland Ewubare, as saying that the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline network has the propensity to enable the NNPC to deepen its footprint in the power sector through the establishment of an independent power plant. The NNPC Chief Business Developer made this submission at an appearance on Arise TV Global Business Report programme.
Ewubare stated that NNPC would use its network of excellent medical centres across the country to provide innovative healthcare for Nigerians.
“NNPC is creating an energy company that would have portfolios in renewable energy; we have initiatives on solar that are ongoing; we have also got bio-fuels agreements with some state governments that would soon be activated. We do have a lot of non-core businesses that are aggregated under the Ventures and Business Development Autonomous Business Unit of the NNPC that would be expanded through effective collaboration and partnership with the private sector,” Ewubare informed, disclosing that the corporation had a lot of hectares of land across the country and would soon be partnering with private developers to reduce the housing deficits in the country for the benefit of Nigerians who are the core stakeholders of the corporation.
Ewubare explained that NNPC’s aspiration was to achieve a $10 per barrel cost by the fourth quarter of 2021, adding that a lot of logistics costs would be recalibrated to drive down the cost of crude oil production in the country.
“When you have a low commodity price regime, as the case now, the only way we are able to squeeze out some reasonable cash and financial gain to the nation is by curtailing and constraining our costs in line with the GMD’s aspiration to push for a $10 per barrel cost of production. Against this backdrop, the conversation around cost becomes an imperative and urgent one,” Ewubare stated.
The NNPC Chief Business Developer said the corporation was working closely with its partners to commercialize flared gas by converting it to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), adding that the gesture would preserve the flora and fauna of the country.