NNPC assures transparent selection of off-takers for sales of Natural gas

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the selection process for off-takers for the sales and purchase of natural gas liquid resources will be transparent.

The Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, gave the assurance at the 2019 Natural Gas Liquids Bid opening in Abuja on Tuesday.

“As a corporation, our current pursuit is to continuously make grow our domestic gas supply and utilisation, while maximising value from our unutilised knock off condensate and natural gas liquid resources.

“Our strategic focus in the coming months is to expand domestic Liquefied Natural Gas (LPG) supply from our established local sources while also encouraging investments in storage, marketing and distribution infrastructure.

“Through a transparent competitive bidding and evaluation process, we intend to enlist companies with proven investments in Gas utilisation, storage, distribution and marketing infrastructure,” he said.

Represented by Saidu Mohammed, Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Baru said the occasion marked the beginning of another landmark event in the bid to maximise value of the nation’s natural gas liquid resources for the benefit of Nigerians.

He said that the objective of the 2019 tender was to engage reputable qualified companies as off-taker natural gas Liquids for domestic violence and international market.

He said it would also ensure selection of off-takers that aligned with tested transparent and accountable procedures in compliance with the Public procurement and Nigerian Content Acts.

He said the domestic supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, would exceed demand in the country and blamed the current low consumption in Nigeria on lack of penetration of the commodity across the length and breadth of the country.

He said the planned increase in the supply of cooking gas would be driven by its current initiative of undertaking transparent competitive bidding and evaluation process to select off-takers for the commodity.

“This time around, we are not only focused on lifting and sending it out, but we are also focusing on maximum value within the nation. In other words, we want to use this kind of transaction to propel the LPG market throughout the nation to the level it deserves.

“Today, Nigeria is one of the lowest in per capital consumption of LPG, simply because we cannot penetrate.

“The only way to penetrate is to first of all, make the products available; afterwards, people would come and invest in it by way of storing, transporting and distributing it.

“Most importantly, we want to do that transparently to ensure that we get the right partners that would have the calibre we need in terms of investments, capital layout and market ability to penetrate the nooks and crannies of this country,” he said.

It was reported that not fewer than 223 companies tendered for the bidding.