The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN) and Nasarawa State Government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the supply of gas to industries and investors in Nasarawa State.
The MoU for the gas supply was signed on Thursday in Lafia at the Nasarawa Business Roundtable meeting organised to explore investment opportunities in the gas sector.
The signing of the MoU was witnessed by the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule; Group Managing Director of NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari, the Group Executive Director Gas & Power, NNPC Ltd, Malam Mohammed Abdulkabir Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Axxela- Mr Bolaji Osunsanya among others.
The NNPC Group Managing Director, Kyari, provided concrete pictorial evidence of the progress made with respect to the AKK pipeline project and emphasised that Nasarawa State is uniquely positioned to maximise value from the AKK pipeline as well as gas based business opportunities.
Kyari highlighted and appreciated Mr President’s unwavering commitment to utilise gas as a major tool to drive economic development.
The Business Roundtable appreciated the GMD and current NNPC Management for injecting accountability, transparency and forthrightness into the operating methods of NNPC Ltd.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of GACN, Mr Olalekan Ogunleye, said the collaboration between Nasarawa State Government, NNPC Ltd. and GACN has set out a clear framework through which investors and projects in the state would access gas immediately.
He said this would be through Virtual Pipeline Solutions (CNG & LNG) ahead of the completion of the AKK pipeline project.
“This is a major step in the federal government’s Gas Utilisation Expansion drive being facilitated vigorously by NNPC and GACN.
“This MoU sets out clear deliverables that are time bound based on securing gas both on short, medium and long term basis on competitive terms.
“As could be recalled, similar MoUs were signed with Kano and Kaduna States a few months ago, and those engagements have now been progressed to Gas Supply Agreement negotiation stage.
“Evidently, NNPC Management continues to drive the commercialisation of gas resources as a national economic development issue, while GACN and other NNPC subsidiaries like NGMC, NGC have clear cut roles and responsibilities to deliver concrete progress and value,” the GACN MD explained.
Also speaking, Sule appealed to the indigenes of Nasarawa State to key into the opportunities across the gas value chain such as gas distribution, CNG Stations, captive/embedded power generation, LPG marketing, gas flare commercialisation among others.