The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, has said the policies and actions of President Bola Tinubu’s administration are significantly growing the oil and gas sector.
Kyari spoke at an emergency meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance with the oil and gas sector, which was presided over by Senator Sani Musa on Monday in Abuja.
He reacted to the committee’s request on how the oil and gas sector was reacting in the face of the economic challenges facing the country.
Kyari said: “Let me just give confirmation that NNPC and the oil and gas industry are very critical in bringing a turnaround in our current economic situation, and we understand the importance of this. We are taking every step that is practical for us to achieve this.
“We have already seen growth in our oil and gas production because of certain actions that Mr President personally took, and also the very mere truth that we have also declared a war on production activities.”
According to him, strenuous effort has been put in place to achieve the production of two million barrels of oil per day.
“The combination of these two has now seen us restoring production in our country, and we believe that, as the Honourable Minister has said, we will have a line of sight to the two million barrels of production and subsequent growth in production. I will give you some details during the executive session.
“Also, we are affirming that NMBC will keep to its responsibility under the Petroleum Industry Act, which requires that we ensure national energy security when everyone else walks away. We are also confirming that we have a sufficient product supply in our country. There is no cause for any alarm today, and we are guaranteeing this supply,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Senator Musa, the chairman of the joint committee, commended the NNPCL team for their understanding of the economic needs of the country, saying they are working hard to achieve the economic agenda.
The meeting was attended by the NNPCL management team, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, represented by his deputy.