Nigeria and Russia Thursday in Sochi, Russia, signed an important
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will enable both countries’ oil
giants, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Russia’s
Lukeoil to elevate commercial relationship to a
government-to-government backed partnership.
With signing of the MoU, NNPC and Lukeoil will work together in upstream
operations and revamp Nigeria’s refineries.
Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari and Vagit Alekperov,
President of leading Russian oil company, Lukeoil, signed the MoU,
which entails cooperation in deep offshore exploration of oil in
Nigeria, production, trading and refining.
The signing ceremony, which took place on the sidelines of the
Russia-Africa Summit, was witnessed by the Minister of State for
Petroleum, Timipre Sylva.
Earlier in his remarks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir
Lenin, President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria was prepared and willing
to work with Russian businesses “to improve the efficiency of our oil
and gas sector which provides us with the much-needed capital to invest
in our security, infrastructure and economic diversification
programmes”.
While taking note of the agreement between NNPC and Lukeoil, President
Buhari gave an assurance that his administration will “ensure this
initiative is implemented within the shortest possible time.”