The Presidency on Thursday said Nigeria and Russia have signed “an important” Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will enable both countries’ oil giants, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Russia’s Lukoil to elevate the commercial relationship to a government-to-government backed partnership.
According to a statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), the signing was in Sochi, Russia at the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit.
The ceremony was witnessed by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva.
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The statement said with the signing of the MoU, NNPC and Lukoil will work together in upstream operations and revamp Nigeria’s refineries.
It informed that Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari and Vagit Alekperov, President of leading Russian oil company, Lukoil, signed the MoU, which entails cooperation in deep offshore exploration of oil in Nigeria, production, trading and refining.
Earlier in his remarks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Lenin, President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria was prepared and willing to work with Russian businesses “to improve the efficiency of our oil and gas sector which provides us with the much-needed capital to invest in our security, infrastructure and economic diversification programmes”.
While taking note of the agreement between NNPC and Lukoil, President Buhari gave an assurance that his administration will “ensure this initiative is implemented within the shortest possible time.”
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