November 17, (THEWILL) – Mr Johnson Awoyomi, Managing Director, National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (NNPC), says cost optimisation is the driving force behind NNPC’S profitablity.
Awoyomi spoke during an interactive session with young engineers at the ongoing Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) 2021 Conference on Tuesday in Lagos.
He said the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act ( PIA) was a game changer for the petroleum sector with the aim of enhancing commercial, profit and sustainability of the NNPC and its subsidiaries.
The NETCO boss said : “In 2020, when others were facing losses, NNPC was able to break a 44 year jinx by declaring a N287 billion profit.
“What the management of the NNPC did was to improve cost effectiveness by ensuring that operating cost was reduced while also improving profit accruing to the National Oil Company.
“These huge profits were made as a result of the NNPC’s top management deployment of Cost Optimisation Initiatives.”
Awoyomi noted that cost optimisation was very key in the face of challenges facing the industry caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and global energy transition.
He said going forward, the NNPC was targeting to reduce the contracting cycle from 18 months to six months and is working to reduce the Unit Operating Cost of crude oil production to $10 per barrel.
Awoyomi, therefore advised the young engineers to imbibe the principles of cost engineering which is devoted to the management of project cost, involving such activities as estimating, cost control, cost forecasting, investment appraisal and risk analysis.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
