Why International Oil Companies Are Leaving Nigeria – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has finally disclosed the reason International Oil Companies (IOC)are leaving Nigeria for other countries.

NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, said the companies are exiting the country due to the global push for energy transition and net carbon zero target.

Kyari disclosed that the  companies are moving to countries where they can add value to energy transition and add to the journey towards net carbon zero production.

Naija News reports that Kyari made the disclosure at the ongoing Nigeria International Energy Summit 2022 in Abuja on Monday

The NNPC boss that the national oil company would continue to develop Nigeria’s gas resources despite the oil companies like Shell, Chevron and others leaving the country.

He said, “Companies are divesting. They are leaving our country literally, that’s the best way to put it. But they are not leaving because opportunities are not there.

“It is because companies are shifting their portfolios where they can add value, and not just that, where they can also add to the journey towards net carbon zero production. We understand this very perfectly.

“But we can’t afford not to realise that this country must benefit from the realities of today.”

Kyari said the NNPC would facilitate the process of energy transition in the country by working with its partners despite the drop in the investment in fossil fuel projects.

He asserted that funding for fossil fuel projects had dropped by about 50 percent when compared to what it was about 10 years ago.

“No one has invested significantly in the last 10 years and more so in the last five years. And it is much more difficult in our country today because we are not able to invest in the fossil fuel industry in the last five years to the extent that we are seeing the effects of what that really means,” he said.