Oil & Gas
By Ejenike Chukwuma
THE three-day 7th edition of the Sub-Saharan International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC) hosted by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) opened on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 in Lagos.
The event, which aims to stimulate energy integration in Africa, is being attended by leading energy, oil and gas corporations in Africa.
Speaking before the first plenary session, Tony Attah, former chief executive officer, CEO, and managing director, MD, Nigerian LNG who moderated the panel session, stated that about 600 million people in Africa have no access to electricity, which is why the continent is experiencing massive deforestation.
“About four million people, women and children die yearly from smoke,” he said, as he chaired the memorandum of understanding, MOU, signed between Nigeria and Senegal.
The MOU is to guide the support of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, for the development of local content in Senegal.
In her presentation, Proscovia Nabbanja, the chief executive officer, CEO, of the Ugandan National Oil Company, UNOC, highlighted the structure of UNOC.
“We own 15% participating interest in Tilenga and Kingfisher field development projects, the EACOP (East African Crude Oil Pipeline) is a 1,445km and 24 Inch diameter heated pipeline, we’re also developing the Petrobest Industrial park, which is a 29.9 square kilometer of land that is intended to have the Anchor projects, the Refinery itself, the export hub and the second international Airport in Uganda and our intention is to open up that industrial park for Industries that feed off the products of the Refinery and those that supply goods and services to the Upstream and Midstream segments,” she said.
“The whole pack figure for investments for UNOC in particular is about $1 billion and when we ran our modules, we anticipate to return $10 billion, which means for every dollar we invest, we’re going to return 10 dollars,” she added.
Similarly, Babuocarr Nije, managing director, Gambia National Petroleum Corporation, said that the mainstream of the Gambian economy was agriculture.
“GNPC was enacted as a corporation in 2014, and the GNPC deals with operation of petroleum, the commission regulates and manages the midstream and downstream sector,” he said.
“In 2017, we had 2D data reprocessing and FAR/PETRONAS JV drilled SAMO-1 well with Oil and Gas,” he added.
He stated that Gambia is a formidable force and open for business and if they had $1 billion, it will probably transform the entire Oil and Gas landscape, and investors should be rest assured that they will reap the benefits.
Atty. Saifuah-Mai Gray, President, National Oil Company of Liberia, NOCAL, stated that Liberia has 2D 34,000sq-km and 3D 34,000sq-km of seismic data.
“What we’ve done so far is to look out ways that we can encourage companies to currently assimilate the data prior to 2021, coming to Liberia you have to license the data and we found out that was too expensive, especially for smaller companies in Africa, we’ve introduced proper and new methods as to how you can acquire Liberia’s data,” she said.
Thierno Seydou, PETROSEN general manager, said that regarding the oil and gas activities in Senegal established since 1950, more than 180 wells had been drilled in Senegal.
“We’ve made some marginal discoveries, the major discovery was made in 2014,” he said.
Elizabeth Rogo, CEO, Tsavo Oilfield Services and Non-Executive Board Director, National Oil Company of Kenya, said Kenya was much more of a gas prone country and there’s still a lot more exploration going on.
“In terms of oil and gas, many of you have heard of the big discovery that was made by Tullow Oil and we’re still transitioning into fuel development, I would like to point out the potential for geothermal, which is 944mw as to date,” she said.
“We’re the holder of the government backing right and run a profitable data centre,” she added.
Amadou Hassane, Exploration and Production, E&P, director, Ministry of Petroleum, Republic of Niger, said that his country was Uranium producer.
“We produce about 20,000 barrels of oil per day; the government has many incentives for investors,” he added.
Realnews reports that the second day of the conference featured the African content series, which is hosted by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, and the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, PETAN.
The African Content Series is a full-day insight-giving session for delegates on local content policies from across the African Oil-Producing countries.
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Tags: GNPC NCDMB NOCAL PETAN PETROSEN SAIPEC UNOC
