By Olalekan Awojodu
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari has tasked members of the Board of the NNPC Greenfield Refinery Limited (NGRL), to explore means of putting an end to the current challenge of petroleum products importation.
Mallam Kyari gave the charge in Thursday in Abuja during the inauguration of the Board of the newly incorporated subsidiary of the Corporation, NNPC Greenfield Refinery Limited (NGRL), at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.
Members of the Board include: Group Executive Director, Finance & Accounts, Mr. Umar Ajiya; Managing Director of the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), Engr. Oluwaseyi Omotowa; Managing Director of NNPC Retail, Mrs. Elizabeth Aliyuda; Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Mr. Muhammad Ali-Zarah; and Tolulope Olubommo as Company Secretary and Legal Adviser.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Group General Manager,Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Garba Deen Muhammad.
At the ceremony, the GMD reminded that the NNPC Greenfield Refinery Limited is a subsidiary of the Corporation set up in December 2020 with a mandate to oversee the establishment and operation of new refineries.
He also challenged the board members where he chairs on the need to focus on profitability in order to remain afloat and to avoid liquidation.
Kyari said, “As a business, this is a big opportunity for us and this company’s balance sheet must change positively. Going forward, with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), I can tell you that if you continue to post negative for three years, you are out. So, there is really no excuse.
“The Corporation’s initiatives in the areas of new refineries, condensate refineries and equity acquisition in credible private refineries were geared towards ensuring energy security for the country.
“Our company must grow and we can’t do well except we are able to process our production whether it is the liquid or gas. If we don’t monetize it then we have done nothing. This is really a new chapter and we are committed to making it work,” he said.
He then urged the Board and Management Team of the new company to set up a proper structure with the require skills, technology and financing to drive the company’s operations, adding that he was optimistic that the company would be able to achieve its mandate.
In his remarks,, the Alternate Chairman of the Board and Group Executive Director, Refinery and Petrochemicals, Engr. Mustapha Yakubu, declared that the operations of the company would be guided by the principles of cost effectiveness in line with the new Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), noting that profitability would be the key focus.
Speaking in the same vein, the Group General Manager, Greenfield Refineries and Project Division (GRPD) and Managing Director of the NGRL, Engr. Bege Talson, hinted that the Division was working with third party investors to establish greenfield, modular and condensate refineries with a combined capacity of 250,000barrels per stream day (bpsd).
He thereafter pledged his team’s commitment to run the company profitably.
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