Nigeria and Russia Thursday in Sochi, Russia, signed an important Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which would enable the two countries’ oil giants, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Russia’s Lukeoil to elevate commercial relationship to a government-to-government backed partnership.
With the signing of the agreement, NNPC and Lukeoil would work together in upstream operations and revamp Nigeria’s refineries.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, and the president of the leading Russian oil company, Lukeoil, Vagit Alekperov, signed the agreement, which entails cooperation in deep offshore exploration of oil in Nigeria, production, trading and refining.
The signing ceremony, which took place on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit, was witnessed by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva.
In his remarks at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Lenin, President Muhammadu Buhari said Nigeria was prepared to work with Russian businesses “to improve the efficiency of our oil and gas sector which provides us with the much-needed capital to invest in our security, infrastructure and economic diversification programmes.”
While taking note of the agreement between NNPC and Lukeoil, the president gave an assurance that his administration will “ensure this initiative is implemented within the shortest possible time.”
