NNPC Eyes $8.7bn Investments from Rehabilitation of Refineries, Pipelines

Mele Kyari: Corporation remains destination of choice for global investors

By Emmanuel Addeh

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) expects an investment of about $8.7 billion to flow in during the rehabilitation of the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), as well as the revamping of some of its 5,000-kilometre pipelines throughout the country.

In a virtual presentation titled: “Accessing Energy Infrastructure Opportunities at the NNPC”, at an event hosted by the United States Department of Commerce, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, insisted that the corporation remained a destination of choice for investors globally.

The NNPC GMD said the national oil company would require between $ 4.5 billion and $4.7 billion investment for the rehabilitation of the refineries in Warri and Kaduna and urged investors to take advantage of the window offered by the corporation.

He added that the downstream also holds enormous investment opportunities, especially in pipeline and depot rehabilitation, revamping of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and building of new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) plants across the country.

He stated that pipelines and depot rehabilitation would be done through Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT), stating that they are estimated to cost about $4 billion.

He said competent and duly qualified project companies would be engaged through open competitive bidding process. “The selected BOT contractor shall be responsible to raise all financing to Build, Operate and after investment recovery and targeted profit, Transfer the asset back to the NNPC/NPSC.

“Source of revenue from which the BOT contractor is expected to recover its investment and target return shall be from tariffs through operating the assets,” Kyari noted.

He said Nigeria’s over 202 TCF of natural gas reserve represented a huge investment opportunity in power and gas-based industries and invited all serious foreign investors to come to Nigeria.

Kyari noted that the NNPC has over 1,700km of backbone gas transmission infrastructure, owns 49 per cent in NLNG, has 5,000 kilometres pipeline network, four jetties, 21 depots, 575 retail stations and 25 pump stations with an annual industry spend in excess of $20 billion.

He said the NNPC intends to grow crude oil and gas reserve by intensifying inland basin exploration, sustain availability of petroleum products to support economic activities, expand domestic gas infrastructure, strengthen research, technology and innovation, increase oil production and ensure cost efficiency.
He assured that the oil industry in Nigeria has even more opportunities in bidding rounds to provide licences and incentives like longer tax breaks to licence owners.

According to him, the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and, where possible, “ringfencing investments” to protect them from losses due to policy changes, would assure the potential investors of fiscal stability, saying that Nigeria could compete in value and returns with the other countries in IOCs portfolio and independents.

Still on potential gains of investing in the country, Kyari stated that businessmen would have unique and at-scale access to a substantial and growing energy resource base across the full value chain within Africa’s largest economy and participate in a rapidly reforming country with marked shift towards improved governance and transparency.

“Deepening our play, the NNPC shall continue engaging in oil and gas pipelines expansion and rehabilitation, refinery and petrochemical and tank farm and also other gas-based industries like methanol, fertiliser etc.

“Furthermore, in a bid to becoming an energy company of the future, NNPC is diversifying into other high value sectors like power generation through IPPs, renewable energy initiatives, real estate and healthcare businesses.
“Our present business model ensures reduction in our carbon footprint by engaging in more environmentally friendly practices and socially beneficial initiatives to host communities and all stakeholders.

“This is the time for reputable investors to join the NNPC in the journey into an exciting future that promises high returns on investment with manageable risks and government support through investor-friendly environment and favourable fiscal terms,” Kyari stated.

He stated that the oil industry had remained Nigeria’s biggest and most important investment driver, noting that the Nigerian government was also driving economic diversification to strengthen agriculture, information technology, and manufacturing.

In addition, the NNPC helmsman said the corporation would continue to grow domestic refining capacity and ensure oil and gas assets security by working with partners and government security agencies to prevent vandalism and theft, as well as drive transparency and accountability.