The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said commencing and continuing new oil and gas projects have been seriously slowed down by the liquidity challenges in the sector. NNPC, however, noted that despite the crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect on its activities, it was working diligently to ensure that for the first time in decades, its shareholders would be paid dividends by the end of 2020.
Kyari stated that the crisis in the global oil market had forced companies, including NNPC to further cut down losses, rework project costs, as well as review the production cost per unit of crude oil to remain competitive. “NNPC has never published its audited financial statement in 43 years. We came and started doing that and released the 2018 financial statement. We were not afraid of doing that and there were a lot of criticisms that we lost money in refinery operations and pipeline business.
He said, “According to industry analysis carried out in quarter one, 2020, E&P companies are at risk of losing about $1 trillion in revenue by the end of 2020. On the issue of political meddling in the operations of NNPC, Kyari explained that having worked for the corporation for almost three decades, it was under the Buhari administration that all forms of interferences stopped.
“The president only wants to know and be sure that what we are doing is in the best interest of the country.”