IBE Kachikwu, minister of state for Petroleum Resources, has stressed “Our importation of petroleum products will be reduced to 60 percent by 2018 and 0 percent by 2020.” By 2019, Kachikwu sees Nigeria as a net exporter of petroleum products and value-added petrochemicals achieved by an aggressive revamping of existing local refining capacity and expansion of domestic capacity.

The second Win of the roadmap is the creation of a business environment and investment drive that will accelerate income for Nigeria in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil industry. Felix Amieye-Ofori, CEO, Energia sees “more Nigerians getting stakes in the exploration and production side of the business, to an extent that we may be able to mark 50 percent of production to come from independents within the next three to four years.” Since Nigeria has not been maximising its yields from all these sectors, the strategy includes a review of existing joint ventures, attracting investment in non-associated gas initiatives and implementing a long-term maintenance programme.

A GAS REVOLUTION

A Gas Revolution is emerging in the Giant of Africa and the government’s third Win identifies its potential of moving from an oil-based economy to a gas-based economy.

As the ninth-largest gas reserve holder in the world, the ultimate objective is to develop gas infrastructure, revolutionise gas projects, implement a gas commercial framework and maximise the use of gas to power for economic development. “I don’t think Nigeria can do without oil and gas. If you consider a company like ours, that has projects worth up to US$200 million, these are projects that the oil companies must execute. If they want to maintain their status quo in terms of production, they must optimise to do it,” explained Alcon Managing Director, Gerardo Della Santa. If fully optimised, Nigeria could move its

position to the fourth-largest gas producing economy in the world. As its fourth Win, Buhari’s team intends to enhance the utilisation capacity of local refineries to guarantee the supply and distribution of petroleum products across Nigeria and the African sub-region.

Fundamental to the success of this entire roadmap is the establishment of a secure environment. Essential to attracting investment, the fifth Win focuses on the Niger Delta, an area with 159 oil fields, 275 flow stations, 1,481 oil wells and more than 7,000km of crude oil products, gas pipelines and flow lines. The upsurge of militant attacks on oil and gas installations within the region caused a significant reduction in oil and gas production but, as Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru points out “We’ve been able to adjust ourselves accordingly to handle these

threats especially since the government security forces have entered the scene, reducing the level of theft to 10 percent.” In short, the goal is to win peace and progress through diplomacy and a deployment of the dividends of oil wealth to impact the lives of those that suffer the collateral damage of oil exploration and exploitation.

For the sixth Win, Buhari expresses “there is also a dire need to instil a new culture of transparency and efficiency in the industry, streamline operations along best practices by championing and implementing strategic reforms at every layer of the industry.” They acknowledge this direction would help to improve production, exploration, local refining capacity and perhaps most importantly, build sustainable partnerships.

The last Win of the roadmap concentrates on Stakeholder Management and International Co-ordination, which essentially aims to eliminate all production obstacles and ensure the visibility of Nigeria in the global oil production. “As part of the reforms, businesses can now be registered online and this goes on 24 hours a day non-stop, in a very expeditious manner,” says Umana Okon Umana, General Managing Director, OGFZA. “So those bottlenecks have now been removed and the paperwork eliminated.”

The vision behind the 7 Big Wins is commendable, especially the energy and passion behind Kachikwu’s efforts thus far. With the focus on transparency and efficiency, as well as the commitment to the Niger Delta, “I see Nigeria occupying a very unique position within Africa and the world committee as well” affirms Oluseyi Makinde, General Managing Director, Makon. The roadmap will provide huge investment opportunity in infrastructure development, oil and gas facilities, operations and maintenance across the entire value chain. By focusing on harnessing the full potential of Nigeria’s people and its bountiful resources, the 7 Big Wins provides a comprehensive roadmap that leads towards a new dawn not only in Nigeria but also for the whole of Africa.

– culled from Petroleum Periscope October 2017

–  Nov 6, 2017 @ 15:55 GMT |