Buhari, Kyari woo petroleum investors in Spain

The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari has reiterated his commitment to sustain the strategic energy partnership between Nigeria and Spain.

Mallam Kyari who is also the Group Managing Director of the company disclosed this while addressing Nigerian and Spanish business leaders on investment opportunities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, in Madrid, Spain, on the sidelines of President Muhammadu Buhari’s state visit to Spain.

President Buhari had earlier met with the Spanish President, Pedro Sanchez, King of Spain, His Majesty, King Filipe VI, and gave a speech at the headquarters of the World Tourism Organization, WTO, in Madrid.

During the visit, President Buhari said Nigeria looked forward to increasing bilateral relations with Spain, even as he signed bilateral agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with the Spanish leader, covering areas of prisoner transfer, sports and culture and the economy.

Describing the partnership between Nigeria and Spain as an important one for the NNPC, GMD/CEO said “26% of all LNG produced in Nigeria ends up in Spain. 14% of all Crude Oil produced in Nigeria ends up in this country. Clearly for us as a business, it is an important market for my company.”

Mallam Kyari explained that the world would need energy for today and for the future in industries such as power, IT, automobile etc.

“We know that energy transition is real. We know that net-zero by 2050-2060 is real. But it doesn’t mean zero hydrocarbons in 2050-2060. It means that you are going to have a cleaner use of hydrocarbons,” Kyari added.

He said investors must see where their money can come out from and when they invest, they must see that they can recover their cost and make some margin from it.

While noting that in line with global acceptance of gas as a transition fuel, Nigeria has since declared 2021-2030 as the decade of gas.

“In our country today, we have a legislation that has clearly created a commercial National Oil Company which will be unveiled by our President in the coming days. Together with the Spanish business community, I am confident we can build this industry,” Kyari concluded.