Gerard Izuora
The Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dr. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, will be leading other global oil and gas industry leaders to participate in the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS).
This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, at a world press conference in Abuja.
The minister said the summit, which is patterned after the annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) which holds in Houston, Texas, is designed to attract new investments and showcase the latest technologies that could be adopted for the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors to ensure cost management in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
He said the maiden edition of the NIPS which is scheduled to hold from 18th to 22nd February, 2018, would provide a veritable platform for the international oil companies and other relevant stakeholders to brainstorm on ways to move the Nigerian petroleum sector forward.
Dr. Kachikwu noted that Nigeria was endowed with a lot of requisite skill sets that contributed enormously to the actualization of the Egina Floating Production and Storage Offloading (FPSO) facility which, according to him, is the largest FPSO ever installed in Nigeria, adding that the FPSO would contribute its quota to national daily production.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari was pleased with the new feats being achieved in the petroleum sector, noting that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was expected to declare the summit open next Monday 19th February, 2018.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources informed that the NIPS would attract participants from OPEC member countries and other international stakeholders across the globe.
He said the summit which would be an annual event was being held at the instance of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources with the collaboration of all the Departments and Agencies under it.
Giving an update on the proposed refinery upgrade, Dr. Kachikwu informed that efforts were on to finalize on the private sector financiers for the three refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna, assuring that by 2019, Nigeria would become a net exporter of petroleum products.