Nigeria open to onshore investments — Sylva

The Federal Government on Monday said it was open to onshore and natural gas investments in Nigeria by the Turkish Government.

Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, spoke during a bilateral meeting with Turkish Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alpersen Bayraktar, on the side-line of the ongoing Ceraweek, in Houston, Texas.

Sylva, in a statement by his Senior Adviser (Media and Communications) Mr Horatius Egua, said Nigeria was open to more Turkish investments in hydrocarbon sector.

He said this was especially with the planned divestments of some International Oil Companies (IOC) from onshore sectors in the country.

“We are looking at the possibilities of Turkey taking interests in more investments in Nigeria.

“Now that IOCs like Shell, Exxon Mobil and others are planning to divest from onshore assets, more investments in that sector would be a great opportunity for Turkey to expand its investments interest in Nigeria,” Sylva said.

He said the cooperation between Nigeria and Turkey was very significant adding that the relationship could be extended in energy and other areas of trade.

The minister added that with the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) Nigeria had further streamlined its laws in the oil and gas investment environment.

He said that the country was thus making investments in the sector of the economy more attractive to potential investors.

He called on the deputy minister to encourage Turkish investors to come to Nigeria to participate in the new opportunities offered by the exit of the IOCs to consolidate the bilateral relations between both countries.

Sylva assured Bayraktar of good return on investments in Nigeria stressing that notwithstanding plans by the IOCs to divest from Onshore assets, the companies were ramping up investments in offshore assets in the country.

This, he said, was a sign that the Nigeria investment environment was still the desired investment destination in Africa.

He said Nigeria was also open for Turkey investors taking up investments in Greenfield assets noting that the country was prepared to engage in discussions on government-to-government basis to achieve the desired results.

Bayraktar, on his part sought the support of Sylva to get Turkey to be part of the Nigerian upstream oil and gas sector.

He added that Turkey was prepared to shore up investments in the area of natural gas in Nigeria if given the opportunity.