The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC announced

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced in October last year which the much-anticipated Okpai Power Plant in Delta State, the largest gas-power initiative in the African continent, is on the edge of becoming operational. The two phases in the project that would together generate you, 000 MW of electricity in completion is being implemented under the Clear Development Mechanism Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Transform. The rare achievement, which marks a significant milestone in the country's system development, reconfirms NNPC's position as a principal driving force behind the Nigerian economy.

The state-owned NNPC provides fuel to industrial facilities, commercial corporations and individuals, with operations that concentrate in making the extended spectrum of the Nigerian petroleum industry. An extensive brief duties it with all aspects of production, submitting and marketing, besides training workers, managing oil leases, encouraging local participation, ensuring uniform pricing throughout local markets and exploring of that ilk industries, among other things. With sales totalling $2. 6 billion in 2005, it is a major revenue earner to the government IT support companies that additionally provides job to over 15, 000 people. The company's history goes back to 1971, when the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC) was created after the country signed on be a member of the OPEC.

6 years into its existence the company was initially renamed to its present avatar, while the government went on to decentralise it into nine subsidiaries throughout 1981. Over the next two decades, typically the NNPC significantly augmented its loge in multiple oil ventures amid sustained attempts to make it a financially autonomous and commercially integrated entity. However, even as foreign oil businesses clamoured to invest in Nigeria, the NNPC faced severe challenges due to political instability, inept governance and massive data corruption.

The evolution of NNPC in present day is also a story of sustancial mismanagement, severe operational failures in addition to frequent scandals. Investigations by the 1980 Crude Oil Sales Tribunal found widespread irregularities that cost the government above $2 billion in revenue failures. The company was the subject of world-wide censure the same year when the offshore wells was involved in an essential oil spill that resulted in the fatalities of 180 people. Relations with international oil companies soured over disputes that saw the incarceration of the then Nigerian minister regarding petroleum resources in 1990. The oil and gas sector was understandably the focus of reforms unveiled at the beginning of the newest millennium, by which time the company's often exposed malpractices caused it to be viewed with widespread popular disdain. A series of layoffs ensued between 2003 and 2006 when several thousand employees were release. Around the same time, the NNPC enthusiastically started out several joint ventures within offshore drilling and gas development.

Despite its chequered past, the corporation has been responsible for significant achievements throughout Nigeria's economic development:


 * NNPC oversaw the country's first equity stake in oil production when using the Agip Oil Company in the mid-60s to better exploit resources for national progress.


 * It spearheaded oil seek to confirm Nigeria's position as the top crude exporter in Africa in the 1970s, boosting oil revenue from N200 million to N10 billion throughout the decade.


 * In 2004, the NNPC unveiled plans to launch typically the ambitious West African Gas Pipe to supply Nigerian natural gas to several adjoining countries.


 * Nigeria emerged being an important exporter of natural gas together with the establishment of the liquefied natural gas seed in Bonny in 2005 within efforts to end gas flaring right at the end of this year.


 * NNPC created a $1 billion joint-venture in the offshore Agbami fields to increase national primitive production capacity by a further 250, 000 barrels per day.


 * By its recent Okapi Power Plant, the NNPC will generate the first co2 credit in compliance with the Kyoto Protocol and related UN promises.

While the NNPC looks set to attain more significant landmarks in the years ahead, its performance faces tremendous stresses from both within and without. Youre able to send future hinges on its ability to distinguish and capitalise on new chances that are in line with Nigeria's plans for accelerated development. Its sphere of influence on almost every aspect of growth bestows on it critical significance within the context of Nigeria's goals intended for universal basic human rights. Even though much government effort in recent years has become devoted to reversing the country's traditional dependence on non-renewables, the oil and gas business is predicted to grow exponentially above the next few years. With oil accounting meant for 81% of present government revenue, the NNPC has a major role to experiment with in reversing decades of economic stagnation and driving massive pioneeringup-and-coming growth. Curious as it may seem, it can be oil revenue that funds Nigerian government initiatives to diversify our economy and achieve rapid enterprise movement across non-oil sectors. With NNPC confident of improving known raw reserves from 36 billion barrels to 50 billion barrels simply by 2015, the sector assumes all the more importance.

Revamping the oil and gas market into an engine for job design, poverty alleviation and rapid countrywide growth has to be one of the fundamental objectives of the NNPC in coming several years. Optimising its performance over the next decade calls for detailed review of various considerations:


 * Enhancing access to capital and technology and promoting self-sufficient control of joint-venture investments.


 * Multiplying gas production and improving tranny to both domestic and local gas markets.


 * Establishing tactical partnerships with global gas firms to secure presence in international market segments.


 * Achieving production efficiency together with selective growth to improve capacity throughout joint-venture operations.


 * Rationalising typically the NNPC portfolio to ensure focus on high-growth potential assets.


 * Extending refineries and gas-based industries to help switch Nigeria into a regional hub designed for petroleum products.


 * Reducing functional constraints and production suspensions ending out of vandalism and violence.


 * Implementing further reforms in the oil and gas sector to improve transparency and enhance investor confidence.

One of NNPC's greatest challenges is providing a level-playing field for investors in Nigeria, equally existing and new. In this interconnection, the proposed Petroleum Industry costs and amendments to the country's tax regime are expected to go a long way within further opening up the sector to foreign investors.

Reforming the NNPC into a commercially aggressive entity will demand further reforms, especially to improve internal regulatory authority and deter file corruption error. Political instability has obviously been one of the major hurdles in the company's efficiency, and Nigeria must ensure its self-reliance from partisan or bureaucratic disturbance. That NNPC has a critical function to play in furthering Nigeria's economical interests is without question. What remains to be seen is how far it is able to deliver about this promise!