THE Governments of Nigeria and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, yesterday, considered the establishment of a joint logistics base, deployment of indigenous capacities across countries, and lowering the costs of major oil and gas operations.
Other diplomats in the Minister’s entourage included the Ambassador of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea to Nigeria, Francisco Edu Ngua Mangue; First Secretary of the Embassy, Josue Nsue Mbasogo and Personal Assistant to the Minister of Planning and Economic Diversification, Akim Lima.
Conversations at the meeting centred around inviting reputable Nigerian oil and gas service companies to establish their operational bases in Equatorial Guinea, whereby the companies would use the country’s ports to launch their activities in neighbouring countries such as Gabon, Cameroon, and Angola.
The Minister promised to send a formal request for the partnership to the NCDMB, adding that the support of government institutions would be needed before such business opportunities could be explored successfully.
The Minister complained about the exorbitant cost of key oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Guinea, adding that operators in Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea could lower their costs significantly by collaborating in the scheduling of their respective work programmes such as mobilization and demobilization of drilling rigs and other assets.
He hinted that the proposed business relationship and pooling of demand profiles were necessary to attract key investments, explaining that big companies like General Electric would only invest in a jurisdiction if they were assured of markets from neighbouring countries.
