By Clara Nwachukwu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, have agreed to turn the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, to a world class exploration and production company.

Speaking after a tour of the Shell Training Technology Centre at The Hague, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon, expressed the readiness of the Corporation and SPDC to grow the NPDC, the upstream arm of the NNPC, to an enviable height in the global hydrocarbon industry.

“We believe that in less than 50 years from now, NPDC will become a world class exploration and production company by producing 250,000 bpd in 2015,” the GMD enthused.

In his remarks, the Director Upstream International, SPDC, Mr. Andy Brown, said Shell is committed to the partnership with the NNPC, adding that going forward the joint venture partners will explore ways to develop domestic gas for the Nigerian and global market.

“We have been partners in progress for the past 50 years in the oil and gas industry and we are delighted that the NNPC was able to visit our facility at The Hague,” Brown said.

Also commenting, the Group Executive Director Exploration and Production, NNPC, Messrs Andy Yakubu, and the Managing Director of SPDC, Nigeria, MutiuSumonu, both described the partnership as a success story.

On his part, the Director, Department of Petroleum Resources,DPR, Mr. OstenOlorunsola, said that as a watchdog of the industry, the regulator is glad to witness a partnership that would transform the landscape of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

It would be recalled that oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1956 at Oloibiri in the Niger Delta after half a century of exploration. The discovery was made by Shell-BP which was at that time the sole concessionaire.

Nigeria joined the ranks of oil producers in 1958 when its first oil field came on stream producing 5,100 barrels per day. After 1960, exploration rights in onshore and offshore areas adjoining the Niger Delta were extended to other foreign companies.