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Special Adviser to the President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has kicked off the $550 million upstream gas project signed with TotalEnergies on the development of the Ubeta field.
The Special Adviser to the President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen, disclosed this during an inaugural United States-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue, hosted by the US State Department in Washington.
A statement by the NNPCL Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, on Tuesday, said the signing ceremony marks the completion of the Final Investment Decision on the Ubeta Field Development Project in June 2024.
The Ubeta field, discovered in 1964, is located northwest of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Speaking at a luncheon organised as part of the inaugural dialogue, Verheijen said the upstream gas project would deliver 350m standard cubic feet of gas per day when operational.
She noted that the major energy reforms implemented by the President since June 2023 aimed at enhancing energy security, drawing in investments, and strengthening partnerships with key stakeholders, including the US Government.
The reforms, according to her, included initiatives to improve cash flows in electricity distribution through smart metering and the payment of outstanding debts owed investors and to reduce carbon emissions from gas production.
The presidential aide said the directives are aimed to immediately unlock up to $2.5 billion in new oil and gas investments in the country.
Responding, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources, Geoffrey Pyatt, said the dialogue was apt and strategic.
“The inaugural U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue has set the stage for strengthened energy collaboration between the United States and Nigeria. Together, we’re advancing shared energy security, decarbonisation and economic growth goals,” he said.
According to the statement, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, led the Nigerian delegation to the event.
Officials from the Ministry of Power, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and the NNPCL were also in attendance.
The U.S. delegation included representatives from the Bureau of African Affairs, the US Department of Energy, among others.
