Officials of Nigeria and Norway have held a meeting in Abuja to assess the progress that has been made since the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) by the two countries in February 2000 for cooperation and development of oil and gas related industries.

The meeting which held earlier this week at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja was the second since the MOU was signed over seven years ago. The first assessment meeting was held in London in 2001.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the meeting, Nigeria’s Minister of state for Energy in charge of Petroleum, Mr. H Odein Ajumogobia, said that given the fact that significant time has elapsed since the MOU was signed, there was need to review the agreement.

Mr. Ajumogobia also highlighted some of the benefits that Nigeria has derived from the MOU. He re-iterated government’s plans to monetize the nation’s gas resources to move away from a situation where the nation’s economy is largely dependent on petroleum. He said that both countries stood to benefit more from the cooperation by coming up with guidelines that would be transparent and open.

The Minister told the Norwegians that the on-going reform in the Nigerian oil and gas sector offered new opportunity for cooperation between the two countries. Responding, the Norwegian leader of delegation and Deputy Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Mrs. Liv Monica Bargem Stubholt, described Nigeria as a nation holding the keys to tackling some of the challenges in the West African sub-region.

Mrs. Stubholt said that one of the pillars for the cooperation between Nigeria and Norway was to address the demand for energy which is increasing world wide stressing that producing countries have an obligation to rise up to the challenge and meet the demand. She commended Nigeria for her commitment to the Nigerian Extractive industry Transparency initiative.