FG Assures Increased Investments In Oil Industry 

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has reiterated the federal government’s commitment to increase investments in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Lokpobiri made the remark during his one-day familiarisation visit to the TotalEnergies’ Ofon and Egina offshore fields.
Received by top management of TotalEnergies led by its Managing Director, Matthieu Bouyer and the Deputy Managing Director (Deepwater Asset), Victor Bandele, among others, Lokpobiri commended the company for its contributions to the nation’s oil and gas sector describing it as ‘a shining example of what the federal government expects from international oil companies (IOCs)’.
According to a Statement made available to Newsmen, the visit was aimed at intimating the minister with TotalEnergies’ investment plans, ongoing projects and challenges faced by the company in the areas of capex and community relations.
Lokpobiri said “The federal government is very desirous to increase investment in the oil and gas sector to boost its production level. So, I must commend TotalEnegies for being a shining example of what the federal government expects from IOCs.
“So let us work together and see how we can improve the sector and continue to do what we can to support your company for our mutual benefit,” Lokpobiri stated”.
The minister noted that the government was not unmindful of the challenges faced by the IOCs assuring that it would take the necessary steps to address them accordingly.
”Let’s have a meeting, see where the problems are and arrive at a win-win situation.
“We are not trying to give problems to anybody, it’s going to be a win-win approach because government is not unreasonable to people’s problems,” he stated.
The Managing Director, TotalEnergies, Matthieu Bouyer, while lauding the minister for the visit, expressed the company’s readiness to partner the federal government in achieving its objectives of boosting production levels through the implementation of the various new projects lined up by the company.
Matthieu insisted that the projects, which he said are tied-back to existing fields would not only increase production but bring more revenue to the federal government.