The Yoruba Youth Council (YYC) has passed a vote of confidence on the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mr Mele Kyari.


It described the attempts by some unscrupulous elements to blackmail Kyari as a distraction that would do the oil industry no good.


The YYC said that rather than joining other faceless group to blackmail the NNPC Boss, it would further increase its level of partnership and support Kyari in view of the numerous successes recorded by the GCEO in the oil and gas industry.


The group said it is on record that the NNPC GCEO was appointed at a time when disputes, aside from oil theft and pipeline vandalism, were paralysing oil production.


However, it added that within a few months of stepping into office, Kyari was able to resolve these disputes.


The Yoruba Youth Council in a statement jointly signed by the President and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Eric Oluwole and Saheed Adeola said when Kyari came in as the then GMD in 2019, he instituted a multi-security control room manned by the NNPC and all assets of the company were linked in real-time to the command-and-control center.


The Center was responsible for monitoring, locating, and reporting suspicious activities to various security agencies for intervention. The effort led to oil production recovering to 1.6
million barrels per day at the close of 2022.


The YYC saif that after seeing the damages which oil theft continued to wreck on the country’s earnings, Kyari pushed the Buhari administration to re-introduce private security arrangements which eventually led to the revalidation of Tompolo’s pipeline surveillance contract.


Since then, oil production has continued to stabilize and seen a steady increase.


The Yoruba Youths said findings revealed that Kyari came at a time when disputes, aside from oil theft and pipeline vandalism, were paralysing oil production. But within a few months of stepping into office, Kyari was able to resolve them.


These include the dispute between Shell and Belema Oil that shut in over 30,000 barrels per day production in OML 25, and over agreements with SNEPCo and other PSC partners to resolve the disputes around another deep offshore block, OML 118, leading to the renewal of that acreage with the prospect of a new $10billion investment in the development of the Bonga South-East Field.


Among the resolutions was the execution of the Abo OML 125 Heads of Terms leading to the resolution of the issues around most of the deep offshore Production Sharing Contracts.


This paved the way for the renewal of OML 125 and further investment.


There was also the successful resolution of 1993 PSC dispute which holds over 90% of Nigeria’s deepwater production, paving the way for unlocking over 7 billion barrels of oil, 20Tcf of gas reserves, and potential investment of up to US$40bn over the next five years, and at the same time relieves NNPC of almost US$10bn in contingent liabilities.


The YYC also said Kyari achieved the commercial discovery of hydrocarbon in the Gongola basin of the Upper Benue trough and attained the Presidential flag-off of the Kolmani Integrated Development Project (KIPRO) on 22nd November 2022, with over one billion barrels of oil and 500BCF of gas addition to existing hydrocarbon reserves, which will go a long way to enhance national energy security, create jobs opportunities and stimulate balanced economic growth.


As part of the strategic drive to shore up national reserves, tje Group said Kyari expanded hydrocarbon exploration campaigns to the Sokoto and Bidda basins and achieved a spud-in for the ongoing exploration projects in the Nasarawa and Chad Basins.

Within this year alone, the Council said Kyari achieved first oil in OML 13, restored production in OMLs 11 and 18, and currently working to achieve first oil in OMLs 83/85
among others.


Kyari is also taking major initiatives that will move towards achieving FID for major projects in the deepwater and frontier basins such as the Bonga Southwest Apraro, Bonga North,
Prowei, KIPRO, Owowo, Bosi, and so on.