VIENNA, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Bashir Bayo Ojulari, CEO of the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), hailed China's clean energy development and the country's role in driving world economic growth during a recent interview with Xinhua.

Ojulari made the remarks last week when he was attending the 9th Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) international seminar in Vienna.

"It's very clear that China's economy has grown significantly for what we can see, and also China has already pivoted into clean energy, which is very impressive," he said, adding that a lot of economic growth in China comes not only from traditional businesses, but also from energy transition.

He said solar systems and other forms of energy in China are "quite mature."

"I think what is interesting now is taking that maturity of energy transition into providing and meeting what I call energy security for most developing countries," he said.

Speaking of the Chinese economy's contribution to the world, he said China's economic growth is "far beyond the borders of China" and is driving growth in Africa and other parts of the world, particularly in developing countries.

"It's very clear that growth will be very supportive to the rest of the world," he added.

The CEO of the Nigerian energy giant also said that China maintains a "reasonable" mix of hydrocarbon during the energy transition.

"In terms of our gas-based industries, we've seen a lot of Chinese technology which are very cost-effective and very, very efficient. We're trying to grow our gas industry," he said, adding that the NNPC and China have been in deep cooperation on many fronts.

He said the NNPC values the collaborations with Chinese companies and looks for future cooperation opportunities.

For the industrialization that Nigeria is pursuing, he said that "China represents a great example where we can learn a lot. So working with Chinese companies to achieve this objective is something that I think is very important for us." ■