BY OUR REPORTER—–In a bid to enhance power supply in the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its Joint Venture (JV) Partner, Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) ltd., have pledged commitment to implement Okpai Phase 2 project to increase electricity generation with 500 MegaWatts (MW) .
NNPC‘s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division ,Ndu Ughamadu who disclosed this in a statement said that the move was part of efforts to increase electricity generation in the country.
According to him, NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, made the disclosure when he received the new Vice Chairman and Managing Director of NAOC, Fiorillo Lorenzo on Tuesday in Abuja.
Baru said Okpai phase 2 project was being fine-tuned to expeditiously bring it on stream, adding that it would increase power generation by 10 to 12 per cent.
“That is additional 500MW of power that is coming in, would ensure the transmission is up and going.
“We should be able to boost the present power supply to the country by another 10 to 12 per cent of the current generation,” Baru said.
He said the project when completed would impact significantly on economic activities of the country.
“Once power is available, there will be a lot of improvement in the standard of living of Nigerians.”
Earlier, Lorenzo said his company had a long-standing partnership with Nigeria.
“We want to grow and we want to build and develop new opportunities for the country and support the country in its energy journey.
“We want to try to change and improve the energy mix of the country and the Okpai project is a testament of this commitment of our company,” he said.
The outgoing Vice Chairman of NAOC, Massimo Insulla, said the meeting with the GMD was fruitful.
He said discussions focused on opportunities in the Joint Venture (JV) and the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) by taking advantage of the oil price situation to bring additional value to investment in Nigeria.
