COVID-19: Nigerian govt to begin cost cutting in petroleum industry —Sylva

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said on Thursday the Federal Government had embarked cost-containment measures to strengthen the oil and gas sector in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Sylva, who stated this at the Seplat Energy Summit 2020 held in Abuja, added that the measures include the renegotiation of contracts to achieve a minimum 30 percent cost reduction, downward renegotiation of all contracts and other business obligation.

The minister also disclosed that the government had embarked on an aggressive capital allocation to priority projects with low cost of production.

He said the government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had rolled out strategies to achieve $10/bbl unit operating cost without jeopardising growth in the industry.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Govt did not promise to keep fuel pump price permanently low –Sylva

He said: “We have declared this year 2020 as the year of Gas and have commenced the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP).

“On January 16, we inaugurated an Inter-agency Committee saddled with the responsibility of coordinating our concerted efforts to ensure the penetration of domestic utilisation of LPG, encourage auto Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Compressed Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas for the domestic market.

“This will drastically reduce the massive outflow of the nation’s foreign exchange currently being expended in the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).”

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