FG To Offer First IPO Of NNPC’s Assets In 2018 – OPEC President

The federal government is planning to hold its first initial public offering (IPO) of assets owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 2018, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, has said.
“It’s inevitable,” Kachikwu, who also heads the NNPC, said on Tuesday in an interview in Abu Dhabi.
“Part of the cleaning up process that we’re doing is to prepare for that,” Bloomberg quoted him as stating.
The plan is to sell NNPC’s shares in its refining and distribution business and “select” exploration and production assets to the public, he said.

NNPC manages Nigeria’s stakes in joint ventures with international oil companies that pump the country’s crude. It also operates refineries and a distribution network of depots and pipelines across the country of about 180 million people.

Kachikwu also said yesterday that some members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had requested an emergency meeting, adding that current market conditions support the need to hold such a gathering before the June 2 scheduled meeting of the cartel.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), however, moved to quash talks of a potential emergency meeting as the country’s Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said that the current OPEC strategy was working, adding that a period of between one and one-and-a-half years was needed to allow oil prices to rebound.

Reuters quoted Kachikwu as telling reporters at an energy conference in Abu Dhabi that there was a lot of push from various blocs within OPEC for the meeting.
“A couple of countries, I don’t want to mention names,” he said when asked if any had requested holding an emergency meeting.