The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, says the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) would be extended from Ghana to Ivory Coast as part of the Nigerian Government West African energy integration policy.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru said this 0n Wednesday while receiving a delegation from Ivory Coast at the NNPC Towers in Abuja.

Benefit
Dr. Baru said that the extension of West African Gas Pipeline to Ivory Coast would facilitate easy transmission of gas within the West African sub-region.

He noted that the visit would afford Nigeria and Ivory Coast the opportunity to open a new vista for further bilateral discussion which would lead to the growth of the oil and gas sector.

The Group Managing Director explained that Nigeria and indeed the NNPC has being into the business of oil and gas exploration and production for over 50 years, stressing that the interface would enable the NNPC to share its vast experiences in the sector with the delegation.

“Petroleum exploration and production dates back to over 50 years in Nigeria and a lot of experiences in technology and personnel management have been acquired. We are ready to share our experiences with you to help you to avoid the mistakes we made in the past,” Dr. Baru said.

He expressed the readiness of the NNPC to develop the capacity of the delegation, saying that “the NNPC was aware of the long history of refining in Ivory Coast.”

Best practices
The Leader of the Ivoirian delegation and Deputy Director, Production of Ministry of Petroleum, Mr. Patrick Marshal said the visit was to learn from Nigeria some of its best practices in personnel management, exploration and production in the oil and gas industry.

Highpoint of the visit was a technical session on the mode of operations of the NNPC in the petroleum sector.

The Group Managing Director was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, Engineer Saidu Mohammed.