The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru has called on investors to utilize the over USD 48bn investment opportunities available in the upcoming capital projects within Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry.
Dr. Baru made this call while speaking at a Panel Session on the topic “Insights on Future Exploration Hotspots: Opportunities for Africa’s Oil & Gas Industry” under the sub-theme “The New Frontier for Africa’s Oil & Gas” at the 2019 International Petroleum Week conference which began in London, Wednesday.
Reeling out the numerous potentials of Africa’s Oil and Gas Industry, the NNPC GMD said the continent’s energy outlook was looking positive amid difficult operating and economic headwinds.
He explained that over 41 billion barrels of oil and 319 trillion cubic feet of gas were yet to be discovered in sub-Saharan Africa alone, while between 2008 and 2017, exploratory success in the sub-region was at least 45%.
There has been a surge in the capital expenditure (CAPEX) across Africa’s Oil and Gas Sector, with close to USD 194bn earmarked to be spent between 2018 and 2025 on 93 upcoming oil and gas fields in Africa, according to him.
“Out of this USD 194bn, Nigeria accounts for USD 48.04bn (over 24.8%) of the total CAPEX coming into upcoming projects in Africa over 2018 to 2025, with over 20 planned projects,” Baru stated.
He observed that 23.8% of the CAPEX in Africa would be spent in Mozambique, 11.3% in Angola while about 29.2% would be spent in Tanzania, Senegal, Mauritania, Uganda, Egypt, Algeria, and Kenya combined.
