Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd has said that Nigeria is pushing ahead with initiatives to reduce carbon emissions but global partnerships are needed.
The Company has therefore called for more collaboration and transparency among parties in the global energy industry’s quest to phase out carbon emissions across the oil and gas value-chain and achieve net-zero by 2050.
The Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company, Mele Kyari made this call while speaking at a Strategic Panel Session titled “Decarbonising Operations across Upstream, Midstream and Downstream” at the on-going Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC 2024) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday.
Kyari said beyond collaboration, transparency and openness are also important and not by vilifying those lagging behind, but by ensuring that the gaps between all parties are bridged.
Kyari, who was represented by NNPC Ltd’s Executive Director, Upstream, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan said Africa is currently faced with the challenge of tackling the twin problem of decarbonization and energy poverty and to deal with such challenge, Nigeria made two fundamental policy shifts to support the nation’s decarbonization process.
“One is declaring the decade of gas as transition fuel from a predominantly diesel and fuel economy to a gas-driven economy, while the second is the removal of fuel subsidy. NNPC Ltd has relied on these two policies to drive the nation’s decarbonization agenda,” Kyari said.
He added that as a signatory to the Oil & Gas Decarbonisation Charter (OGDC), Nigeria is focused on achieving gas flare-out by 2030 through the utilisation of gas for automotive and power generation.
Kyari, who said Nigeria sits on huge gas reserves of up to 209 trillion cubic feet (tcf), explained that access to capital for funding gas projects has been a challenge as the balance sheet which could be easily used for raising money to fund gas projects, comes mostly from the International Oil Companies (IOCs), which is also largely focused on export gas.
“It is important to know that if we must solve this existential problem, then there should be a provision for the global south (less energy endowed countries) to access capital to enable them address their problems,” he observed.
Kyari decried how all parties are placed in the same bracket in the quest to decarbonize, saying that because the pace of progress is based on current state of the countries, the OGDC must continue to provide a level playing field for all.
“It is in understanding the differences that exist among us, even though we are trying to solve the same problem,” he added.
Describing the level of collaboration in the quest to decarbonize as “phenomenal”, Kyari cited the example of TotalEnergies, which took the challenge to partner with NNPC Ltd through its methane measurement and detection technology.
With over 180,000 participants in attendance, ADIPEC is adjudged to be the world’s largest and most inclusive gathering of energy professionals. This year’s edition, the 40th in the series of the annual event, holds under the theme , “Connecting Minds. Transforming Energy” as global energy leaders continue to find ways of accelerating innovation and collaboration towards fast tracking global energy transformation.