Mobil $35bn Akwa Ibom Investment

Mobil Producing Nigeria, MPN, plans to establish a 35-billion-dollar gas plant in Akwa Ibom State as part of efforts to increase the utilisation of the country’s huge hydrocarbon reserves.

Last week, top management of the company held a closed-door meeting with Governor Godswill Akpabio in Uyo, the state capital.

Though no statement was issued at the end of the meeting, it was learnt that both parties discussed issues on the take-off of the plant including its location and community assistance programmes.

Business Day has gathered that the company plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government soon. Already, the state government has indicated its readiness to provide basic infrastructure including the provision of land for the project.

Governor Akpabio gave this indication when he received Akwa Ibom State indigenes in Rivers State. "We had a meeting with Mobil, they are coming in with a very big project that will cost $35 billion, the first of such a project in the country," the governor said.

Known as Gas-TO-Gasoline project, the governor said the plant would be completed with harbour and other accessories. He said with the project, Akwa Ibom would become an investor’s haven.

Mobil is the second largest oil producer in the country and contributes significantly to the socio-economic development of the state through its community-assistance programme.

The decision of the company to establish a gas plant in the state is part of steps taken to facilitate its relocation to the Akwa Ibom in line with a presidential directive.