The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, announced that the decline in the funding of oil investments had virtually led to a halt in the drilling of crude oil by operators in the sector except for the NNPC.
Kyari, who disclosed this while speaking at the ongoing 2022 Nigeria Oil and Gas conference with the theme; “Funding the Nigerian Energy Mix for Sustainable Economic Growth,” also announced that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), would unveil the largest capitalised firm in Africa, NNPC Limited, on July 19, 2022.
This came as the Secretary-General, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries; Sanusi Barkindo, declared that the oil sector was currently under siege going by the challenges confronting the industry. Over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings come from oil sales.
Speaking on the challenges in the industry, the NNPC boss stated that though there were other concerns in the business; the issue with reduced funding had really impacted severely on the sector.
-Punch