Russian oil and gas firm, Russneft, partly owned by oil-to-telecoms group Sistema, has disclosed that it was ready to invest in Africa's largest oil and gas industry.The intention emerged after some European Union (EU) parliamentarians who said they were concerned about developments in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's main oil and gas producing region, scheduled a fact-finding visit to the region in April 2012 .Russneft Director, Mr. Sergey Bakhir, said: 'We came to inform the Nigerian government of our interest to invest in the country's oil and gas industry. We have the capability and the finance if given the approval to invest.'Nigeria produces more than two million barrels per day of oil and holds the world's seventh-largest gas reserves, which due to a lack of investment, mismanagement and poor infrastructure are largely untapped.Investment has stalled recently because wide-ranging energy reforms have been stuck in parliament for years, meaning new investors don't know how much tax they will pay in the future or what the regulatory framework will look like.Vice President Namadi Sambo, after meeting with Bakhir, said: 'We need foreign investors that will build new refineries and increase the availability of oil products in Nigeria. We also want to increase the gas capacity for both export and local use, foreign investors are welcomed.'A member of the parliament, Mr. Dennis de Jong, who disclosed this at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, said a four-man delegation from the Development Committee would embark on the trip.According to him, the EU was interested in finding out the true situation on the activities of European multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, stating that oil firms had already been informed of the visit.Jong said: 'The oil companies operating in the Niger Delta have been informed of our plan to visit. They have agreed even though they are not happy that we are visiting.'He said the visit would help the EU with a proper report on the Niger Delta situation, adding that the concern of the EU was predicated, among others, on the lack of transparency and best practices in Nigeria's oil industry, which included the issue of pollution and degradation of the Niger Delta environment.The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley uku, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, in his response, expressed appreciation to the parliamentarians for the decision to visit the Niger Delta.He said: 'When I heard from Mr Dennis de Jong that your committee is coming to the Niger Delta I was elated. That was one of the reasons this invitation was honoured as fast as possible because I want you to come and see for yourself. Why are the oil companies blocking you from coming to the Niger Delta' Come there and see.'It is because they know they don't comply with international standards. You take so much oil and you say your people should not come to the Niger Delta. Why are you not rejecting the oil' They know you people believe in justice.'They know things you don't take in your country that they are doing there. They know that the Niger Delta communities will not protest again and that you will protest here for us; you will agitate for us,' he added.
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