Total reiterates commitment to Nigerian Gas Association

Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (TEPNL) has reaffirmed its support and commitment to the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA) as the independent platform to push gas industry issues and advance the development of the sector in a transparent manner.

Addressing the executive council members of the NGA who were on a courtesy visit to the company, Nicolas Terraz, Managing Director and chief executive of TEPNL, stated that “As one of the founding shareholders of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) and having supplied gas feedstock to NLNG since 1999, Total is at the forefront of gas utilization and monetization in Nigeria”.

Terraz said that Total’s operation in Nigeria is 40 percent gas while the remaining 60 percent is oil adding that the company will continue to make significant investment in the country as “Nigeria is a country where we can see a long term growth”.

The Total Chief executive said that despite the lull in the industry, “Total’s commitment remains very strong and we are working very hard to remain efficient to adapt to the $50 per barrel era”.

Terraz said that even though times are hard but there are things that can be done without spending money. Some of the steps include proper definition of the Production Sharing Contact (PSC) terms for gas and promoting “willing buyer-willing seller” which will enable investments in the sector.

Bolaji Osunsanya, President, NGA, in his remarks congratulated Total for its accomplishments in the gas sector and expects further “huge blowout for total in the Nigerian Gas space”.

Osunsanya said that NGA is a broad based association that pushes sector critical issues to stakeholders in a non-partisan way that is devoid of self-interest. Amongst the critical issues that the association is currently canvasing include positioning gas as the new resource pride for Nigeria, shoring up gas reserves and re-visiting the Nigerian Gas Masterplan.

“The issues we put on the table as at 2008 for the gas master plan all require revisiting; be it fiscal terms, regulation, pricing or tax terms. For us as an association, that will be the challenge going forward”, Osunsanya said.

In a statement signed by Debo Fagbemi, Publicity Secretary of NGA, the industry is expecting a full participation of Total and its staff in the forth-coming bi-annual international gas conference in Nigeria organised by the association which he termed as the “biggest gas gathering in Africa”.