Eni to deepen involvement in Nigerian energy sector
LONDON (Reuters) -- Italy's Eni plans to deepen its involvement in Nigeria's energy industry, increasing oil and gas exploration and helping to restore one of the country's ailing refineries, the company said in a statement on Monday.
Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi and Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuele Ibe Kachikwu, met in Rome this week to sign several memorandums of understanding (MOU) to "further strengthen" Eni's involvement in Nigeria.
Eni said it will "intensify" oil and gas exploration, onshore and offshore, including deepwater sites. The plan stands in contrast to majors such as Royal Dutch Shell, which are looking to divest onshore holdings that are subject to widespread theft, sabotage and attacks by militant groups.
Eni's own Brass River crude oil grade has been under force majeure since a pipeline blast in May 2016. Eni currently has equity in 125,000 bpd of oil equivalent.
The company's promise to work with the Petroleum Ministry to rehabilitate and "enhance" the Port Harcourt oil refinery, also represents a long-sought partnership for Nigeria's government, which has been trying to reduce costly imported oil products.
The imports are consuming a large portion of the nation's scarce foreign currency but the run-down state of the refineries themselves, which are also subject to frequent pipeline attacks, has hampered progress.
Kachikwu previously said that Chevron was interested in working on the Warri refinery and Total was interested in Kaduna.
Eni also said it plans to press forward with long-standing plans to double power generation capacity at the 480 megawatt Okpai Independent Power Plant (IPP) in Delta state, which was built by Eni's local subsidiary Nigerian Agip Oil Company.
Reporting by Libby George; Editing by Louise Heavens, Greg Mahlich
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