Following her 12-month emergency time line to correct the misalignments in gas to power aspirations, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has directed a team of gas experts to commence a one-week tour of all gas installations and projects listed for the production of additional gas under the Gas Supply Emergency Programme.
A statement issued in Abuja yesterday by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, informed that the tour which took-off with the visit of the minister to the Utorogu Gas Plant in Delta State yesterday, is geared towards eliminating bottlenecks in the drive to ensure adequate gas supply for power generation.
According to Ajuonuma, “This is a very crucial task that is why the Minister has directed the group executive director in charge of Exploration and Production at the NNPC, Mr Andy Yakubu, to lead the inspection. The team is expected to report back to the minister on a project-by-project basis. The projects will include new gas plants, as well as expansion of existing plants and new pipeline infrastructure projects.”
The minister it was further learnt, was set to host a round table discussion on crude oil production and the state of the oil industry in Nigeria. The event is designed to provide a forum to deliberate on current issues and challenges facing the upstream subsector of the industry such as high rate of pipeline vandalisation, asset integrity challenges among others.
The forum is expected to have in attendance chief executives of International Oil and Gas Companies (IOCs) as well as indigenous operators and other key stakeholders in the industry.