India has replaced the United States of America as the largest importer of
Nigeria’s crude with China and Malaysia following closely.
The US which had traditionally taken the bulk of Nigeria’s crude has in
recent months drastically reduced its demand which now stands at about
250,000barrels per day. India however now purchases some 30 percent of
Nigeria’s daily crude production which currently hovers around 2.5million
barrels.
Speaking in Moscow, Russia at the on-going 21st World Petroleum Congress,
Coordinator Corporate Planning and Strategy, Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, Dr. Tim Okon told newsmen that the Asian countries have since
replaced the US.
Dr. Okon who also doubles as the Director of Transformation of the NNPC
explained that Nigeria would not ignore any market in its quest to remain
competitive in the global oil and gas industry.
“Asia is important and in that respect we have regards for all markets;
the important thing is to make sure that you are selling the products
that you have and you do not ignore any market”.
He noted that Nigeria is participating in the congress to access global
business opportunities in the petroleum industry especially in the gas
sub-sector to enable it to position itself as a major competitor in the
hydrocarbon market.
He said as a natural resource rich country, Nigeria is working hard to do
a better job in developing such resources and translating them to the
wider economy.
While stressing that the country does not have preference markets for its
products, he however admitted that the Petroleum Industry Bill currently
before the National Assembly needs to be passed into law to enable the
country to maximize its potentials in the oil and gas industry.
“I cannot talk about future incentives if the principal law that would
give birth to it has not been passed but I want to say that the general
intention is that Nigeria must compete in the market place and our fiscal
systems are designed to be competitive that would lead to good outcomes
for the country,” observed Dr. Okon.
“It is always helpful to do things in a timely manner and that is an
important point to stress. Many of the countries that were trying to get
new legislations passed like Ghana, Brazil, Mozambique and even Uganda
have passed their legislation. So I think timeliness is of the essence,”
the Coordinator noted.
Roundly regarded as the global oil and gas industry equivalent of the
Olympics, the World Petroleum Congress is the biggest congregation of oil
and gas experts on the global stage. The Congress essentiality consists of
an exhibition and conference.
Nigeria’s participation at the 2014 WPC is anchored on the theme
`Harnessing Nigeria’s Gas Resources for Sustainable National and Regional
Development’.