The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has said some major Spanish investors have indicated investment interest in the Nigerian oil and gas industry just as the bid for seven deep offshore oil blocks is in process.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is meant to close the bid submission by month’s end to proceed to the sifting stage.
Sylva stated this yesterday when he received the Foreign Minister of Spain, Jose Albares, along with some investors from the country.
He said, “NUPRC has already pitched and they are already in the process of having a bid round. With this number of investors on the table which ordinarily they would have gone, they have them here. As a country, we need a lot of FDI.”
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The minister also said the country needs more investments, especially with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which he commended Spain’s foreign minister for the move.
“As a country, we need all the investments that we require. The oil and gas sector is at the core of our economy and he has come in with these arrays of investors, very major companies in Spain, then I am sure that we have the potential of having a lot of investment coming into Nigeria from now on.”
Sylva said the delegation was also in Nigeria with interest on the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project started recently that could boost gas exports.