The Presidency has announced the take-off of the 550 million US Dollar upstream gas project between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (NNPCL) and Total Energies on the development of Ubeta field.
Special Adviser (SA) to President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen disclosed this at an inaugural US-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue, hosted by the US State Department, in Washington, DC.
Speaking at a luncheon organized as part of the inaugural dialogue, Verheijen said the upstream gas project would deliver 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day when operational.
A statement on the event signed by Morenike Adewunmi, Stakeholder Manager, Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
Verheijen told the gathering that major energy reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu since June 2023 focused on improving energy security, attracting investments, and deepening collaboration with key partners including the the US government.
She said the key reforms had improved the viability of the gas-to-power value chain of the country
The reforms according to her, included initiatives to improve cash flows in electricity distribution through smart metering and the payment of outstanding debts owed investors and to reduce carbon emissions from gas production.
She added that, to support the reform efforts, the President issued five new executive orders aimed at providing fiscal incentives for investment. and reducing the cost and time of finalizing and implementing contracts to develop and expand gas infrastructure.
The presidential aide said the directives also aimed to immediately unlock up to 2.5 billion dollars in new oil and gas investments in the country.
She acknowledged the support of financing and technical partners like the US government, the World Bank and the African Development Bank towards expanding electricity access and reliability through grid and off-grid solutions.
