NNPC pledges to support Niger Republic's SONIDEP in Capacity Building

NNPC pledges to support Niger Republic’s SONIDEP in Capacity Building

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has pledged to support Niger Republic’s National Oil Company, Societe Nigerienne De Petrole (SONIDEP) in terms of training and capacity building, as both countries sign MOU on petroleum products’ transportation and storage.

This was disclosed in a Press release by the GGM/SA Media to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Garba Deen Muhammad on Thursday.

According to Muhammed, the MoU was signed by the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari and the Director-General of SONIDEP, Mr. Alio Toune under the supervision of the two countries’ Ministers of State for Petroleum, Çhief Timipre Sylva and Mr. Foumakoye Gado, respectively.

The Secretary-General of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim was also in attendance during the signing of the MOU.

Speaking shortly after the MoU signing, the Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva described the MoU as another huge step in developing trade relations between both countries.

“This is a major step forward. Niger Republic has some excess products which needs to be evacuated. Nigeria has the market for these products. Therefore, this is going to be a win-win relation for both countries. My hope is that this is going to be the beginning of deepening trade relations between Niger Republic and Nigeria,” the Minister noted.

On his part, the GMD of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari said: “With this development, we hope to have a long-lasting and sustainable commercial framework to having a pipeline from the Soraz Refinery in Zinder (Niger) into the most proximate Nigerian city so that we can develop a depot”.

Note that Niger Republic’s Soraz Refinery in Zinder is about 260km from the Nigerian border and it has an installed refining capacity of 20,000 barrels per day.

Considering that Niger’s total domestic requirement is about 5,000bpd, there is a huge surplus of about 15,000 bpd for export, which Nigeria intends to tap into.

DON’T MISS THIS – Open letter to Ex-Governor/Ex Senator Saraki of Kwara State – on Nigeria insecurity

Please follow us:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word.