The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Saturday announced it has signed a gas supply agreement with Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited.

According to NNPCL, the signing of the agreement was in a bid to promote the use of natural gas by large-scale gas utilization industries.

“NNPC Ltd. and Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Ltd., have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore and develop suitable opportunities within the remits of both parties’ interests across the hydrocarbon value chain in Nigeria,” the oil firm said in a statement signed by Garba Deen Muhammad, the company’s chief corporate communications officer on Saturday.

Mr Muhammad said the signing of the agreement is a development that the NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, summarized thus: “NNPC Limited is on the threshold of making value out of gas beyond any imagination.”

“This role is in alignment with Nigeria’s Nigasification strategy which is a consolidation of critical programs embarked upon by the company to utilize natural gas and its associated liquids to be the energy source of choice, spur economic growth, free up crude oil for exports, and ultimately enable job creation,” he said.

“We are seeing an annual contribution of $3bn to the nation’s GDP and a lifetime contribution of $18bn to government revenue,” the statement quoted Mr Kyari as saying.

In his remarks, the Managing Director/CEO of Africa Indorama Energy, Manish Mundra, noted that “This is a strategic collaboration to unlock Nigeria’s upstream sector, but more importantly, to partner downstream, in order to share the value chain.

“Nigeria’s gas reserves should position the country as one of the largest producers of urea in the western hemisphere,” he said.

The statement noted that the key benefits of the opportunities include the monetization of over 1.7 TCF of gas and 100 million barrels of oil reserves, generation of upstream lifecycle revenue of over $18 billion, downstream production of about 4.8 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) of products including methanol, urea, and fertilizer to boost national food security.

“Other benefits include the creation of about 55,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities, the development of a condensate refinery to boost petroleum product supply and reduce product importation, annual GDP contribution of over $3.8bn, and attraction of over $7bn of foreign direct investment into the country,” it said.

The NNPC Ltd said the MOU with Indorama follows Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu’s commitment in India a few weeks ago, to strengthen business relations between both countries.

Earlier in the month, Mr Tinubu secured commitments totalling $14 billion from various Indian investors, following his assurance to create a safe haven for foreign investments.

“We are ready to give you the best returns for investment possible, there’s nowhere else like our country. Nigeria offers the best returns for investment today, so invest now,” Mr Tinubu said during the Nigeria-India Presidential Roundtable and Conference in New Delhi, India.