Nigeria namess ex-Shell executive as head of state oil company NNPC

The Nigerian presidency announced on Wednesday that Bola Ahmed Tinubu had appointed Bayo Ojulari as head of the state-owned oil company NNPC Ltd. This is in response to the country's desire to increase oil production and revitalize its refinery capacity.

Tinubu, who in his first year as president devalued the naira twice and ended costly subsidies, has now shifted his attention to overhauling state oil company to maximize its contribution to revenue.

In a press release, Bayo Onanuga, the presidential spokesperson, said that Mele Kyari is replaced by Ojulari, and this appointment takes effect immediately.

Ojulari most recently served as chief operating officer of the Nigerian consortium Renaissance Africa Energy Co. which owned Shell's former onshore company in Nigeria. He was previously the head of Shell Nigeria’s exploration unit.

Tinubu replaced the NNPC board, appointing a team of 11 members to drive reforms in the oil industry and increase efficiency.

Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, with a daily production of 1.8 millions barrels, depends on this commodity for about half of its government revenues.

Tinubu, the new Nigerian president, aims to increase oil and gas production. He targets 2 million barrels of oil per day, and 8 billion cubic feet of gas per day, by 2027. Tinubu also aspires to 3 million barrels of oil per day, and 10 billion cubic feet of gas per day, by 2030.

Tinubu also asked the new NNPC board to increase the company's oil refinery output to 200,000 barges per day by 2027 and 500,000 by 2030, despite the fact that its four 445,000-barrel per day capacity refining plants are idle for maintenance. Reporting by Ope Adetayo, Writing by Elisha Gbogbo, Editing by Peter Graff & Barbara Lewis

(source: Reuters)