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Thu, Mar

Nigeria And Some Other African Countries Set To Form "Africa OPEC"

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On 28th January 2019 Federal Government of Nigeria disclosed that it is working with other oil and gas producing countries in Africa, under the auspices of African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO) to raise between $1 to $2 billion to finance energy projects and boost collaboration among African countries.

 

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, disclosed this at the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit, (NIPS) held in Abuja adding that, APPO members are looking at expanding the role of an existing financing body in the continent, which would be renamed African Energy Investment Corporation (AEIC) to undertake the function of energy financing.

Kachiku further asserted that presently, countries involved are looking at expanding the role of a particular financing body. They are going to be calling it the African Energy Investment Corporation (AEIC). The whole idea is to mobilize between $1 billion and $2 billion of resources to fund all the essentials necessary for the countries to effectively and properly collaborate with one another.

He described most African countries as silos, where every country does his own exploration; build their own refineries, plants, gas turbines, etc.  According to him, if they could just cross the Rubicon and be able to extend hands of infrastructural relationship across Africa; build a joint pipeline, plants, and refineries; begin to protect the African market.

The state minister added that they have finished that meeting and signed on to resolutions that endorsed all the changes that were suggested. Participating countries are now going to move on the implementation stages. Also speaking during the programme, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Mr. Simbi Wabote, warned that if local content is not encouraged in the African petroleum industry, Europe and the rest of the world superpowers would, in the next 20 years or so, witness a massive influx of people migrated from Africa with its attendant consequences.

On his part, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mr.  Maikanti Baru, informed that an example of collaboration can be seen in Nigeria’s collaboration with Morocco to construct a gas pipeline that would traverse at least 15 West African countries and connect the existing Europe gas pipeline. According to Baru, the feasibility study had been concluded and the pre-Final Investment Decision (FID) and greenfield optimization study are currently ongoing with the hope of actualization soonest.

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