The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari, has told operators of the oil and gas firms not to be dismay about the recently amended Deep Offshore Act as the amendment has been overdue decades ago.
The NNPC boss disclosed this during a gathering of oil and gas industry stakeholders at the 2019 and 37th annual international conference of Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationist (NAPE) held in Lagos, that the amendment of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act was not unexpected and long overdue.
He said: “The conditions that called for changes to the Act were met as far back as 2003 and so the industry expected this to happen. Therefore, that the expected changes were not implemented then as a result of market downturn due to inflation and oil price crash in subsequent years wouldn’t have made changes unexpected.”
However, the NNPC chief assured players in the oil and gas industry that the corporation was committed to pushing legislations that would protect their investment in the country. He urged them to arrest the trend of depleting oil reserves by galvanising industry leaders and partners to embrace exploration for more oil and gas reserves using emerging technologies in order for the country to meet its target of 40 billion barrels oil reserves by 2023.
He also stated that investing in Nigeria remains a viable option for oil majors such as Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total and Agip, as the chances of finding oil was very high especially in the Niger Delta region.
President of NAPE, Mr Ajibola Oyebamiji, listed the influence of digitalisation to the oil and gas industry, how it is helping the industry’s current operations and opening up opportunities for new business models.
He said: “The petroleum industry has always been in the forefront of developing technology to support her objectives growing from 2D to 3D to 4D technologies. We have developed and are moving on new and existing technologies, applying new advances across the industry and continue to ensure the world’s energy needs are being met safely, sustainably and competently through the best of our means.”
“Technology would change the oil and gas sector over the next decade, reduce cost and increase operational transparency.”
He noted the importance of government, policy makers and stakeholders to have the knowledge of how technological changes can be deployed and sustained in developing countries, and as a key driver in guaranteeing energy security and diversification, thereby boosting industrial development especially in the Nigeria.