The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr. Mele Kyari, has commended PETAN for outstandingly leading the Local Content Agenda in the country and within the continent, urging the body to support the newly transformed private energy company in its energy transition process.
Kyari spoke while receiving PETAN’s top executives led by its Chairman, Nicolas Odinuwe, who paid him a courtesy visit at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, to seek deeper collaboration in business as well as seek support of the NNPCL for her annual flagship programmes,  the Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC).
The seventh edition of the conference comes up next week in Lagos, while the Nigerian Pavilion at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) comes up in May 2023 in Houston.
The NNPCL boss thanked PETAN for the excellent way they have been organising and hosting both events and promised to continue to support the association and its programmes as they have always done.
On the energy transition, he said that it requires all stakeholders to be alive to the responsibility of collaborating to ensure a swift and successful one for the benefit of Nigerians.
“As a newly transformed private energy company”, he said, “our focus is now on the development of gas as a transition fuel, along with its infrastructure, and facilities are being put in place to facilitate production, domestic utilization and supply, both locally and internationally.
“With so much going on, there is tremendous opportunities for business which we, as a company now engage professionals for on the basis of competence and transparency”, he stated.
Kyari added that all challenges currently being faced in the oil and gas industry in the country are being worked on assiduously with the aim of getting them speedily resolved, adding that efforts are already paying off with the returning of investors and acquisition of projects.
Pledging NNPCL’s continued support for the SAIPEC and OTC, Mr. Kyari said that NNPCL “will be at SAIPEC in the most conspicuous stand as a show of support, and as for OTC, we recall assigning PETAN with the organising and hosting rights, and we are happy with what you’ve been doing for NNPCL at the OTC, which is a marked event for attendance for us every year”.
Earlier in his remarks, Chairman of PETAN, Mr. Nicolas Odinuwe, congratulated the NNPCL on its new status as a private sector company and commended its efforts in curbing oil theft and pipeline vandalism and which has seen production and revenue rise, air pollution  greatly reduced in impacted host communities.
He also congratulated the NNPCL over recent acquisitions, adding that it would bring about business opportunities for industry stakeholders, especially local service providers, to thrive.
He said, “As a strategic partner, we are here to intimate you officially of our flagship programs; SAIPEC (13-16 February in Lagos) and the OTC (1-4 May 2023 in Houston). Both organised and hosted by PETAN annually and in strategic partnership with NNPC Ltd and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
“Thank you for accepting to attend SAIPEC.  These happens to be our funding sources in addition to PETAN membership dues, donations, and sponsorships.
“As part of PETAN’s commitment to ensuring Nigeria’s leading role of championing positive developments in the oil and gas industry across the continent, especially with gas as our transition fuel, the deepening of local content in the energy ecosystem, next week, we look forward to your usual support and participation along with regional leaders from over 20 countries  plus 4000 participants and exhibitors at SAIPEC, which we can proudly say, has become the largest oil and gas event in Sub Saharan Africa.