Petroleum Minister Heineken Lokpobiri has highlighted the critical state of Nigeria’s oil pipeline infrastructure, which dates back to the country’s initial oil discovery approximately 70 years ago, and now surpasses their designed service life.
The minister shared these insights during a meeting with Mr. Salem Al Shamsi, the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, emphasizing the urgent need for investment to revitalize the oil and gas sector’s infrastructure.
Lokpobiri underscored the significance of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in fostering a stable and profitable investment landscape, which has revolutionized the oil and gas industry and positioned Nigeria as an attractive investment hub.
“We are focused on ramping up our oil production; at the same time. We are inviting UAE investors to look at Nigeria as a prime destination. Our business environment is friendly, and our crude deposits are vast.
“We need to create more opportunities for investments to come in so that we can create the requisite funding for us to be able to finance our transition.
“Nigeria has enormous investment opportunities. Our pipelines need renewal. The pipelines have been there for over 50 years. Nigeria found oil in commercial quantity in 1956/58.
“From then till now, it’s almost 70 years and most of those pipelines were built around that time, so they have already outlived their lifespan.
“Even if you have the capacity to produce, you need to evacuate to the terminals where you could do export.
“So, it’s an opportunity we are actually looking up to for potential investors from the UAE to come and invest and recover their money through those investments,” Lokpobiri stated
Al Shamsi responded positively, acknowledging Nigeria’s vast potential in the energy sector and the proactive steps taken to create an inviting investment climate.
He proposed that technical teams from the Ministry and the UAE Embassy convene to explore avenues for cooperation, highlighting the mutual benefits of partnership between the two nations. “Our continued collaboration holds great promise for both countries,” Al Shamsi remarked.
