Houston — First Bank of Nigeria Plc has committed over N500 billion to financing oil and gas projects in Nigeria as part of efforts to enhance local capacity and competitiveness, its Executive Director for Corporate Banking Mr. Kehinde Lawanson has said.

Lawanson, addressing a session attended by international petroleum professionals and investors at the just concluded Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas said the amount represents the bank's total financing activities for the upstream, midstream, and downstream sub-sectors of the oil and gas industry.

He said: "First Bank is widely acknowledged as the leading player in oil and gas financing and has a proven pedigree of providing both financial and advisory backing for players in the sector. Our total play in the oil and gas business as at 2011 was well over N500 billion.

"We are committed to growing our involvement in the oil and gas industry and assisting particularly indigenous firms take full advantage of the opportunities in the industry in line with the Nigerian local content act."