The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has settled and paid its longstanding $2.4bn cash-call debt owed to International Oil Companies operating in the country.
NNPC’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, disclosed this on Monday at the ongoing conference of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists,
The conference being held in Lagos has as its themed ‘Resolving the Nigerian Energy Trilemma: Energy Security, Sustainable Growth and Affordability’.
He affirmed that the company no longer owes any dues, saying this was a milestone achieved following the total removal of subsidies.
The cash calls debts are funding requests by NNPC and its joint venture partners, Mobil, Chevron, Shell, TotalEnergies, and Agip to cover capital and operational expenses for oil projects.
Kyari revealed that the company can now prioritise its core focus on the upstream sector, noting that the subsidy burden often forced the company to divert funds, leading to cash call defaults with joint venture partners.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for having the courage to remove the subsidy, acknowledging that while the subsidy removal may cause temporary financial strain, it will encourage more prudent use of energy.
“As professionals, just know that PMS is a major distraction to the upstream, we transfer all our resources, and cash flow to ensure that it survives and is sustained. That’s why sometimes we default in our cash flows, it is because of the distraction this has caused NNPC as a partner.
“Now that distraction is gone, you will confirm that we don’t owe any cash flow, and for us to sustain this, those distractions must go away so that this industry can now produce the energy that this country needs sustainably and affordably,” he said.
The GCEO also assured that by the first quarter of 2025, the country would have 12 CNG mother stations.
“By quarter one of 2025, there will be at least 12 mother stations that will be available for CNG, and not only that, we are also building a mini Liquefied Natural Gas plant that will deliver gas into the market and also sustain the quality of CNG delivery and make gas available to mini power plants across this industry in the short term,” he said.
He stressed that the initiative would enable cheaper fuel, cleaner fuel and the utilisation of the resources available in the country.
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