Oil & Gas
By Anthony Isibor
GBENGA Komolafe, Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, has said that the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, and other policies of the government and its corresponding regulations have the capacity to build a resilient and sustainable oil and gas industry in the country.
He also expressed confidence in all policies of the government, which are hinged on ensuring the full utilization of the country’s huge gas resources as a transition fuel towards cleaner energy sources.
Speaking at the Maiden PENGASSAN Annual Conference tagged Energy and Labour Summit, held in Abuja on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, Komolafe disclosed that the policies would enable the industry to latch onto critical socio-economic factors across the world to increase gas production, build a robust gas infrastructure that would entrench Nigeria as a gas hub across Africa and Europe and in turn create more jobs and attract investment across the petroleum value chain for the benefit of the Nigerian workforce.
According to him, the PIA, which took about two decades before it was signed into law, has since its passage brought about landmark reforms, clarity and investors’ confidence to oil and gas business in Nigeria.
Speaking on the topic “Energy Transition and its Effects on the Nigerian Workforce”, Komolafe noted that the Nigerian oil and gas industry through government policies has transformed from a foreign dominated industry to an industry with many indigenous players pulling their weight positively across operations in the petroleum value chain.
He also noted that Chapter 5, Section 314 of the PIA guaranteed that no staff of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources, PEF and PPPRA would lose his or her job as a result of the transition to the Commission and Authority.
“This policy as enshrined in the PIA resulted in the first major interagency reform that resulted in a 100% job retainment of all staff by the government. Evidently, the PIA aims to facilitate more jobs within the oil and gas sector via new policy thrusts that shall drive investment and create value for 200 million Nigerians.
“However, the current energy transition which has been largely driven first by policies suffered various setbacks because of techno-economic flaws (such as storage concerns due to intermittency of solar and wind energy and price of energy from clean sources) which does not support a natural transition towards the new energy technology by the larger part of the world at this time.
This concern coupled with other critical social externalities such as world geopolitics, energy security and energy access have the potential to stall the justification for ‘’fast energy transition’’ to cleaner energy sources due to the socio-economic imbalance that this may cause around the world.
He, however, noted that although the speed of the energy transition is uncertain, its ultimate aim is towards a low-carbon future, and called on the government to ensure the strict adherence to low carbon emission agreement.
“As you know, during COP 26 more than 150 countries have put forward new or updated emissions targets, with several African countries, including Nigeria, making various commitments to restrict methane emissions, halt and reverse forest loss, phase out coal, and end international financing for fossil fuels.
“Nigeria committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2060. Undoubtedly, these commitments pose a challenge to the oil industry, but there-in lies huge opportunities that can be leveraged upon to position ourselves strongly in the new energy landscape.
“Moreover, I believe that energy transition towards low carbon emission is valid, however, considering the fact that developing nations contribute a negligible amount to global carbon emission, they should be allowed to produce fossil fuels in a sustainable manner and utilise the proceeds to catalyse economic growth and shared prosperity based on the principle of a just energy transition.
“Ultimately, as the Energy transition draws closer, the government will develop robust just transition policies that will provide guidelines on how oil and gas professionals can leverage on their core technical expertise to pivot to other clean energy sources,” he added.
A.I
Tags: Gbenga Komolafe NUPRC PENGASSAN
