The Governor Lagos State, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola in his address last week at an event organised by National Annual International Conference and Exhibition (NAICE) at Eko Hotel Lagos tagged ‘Africa’s Energy Corridor: Opportunities for Oil and Gas Value Maximization through Integration and Global Approach’ calls on African countries to examine opportunities and strategies to improve utilization of its oil and gas resources so as to maximise the benefits of energy efficiency in the continent.
He further stated that as a continent, Africa should seek to implement a framework policy that will harness its energy resources as well as the resourcefulness of its entrepreneurs and its industrial and financial sectors , that this will guide the deployments of energy projects by both the public and private sector.
He also urged African to combine improvements in energy supply with the introduction of economically productive activities so as to improve the quality of life and the economy at the same time.
He advocates for good rapport between the producers and consumers of energy to have a sense of security of demand and supply so that energy production will be sustained. According to him ‘we have a collective duty to guarantee energy security, and it should be supported by integrated energy resource planning’
In her address also, the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke highlighted the challenges the Oil and Gas industry is facing in Nigeria and the milestone it has attained despite these challenges and also the determination of the president to ensure that Nigerian Oil and Gas potentials are fully exploited and realized.
According to her, in 2013, Nigeria sustained an average crude oil and condensate production of 2.30 million barrels per day, gas production of 7.6billion cubic feet per day despite crude oil theft and deferment which the country, an average of 215 thousand barrels per day during the same period.
She further stated that despite the security challenges in Borno State, the federal government has successfully completed 250km2 phase V 3D Seismic acquisition in Chad basin and immediately started the 200km2 phase VI programme in addition to the acquisition of Aeromagnetic data that covers the entire frontier basins.
She said that the milestone was reached despite oil theft and pipeline vandalism. She therefore calls on Nigerians to recognise and declare the pipelines as national assets and said that the next step is to organise and harmonise all the institutions responsible for pipeline infrastructure protection and appropriate investment towards this direction for effectiveness.
Also addressing participants at the event is Mr Bernard Oboarekpe, chairman Society of Petroleum Engineer (SPE), And Nigerian Council. In his speech, he intoned the awareness Nigerian Annual International Conference and Exhibition (NAICE) has created on potential investors and its positive effect on stakeholders.
He related that it is generally accepted that Africa will experience faster growing energy demand than other regions of the world over the next 20 years partly because of population growth and as a result of commercial development, therefore recent discoveries of oil and gas in many African countries like Ghana, Liberia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia etc should impact positively on the economy of the continent and improve value of life.
He further beckons on stakeholders to synergise to work towards maximising Africa’s rich potentials in oil and gas.
