NCDMB Boss, Wabote Reveals Five Key Investment Opportunties For Oil & Gas Players To Boost Sector’s Contribution To GDP

The theme of the event was “Oil & Gas Industry – Catalyst and Fuel for the Industrialization of Nigeria.”

It was attended by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mele Kyari; representative of the Governor of Bayelsa State and Commissioner for Mineral Resources, Ebiere Jones; the Managing Director of SPDC and Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria,Osagie Okunbor; the Executive Vice President – Gas, Power & New Energies, NNPC Ltd Abdulkabir Ahmed; the
NNPC Ltd Chief Upstream Investment Officer, Mr Bala Wunti, and other dignitaries.

Wabote said the theme reflects the pivotal role that the oil and gas industry is expected to play in driving the economic growth and development of Nigeria.

He said in recent times, the role expected of the oil and gas industry has been dwindling due to missed opportunities as a result of policy inconsistencies, deferred decisions, and investments apathy.

He recalled that in 2022, the oil sector contribution to economic growth dropped behind Agriculture, Trade, Telecommunications/ICT, and Real Estate.

Wabote added that it is with this understanding that the Board designed NOGOF with the objectives to showcase opportunities in the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream sectors of the Petroleum Industry; provide opportunity for foreign and local investors to build synergies in the Nigerian oil and gas industry; provide Nigerian companies and prospective investors an opportunity to showcase their capabilities and provide stakeholders with information on upcoming projects to enable Nigerian companies/manufacturers tailor their business development strategies.

He also added that the need to identify high impact activities with potential for in-country value addition with a 5-year outlook to deepen the practice of Nigerian Content.

The NCDMB Boss gave the five areas where investors can take advantage of as policy-driven opportunities, people-driven opportunities, fund-driven opportunities, infrastructure-driven opportunities and situational opportunities

Providing further details, he said, ‘Opportunities-driven by policies, guidelines, regulations, and statutes are attractive to investors as there is clarity on the framework governing their business endeavours.

“For instance, in 2021, Mr President declared the Decade of Gas which among others seek to stimulate the development and utilization of gas resources for increased domestic utilization and export towards generating more revenue for the nation.

“Other policies such as the automotive gas policy advocates for the use of CNG as an alternative fuel for vehicles and this has also created a vista of opportunities in the supply and installation of conversion kits in vehicles to enable it use of CNG.

“Several industries have also installed kits to enable their power generating plants to utilize CNG and in some cases LNG instead of diesel to manage cost.

“These policy initiatives have led to creation of several businesses and a surge in local utilisation of gas. For example, the annual consumption of LPG increased from 360,000tonnes in 2015 to 1.4million tonnes in 2022.

“We have introduced and widened the options for accessing interventions even further with our $300 million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund with BOI, our $50 million Nigerian Content R&D Fund, and our $50 million NOGaPS Manufacturing Fund.

“Over 70 companies have so far benefited from the intervention funds for asset acquisition, manufacturing, loan refinancing, and project financing.

“The forensic audit of remittances into the Nigerian Content Development Fund also opened up opportunities for 25 audit companies engaged to check the books of about 150 companies,” he added.

The NCDMB Boss said that the Board will continue to put in place some building blocks to support value retention in-country.

The Bayelsa Governor in his address said the government will continue to ensure a safe environment for business to thrive.

He said, “We should as government ensure the safety of our environment. When the environment is not safe, the people will revolt.

“The implementation programme for the PIA is taking a lot of time particularly the host community development trust. We are in an environment where the terrain is bad, we urge you to work with the government to assist the communities where you operate.”

In his address at the event, the NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari urged all stakeholders to join the NNPC in growing crude oil and had production.

He said with the coming on stream of Dangote Refineries next week, the NNPC will be supplying 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day to dangote.

He said, “We want to address the energy challenges so that industrialization can come to the country. 48 per cent of all revenue that comes to government comes from the oil and gas sector and we are in a very good position to support the growth of the economy.”

Kyari urged all stakeholders to join the NNPC in growing crude oil and had production.

Also speaking during a panel session, Wunti said the NNPC Ltd and its partners have successfully confronted a trilemma of challenges and are poised to increase national production output and usher in a new era of growth and opportunities in the Nigerian Upstream Oil and Gas Industry.

Wunti dwelt on the successes recorded in the last twelve months as a panacea for growth and unlocking opportunities in the Nigerian Upstream Oil and Gas Industry.

In his address, after painting the global scenario of energy transition versus energy security and the effects on global energy supply chain, he established the nexus between the challenges faced by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry prior to the 2022 production output dip, the response to the challenges, and the implications for the Nigerian economy.