By Abisola THOMPSON
Stakeholders in the oil and gas have called for more collaborations among African leaders to develop and harness oil exploration frontiers.
The stakeholders made the remarks at the second edition of the Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja on Monday themed “Shaping the Future through Efficiency and Innovation’’.
Mr Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) said there was need for African leaders to wake up and collaborate to develop the oil and gas sector in the region.
Wabote said that the time had come for African leaders to domesticate local content in the country, adding that collaboration remained the key in driving innovation.
He stated that the future success of Africa’s onshore and offshore oil and gas activities largely depended on stakeholders’ collaboration through transparent and accountable process to propel growth agenda.
He said collaboration was becoming a new reality as oil and gas industry index returned highest score, “therefore needs to operate efficiently and effectively, reduce costs and create stakeholder value through operational excellence supported by innovation and technology’’.
The continent, he said had quality exploration potential evidenced by the existing developments awaiting approval, significant existing production and a highly skilled workforce.
“This makes onshore and offshore production activity very competitive and Africa has taken steps to grow and strengthen structures in its oil and gas sector which makes it more attractive.
The Country Chairman, Total Nigeria, Mr Nicolas Terraz, said that efficiency and innovation were key enablers if we had to work safer, reduce costs, make faster and better decisions to generally increased productivity.
Terraz, represented by the Deputy Managing Director, (Deep Water) Mr Ahmadu-Kida Musa, said `it necessary we share our best practices and experiences in this gathering to enable stakeholders adapt and quickly take actions that will sustain us in the far and immediate future’’.
He said that Total’s projects in Nigeria had been industry benchmarks with regard to efficiency and innovation.
He added that Egina would add 200, 000 barrels of oil per day to Nigeria’s current production and this represented about 10 per cent of Nigeria’s current production.
“With Egina, Total will be operating about 23 per cent of the national production and we are proud to be significant contributors in securing Nigeria’s oil and gas future. Egina set unprecedented records of local content and capacity building.
“For us, Egina stands as a great testament to Total’s commitment to Nigeria and our determination to support and advance local content development.
“77 per cent of man-hours worked on the project were done locally with 60,000 tons of equipment fabricated in Nigeria by local contractors,’’ he said
Mr Paul McGrath, Chairman, Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) said upstream oil and gas industry continued to be the centre of Nigerian economy, accounting for over 90 per cent of foreign exchange earnings and total output.
McGrath, also the Managing Director of ExxonMobil said OPTS members would continue to pursue and promote all genuine initiatives and efforts aimed at improving the fortunes of the industry for mutual benefit of all stakeholders.
According to him, with 37 billion barrels of oil reserves and 179 trillion cubic feet of discovered natural gas, the world’s 11th and 9th largest respectively, “Nigeria has the resource base to remain a leading hydrocarbon economy for the long term.
“It becomes urgent and critical that we build the right policy and regulatory framework that positions Nigeria as an oil and gas investment destination of choice.
“ We are hopeful that this summit will provide stakeholders – governments, operators and allied service providers, with the opportunity for frank and constructive discussions on the key issues impacting our industry and come up with practical solutions towards securing Nigeria’s oil and gas future.
“ We once again congratulate the Nigerian government, through the Ministry of Petroleum Resources on the success of the maiden edition of the NIPS which held in 2018.
“We are confident that these continued stakeholder engagements complimented by a conducive industry regulatory and legal framework will help achieve the country’s oil and gas objectives,’’ he said.
Mr Osagie Okunbor, Country Chairman, Shell Companies in Nigeria said, innovation was our second nature just as we relentlessly pursued efficiency.
“Shell has advanced laboratories to manage innovation. We continue to deploy these in our Nigerian businesses.
“For example, in Deep-water, as you have seen in the short clip, and in our support to innovative ideas by start-ups in alternative energy.
“Efficiency, especially with cost and innovation, is a force for good in transforming lives and tackling the big challenges as the world pursues cleaner and affordable energy.
“In Shell, we see gas as a cleaner means of powering economic change in Nigeria and Africa, hence our steady investments in this sector.
“I am confident that the thought leadership from this conference will add to existing body of ideas that will define a clearer vision and path towards a diversified industrial economy driven by gas.
“That is what we hope for in Shell and that is one reason why we are a major sponsor of the 2019 Nigeria International Petroleum summit,’’ he said.
Okunbo said that Shell was committed to be the preferred partner for growth as we strived to deliver the energy needs of today and the future.
He said Shell remained committed to keeping investment pipeline going in recognition of the contribution of the industry and the multiplier effect that could be created in the larger economy to overall growth desired by Nigerians.
TBI Africa quoted the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 3-day conference recorded about 4,000 delegates.
