Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, on Thursday said that Nigeria has so far earned over $1bn from Portugal through the sale of natural gas in 2022 alone.
Kyari said this when President Muhammadu Buhari led a high-level Nigerian business delegation to the Nigeria-Portugal Business & Trade Forum, on the sidelines of the 2nd UN Ocean Conference in Portugal.
Kyari’s comment comes at a time that the NNPC has consistently failed to remit monies to the federation account, citing fuel subsidy. The company has failed to remit to the federations account for five consecutive months is now recording some N704 billion deficit for the year so far.
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However, the NNPC GMD said, “”This year alone, we have sold over a billion dollar worth of natural gas to Portugal,” with zero dollar remitted to yhe federation account.
Kyari, who was on the President’s delegation further said that there are ample opportunities to grow energy supply to Portugal, saying Nigeria has invested in critical infrastructure to ensure domestic gas availability & increase gas supply to the international market.
He highlighted the age-long energy partnership between the two countries, stressing that Nigeria supplies 70 percent of energy imports to the European nation.
The conference is also being attended by Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, and Communication and Digital Economy, among others.
