Aramco, ADNOC mull investments in Nigeria’s energy sector

State-owned energy firms Saudi Aramco, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. are mulling investing in Nigeria’s energy sector, including potential supply of gasoline to West Africa through Nigeria, the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, said on Tuesday.
  
Teams from ADNOC and NNPC met in Abu Dhabi this week, to discuss investment opportunities that could range from upstream to midstream to downstream, Kyari told reporters at an industry event in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
    
Potential announcements of a deal could take place during the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi in November, he added. Aramco and ADNOC were not immediately available to comment.
 
Kyari said he met with ADNOC Group CEO Sultan al-Jaber on Tuesday in Fujairah to discuss the possibility of ADNOC having a presence and investing in Nigeria.He said: “That’s part of their plans to have a presence in West Africa. We have upstream opportunities, midstream opportunities, downstream opportunities. It is up to them to select where they want to be, but we would like them to be in midstream.”
 
He added that midstream opportunities include pipeline and refining and it could be existing or green-field projects. “They are ready for any investment opportunity that is low risk.” NNPC is also talking to Aramco to possibly invest in its energy sector as well as use it as a platform to supply West Africa with gasoline, he said. The two parties will hold talks this October, during an investment conference in Saudi Arabia on potential cooperation.
 
Aramco is “quite keen on getting the opportunity to supply gasoline to West Africa and we will provide them with the right platform,” Kyari said. “We are the largest importer of gasoline in West Africa. It is a clear opportunity for them.”
 
Neither ADNOC nor ARAMCO currently supply any products directly to Nigeria, which imports most of its gasoline from Europe, he said.NNPC produced around 2.2 million barrels per day of crude and condensate in September, he added.