Dr. Bello Gusau, the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has said that the need to unlock hydrocarbon resources in inland basin has become necessary in other to meet Nigeria’s growing energy demand for sustainable economic development.
Gusau said this in Nsukka during the PTDF’s workshop organized by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka PTDF Chair Professor, Prof Ayonma Mode 2022/Exploration and Production workshop.
The workshop tagged: “Integrated Approach to Unlocking the Hydrocarbon Potential of Cretaceous Basins: The Case of the Anambra Basin and the Southern Benue Trough, Nigeria” had participants drawn from academia and the petroleum industry.
Gusau said that the workshop was expected to proffer lasting solutions to several national issues such as the challenges militating against petroleum exploration and exploitation in the cretaceous basins of the country.
“The workshop theme has bearing on the intent and focus of the mandate of the PTDF which is the development of relevant indigenous competencies and capacities that will provide the nation with efficient and effective mechanisms for the utilization of its abundant oil and gas resources.
“I believe that this workshop has the necessary intellectual base and platform to proffer workable solutions to further unlock the inherent potential of the sector,” he said.
The executive secretary who was represented by Mr. Mannir Abubakar, the head of PTDF Research and Documentation said further that PTDF as an agency of the Federal Government was established in act 25 of 1973 as amended in the PTDF Act of 1990 was saddled with the responsibility of developing capacities, capabilities, and competencies of Nigerians in the oil and gas industry.
“The fund has over the years developed and executed various laudable programmes and projects for the development of indigenous manpower a d technology in the oil and gas industry geared towards the effective utilization of Nigerian crude oil resources.
“The professorial endowment programmes have made a tremendous impact in developing relevant capacities in the sector.
“PTDF will continue to support cutting-edge research that will be of significant benefit to the entire value chain of the Nigeria oil industry,” he said.
The PTDF boss commended PTDF professorial chair (Mode) in UNN for the diligence, commitment, and hard work that he had continuously displayed in discharging his duty as the PTDF chair in Petroleum Geology UNN.
“Mode’s different intellectual and scholastic contributions at different fora as the PTDF chair has significantly justified the huge resources the Fund has committed to the endowment,” he said.
In a remark, Prof Charles Igwe, the Vice Chancellor of UNN commended the PTDF professorial chair in UNN for the workshop which he said will go a long way to provide solutions to some of the challenges in the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas in Anambra Basin.
“I do not doubt that at the end of the workshop solutions towards unlocking the Hydrocarbon resources in the Anambra basin would be provided,” he said.
The VC who was represented by Prof Johnson Urama, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic urged the participants to give the workshop all the necessary attention it deserves to find solutions towards moving the oil and gas industry to the next level.
Earlier in a remark, Mode (PTDF Professorial Chair in UNN) said that the workshop that brought experts from both academia and the oil industry was mainly to discuss how to unlock hydrocarbon resources.
“This workshop is focused on the best approach to ensure that the potentially vast hydrocarbon resources of Anambra basin and Southern Benue Trough are unlocked for the benefit of the nation, as experts from both industry and academia would be speaking on topical issues about the theme of the workshop,” he said.
Mode commended PTDF for their investment in the university professorial chair, promising that they would continue to do their best in engaging in research works that will move the oil and gas industry to a greater height.
Some of the participants interviewed by our reporter expressed their appreciation to the organizers of the workshop noting that the outcome would go a long way in solving some of the challenges facing oil and gas exploration and exploitation in the inland basins of the country.