The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, has canvassed the need for collaboration between academia and the oil and gas industry operators in order to addressing the nation’s lingering energy insufficiency.
Kyari, gave the charge on Wednesday as a guest lecturer during the 2024 faculty lecture titled “Energy Security, Sustainability, and Profitability in Nigeria: Advances, Challenges, and Opportunities,” organised by the Faculty of Science of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State.
The industry expert stressed the importance of academic communities in safeguarding national energy security through research and collaboration with industry players.
Kyari, in a statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, Mr. Femi Soneye, was quoted as pointing out the challenges hindering energy security in Nigeria to include rapid population growth, pipeline vandalism, and crude oil theft, and identified energy conservation, diversification, and efficiency measures as major avenues for enhancing energy security.
On the projected rapid population growth in the country, the NNPCL boss harped on the need to find lasting solutions to ensure sustainable energy security for the benefit of current and future generations even as he underscored the intensified competition for vital resources and the urbanization drive, which would lead to a doubling of Nigeria’s energy demand by 2050.
Speaking on the challenges posed by pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, Kyari noted that the saga had impacted NNPC Ltd.’s operations, stressing that the establishment of a command-and-control centre has aided in the detection and destruction of illegal refinery sites and the removal of illegal connections, thereby addressing vandalism across operating corridors since 2021.
He clarified: “The centre provides livestreaming of surveillance data to security forces, contributing to the detection and destruction of over 5,686 illegal refinery (IR) sites and the removal of 4,480 illegal connections (ICs) from 2021 to the present.
“Acknowledging the severity of vandalism and oil theft, Kyari hinted at a strategic shift, focusing on increased product trucking and storage in underground tankages at NNPC filling stations nationwide”, the industry chief added.
Kyari also highlighted NNPC Ltd.’s expanded retail assets, making it the largest single downstream company in sub-Saharan Africa after acquiring OVH retail stations and associated downstream infrastructure in 2021.
In addition, while underscoring NNPC Ltd.’s transformation into a fully commercial limited liability energy company following the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021, the GCEO said the removal of fuel subsidies had helped the company in playing a more active commercial role in the downstream subsector and ensured its improved profitability and contributions to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
