NNPC to review production agreements with firms

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will soon review the fiscal terms of the existing Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) entered into by the corporation with some international oil and gas companies.

The Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who said this at a France-Nigeria business forum organised as part of the activities of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to France, explained that the step was to be taken with a view to seeking favourable benefits to Nigeria based on prevailing realities in the industry.

The NNPC GMD further disclosed that in the weeks and months ahead, the corporation will be re-negotiating the contracts to extract as much benefit as possible for Nigeria.

Kachikwu noted that though the PSC agreements are firm contracts, which should be adhered to, the NNPC is allowed to make use of the window, which creates space for re-negotiation.

“We intend to begin the process of the re-negotiation of the PSCs to see what value chain and improvements we can have from these contracts. Some of the contracts were negotiated over 20 years ago and they have since been overtaken by new realities in the industry,” the GMD said.

However, he noted that in carrying out a review of the existing PSCs, care must be taken not to create an anti-investment atmosphere, as that may be counterproductive to the industry.

On the status of France-Nigeria relations in the oil and gas industry, Kachikwu noted that though the French have a firm presence in the Nigerian petroleum industry, there is still room for French companies to rev up their presence in the refining areas where Nigeria currently needs support.

“There is no country in Africa that has the kind of resource base Nigeria has, so France really needs to get more bullish if they want to compete in Nigeria with the very aggressive India, China and Germany. It’s a huge competition and I am looking forward to better days ahead,” he said.

On the ongoing reforms in the Nigeria oil and gas industry, the NNPC GMD stated that the global oil and gas community is showing unmatched excitement about the re-invigoration of the industry.

“There is a lot of interest in our quest to seek joint ventures across the value chain; there are huge potentials across board and all we need to do is to galvanize the efforts to get the best out of it,’’ he said.

Kachikwu noted that President Buhari’s vision for the industry is absolutely on track. “It is being honed every day, there is focus, transparency and diversified income streams.’’