The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) gave Nigerians especially those in the Niger Delta cheering news that it had achieved a 30 per cent reduction in gas flares across its operational areas over the last five years.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Ltd., Malam Mele Kyari said this within the week while speaking as a panelist at the 2022 International Energy week.
Kyari who spoke in a virtual session on Energy transition, acknowledged the level of energy poverty in the country particularly around cooking fuels.
He added that NNPC had begun plans to replace bio- mass fuels with cleaner sources of energy.
According to him, NNPC is working on increasing the level of gas consumption in the domestic markets by replacing diesel, fuel oils and other heavy distillates with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
On renewable energy, he said NNPC was exploring alternative sources such as wind and solar power which required huge financial investment, to close the energy gap, but opined that natural resources could be used to bridge the gap.
“The only framework we can get is to see if we can convert our resources on ground to value. This value can then be used to close some of the infrastructure gap while also investing in renewable sources of energy,” he said.
On reaching net zero emissions, he maintained that though NNPC’s strategy and timing might differ from its partners, the company was in alignment with them on achieving this and understood the steps required to achieve this.