In First Official Visit to IOC, Newly Birthed NUIMS Parleys Chevron on Operational Issues

Peter Uzoho

In its first official visit to an international oil company (IOC) since it was named as replacement for the former National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), an arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS) has visited Chevron Nigeria Limited.

The Group General Manager (GGM) of NUIMS, Mr. Bala Wunti, disclosed in a series of Tweets on his verified Twitter handle, that he and his team visited the American oil major, where they discussed strategic operational issues that would enable them to deliver on the NNPC’s energy security mandate and generate value for Nigeria and their partners.
According to Wunti, the NUIMS team were received at the integrated NNPC Ltd-Chevron Escravos Gas Plant (EGP) and Escravos Gas-to-Liquid (EGTL), and export terminal during the official visit.

“The visit is in continuation of our series of visits to engage with Chevron people, fact-finding on burning issues, and to co-create and align on actionable focus areas that will enable us to deliver on our energy security mandate and generate value for Nigeria and partners,” Wunti said.
Without any doubt, he noted that the Chevron facility was world-class and their operation excellent, adding that the staff of the oil major were professional and symbol of true Chevron culture of excellence.

During the visit, Wunti revealed that NUIMS and Chevron agreed to ensure and prioritise safety, integrity, and reliability (SIR priority) in all operations, saying, “We also agreed to maintain focus on improving gas supply into the domestic market and domestication of Escravos LPG and EGTL diesel.”
He said he used the outing, which was the NNPC subsidiary’s first working visit since the transformation of former NAPIMS to NUIMS, as an opportunity to reinforce NNPC Limited’s commitment to collaboration and speedy decision-making in line with NUIMS’ philosophy of Safety, Speed, Compliance, and Excellence (SSCE).

“I also used the opportunity and invited Chevron to adopt the SSCE concept in its operations,” he added.
Since its conversion to a limited liability company operating under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, NNPC has been on a restructuring mode that has seen it rename or merge its subsidiaries and the title of their heads.
Last week, the state oil company named five executive vice presidents in its efforts to consolidate its post-commercialisation drive, with the Group Executive Director, Upstream, Adokiye Tombomieye made the Executive Vice President (Upstream) while the Group Executive Director, Downstream, Mr. Adeyemi Adetunji took the role of Executive Vice President (Downstream).

In addition, the Executive Director, Gas and Power, Abdulkabir Ahmed became the Executive Vice President, Gas, Power and New Energies, while Inuwa Danladi was named the Executive Vice President, Business Services.
Furthermore, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan was assigned the role of Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Sustainability; while Chidi Momah became the General Counsel for the National Oil Company (NOC).

Aside helping the NNPC establish continuity of leadership in critical business areas, THISDAY had reported that the move would further give the NOC the leeway to recruit expatriates from any part of the world and enable the company benefit from international best practices in the oil and gas industry.

Few months earlier, NNPC had changed the official title of its Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari to the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO).

THISDAY had reported yesterday that after the renaming of NAPIMS as NUIMS earlier, a number of the company’s business units and subsidiaries had been merged.

Consequently, NUIMS was added to a segment of the former Crude Oil Marketing Division (COMD), while the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) has been restructured and renamed NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL).

The Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL), NNPC Oilfield Services Ltd, Frontier Exploration Services have also been merged to form NNPC Energy Services Ltd under the new nomenclature, NNPC Enserve. Furthermore, the National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO) is now a full-fledged Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) company under the brand name NNPC Engineering & Technical Company (NETCO).