State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and multinational oil companies are to spend 41 billion US dollars on oil and gas projects in the next five years in Africa's top oil producer, a top official of the NNPC said Friday.

Ernest Nwapa told reporters that the NNPC and the multinational oil companies would be introducing a joint communication system for contracts in the oil industry.

"This will be a joint qualification system for all the oil industry," the official News Agency of Nigeria quoted Nwapa as saying.

According to him, a Steering Committee, comprising members from all the stakeholders has already been set up to handle the project which will be launched this month.

Nwapa, meanwhile, said that the NNPC was to float a shipping line to handle transportation of crude oil.

"We have proposals from some Malaysian Shipping Companies who have oil vessels and they are also milling to go into MOU ( memorandum of understanding) with the NNPC," he said.

He said that the NNPC was also working on incorporating Nigerian shippers into the project as a way of encouraging them and creating more jobs.

Nwapa also urged the Nigeria Insurers Association to come up with an industry position that would guide the corporation in its intervention.

"The NNPC must be sure that the proper strategy is developed and that the insurance is well positioned to carry out obligations to the oil industry," he added.

Source: Xinhua