The Federal Government has announced the commencement of the $550 million upstream gas project being facilitated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and TotalEnergies for the development of the Ubeta field.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen, made this disclosure at the maiden US-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue hosted by the US State Department in Washington D.C
Verheijen, during her speech at the dialogue session, explained that the upstream gas project would add 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day once it becomes operational to the nation’s output.
A statement issued by the Stakeholder Manager, Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Morenike Adewunmi, and published on Tuesday by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) indicated that Verheijen told participants during the dialogue that the present administration’s reforms in the hydrocarbon resources industry were aimed at enhancing energy security, attracting investments, and strengthening collaboration between Nigeria and other major partners.
According to her, the reform measures have improved the nation’s gas-to-power value chain and in order to consolidate on the successes recorded thus far, the President recently issued five Executive Orders aimed at offering fiscal incentives to investors and reducing the time of signing of contracts and the implementation to expand the gas infrastructure.
Verhejein pointed out that these Orders were issued to help in immediately unlocking up to $2.5 billion in new investments in the hydrocarbon resources industry, and also commended the financial and technical partners, including the US government, World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), and others for supporting the transformational drive aimed at increasing electricity access nationwide.
It would be recalled that in July this year the NNPCL and TotalEnergies announced plans to invest $500 million in gas facilities in Rivers State after which the state-controlled oil company sealed a pact with Golar LNG, an American firm, to establish an offshore LGN project with a view to utilizing approximately 400-500 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) to produce LNG, LPG and condensate in the country.
