India replaces US as largest importer of Nigeria’s crude-NNPC

By Etuka Sunday

The Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday announced officially that India has replaced the United States of America as the largest importer of Nigeria’s crude, followed by China and Malaysia.

NNPC said that 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, while India now purchases some 30 percent of Nigeria’s daily crude production which currently hovers around 2.5million barrels.

The Corporation in a statement by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ohi Alegbe quoted the Coordinator Corporate Planning and Strategy, NNPC, Dr. Tim Okon to have disclosed this while speaking in Moscow, Russia at the on-going 21st World Petroleum Congress.

Dr. Okon however said 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”.

According to him,  Nigeria was 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’.