NANFeatures/Vol.11/No.85/2017 (June 6)
Utilising the lessons from Offshore Technology Conference
A News Analysis by Yetunde Bada, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) holds annually featuring exhibition and focused discussions on the development of offshore energy resources, especially oil and natural gas.
The latest edition of the conference was held in May in Houston, Texas, U.S, which attracted several industry leaders and 2,700 exhibitors from around the world.
Nigeria as the sixth largest producer of oil was represented by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), among other government parastatals and various oil and oil servicing companies.
Justifying the position of the country in that regard, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said as an oil-producing nation, Nigeria had no business importing petrol.
“I think that anything you set your mind to achieve as human beings you can achieve, I am a very optimistic person.
“What does it take to get us out to a point where at least most of our refineries are fairly at 90 per cent production levels?
“We’ve been able to do a pie chart that shows us we will be able to deliver on the 2019 spectrum.
“But the way I see it, even if in 2019 we don’t achieve 100 per cent of our target, I still will reduce importation substantially and it is better than not doing anything,’’ he said.
He said the Federal Government had also disclosed plans to restructure activities of illegal oil miners in the Niger Delta into consortia.
He observed that a possible way to augment local refining from the nation’s three ailing refineries was by building modular refineries.
“Now that the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has visited the area, I will go round and make a workable plan to kick-start the modular refineries, we need to move away from state-ism to a pan-Nigerian development.
“We have to boost local refinery. The concept of producing crude and selling it off barrel per barrel is policy we have to look at.
“I hate to sit over a ministry where we can’t be self-sustaining. The Niger Delta has shown that it can cooperate and ensure peace if focus is on developing the region.
“In the past few weeks, we have had open and prospective discussions with some of the refiners and government is assiduously working to ensure that this initiative is carefully implemented without destruction to the environment.
“This will not only provide a legal job and source of income for the populace, but also contribute to our national productivity,’’ he said.
Kachikwu also said the Federal Government would go ahead with the Zabazaba deepwater project in Oil Prospecting Lease in spite of controversies surrounding the oil bloc.
According to him, the project, which is to be carried by the Federal Government, Shell and the Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd., will go on as scheduled and the protracted dispute on the bloc with Malabu Oil and Gas will not affect it.
The Zabazaba Deepwater is a Greenfield offshore licence bloc located in the OPL 245 in the eastern portion of the Niger Delta region with water depths ranging from 1,200 metres to 2,400 metres.
“We have cumulative number of projects that are coming back which should be between now and next year to give us additional 700,000 barrels over and above the 2.2 million barrels per day.
“That is why I can say with confidence that we are in a position to move up to 3 million barrels very quickly,’’ said.
Another key decision taken at the conference was that the Federal Government was ready to revoke unutilised licenses given to individuals and corporate organisations for private refineries.
Kachikwu said the Federal Government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo had granted licenses to some private and corporate concerns to build refineries but only Alhaji Aliko Dangote put it to use.
He said he had met with officials of the DPR, the industry regulator and the government would apply appropriate sanctions to erring license holders.
Kachikwu further said in future, he would love to see the oil and gas world coming to Nigeria for an event similar to OTC.
“I am hoping that we will set up our own time to be at least a month before the OTC. If you do it at the same time with the OTC, some of the companies will be torn between being here and there.
“I have held talks with about seven of my co-ministers in Africa and they have expressed a lot of interests.
“It is going to be a lot of work next year and this is not anti-OTC, it is just us trying to bring the resources to our country,’’ he said.
The minister also observed that all was set for international oil companies to relocate their headquarters to the Niger Delta region.
“Preponderance of oil companies have what you call their operational headquarters in a lot of the Niger Delta areas what they don’t have is headquarters.
“I have tried to let the states know that there is a difference between administrative headquarters and where the work is done.
“I am focused more on operational headquarters than administrative headquarters and on physical presence.
“So, there are certain basic infrastructures that you have to put in place for those things to work.
Some participants at the conference observed that if properly harnessed and implemented, the decisions and gains from the conference would uplift the living standards of Nigerians.(NANFeatures)
**If used, please credit the writer as well as News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)