The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said that it would support indigenous oil companies with the right policies and regulations to grow.
During a visit to the exhibition booth of Green Energy International Limited at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, United States, NUPRC Chief Executive, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe said that the oil and gas industry regulator would continue to support companies in the ranks of Green Energy International with a quick turnaround time for licensing and other necessary approvals needed to grow their business.
He said at a time when funding for oil and gas projects was becoming difficult due to policies around energy transition and a deliberate shift to renewable energy projects, Green Energy International had been able to secure funding for its projects.
According to him, the ability of the company to secure funding for its various projects is a testament that it is on the right track and as such, needed all the right support to grow.
‘‘If you look at what the company has done. You will discover that they have tried to leverage on in-country capability and that is in alignment with what NUPRC is doing. We have come here as a commission to give them encouragement and to assure the company that the NUPRC will give them all the backing as a business enabler”, he said.
Komolafe said that NUPRC as a business enabler would ensure that its policies and regulations were enabling enough to incentivize businesses to grow.
In growing businesses, he said companies would be requiring different types of permits and licences for operational efficiency to reduce the unit cost of production in a manner to make them competitive.
He maintained that to increase operational efficiency, the NUPRC was working to ensure that the turnaround time for issuing permits and licenses was reduced drastically.
The Chairman of Green Energy International, Prof. Anthony Adegbulugbe said the company, which was incorporated in 2006, is the operator of the Otakikpo marginal field in Oil Mining Lease 11.
He explained that the company was set up to explore all the opportunities in the oil and gas value chain for the overall benefit of its stakeholders and the Nigerian economy.
According to him, the mandate of the company is to create localised domestic markets based on small-scale gas opportunities in its local host communities, Nigeria and Africa at large.
‘‘In 2010, the Federal Government decided to implement a World Bank study on Small Scale Gas Utilisation, and the Otakikpo Marginal Field was awarded to Green Energy to undertake the pilot project. The implementation of this project will involve the installation of LPG processing and bottling plants”, Adegbulugbe said.
The Green Energy Chairman said that since it began operations, it had recorded 5 Million cumulative man-hours without a lost-time injury.
He added that when companies approached banks for funding, one of the requirements was the cumulative man-hours achieved by the companies in order to be certain that there are no restiveness that would impact operations negatively if they (banks) lend to the oil operators.
