Majorwaves Energy Report August 2020

Oladunni Owo is the author of the award-winning book: “BlackGold Refinery Business Made Easy-The Ultimate Guide To Making Big Money in Oil and Gas Refining’’. She is the president of Women in Energy, Oil and Gas (WEOG) Nigeria, a founding member of the Diversity Sectorial Working Group of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF), and belongs to a host of international women networks.

Owo is an experienced business executive, management consultant and an oil and gas expert with over 2 decades of professional experience and expertise spanning the entire energy value chain working at several management roles across the downstream, midstream and

upstream sectors of the industry.

She is currently the CEO and Principal consultant at BlackGold Authorities and Advisory Consult, an organisation focused on providing management consultancy, capacity building and advisory services for the oil and Gas Industry.

Being a Woman in STEM, she graduated with a Bachelor of Technology in Pure and Applied Mathematics, a MBA in Operational Research (OR) and a DBA in view. Excerpts of her interview with Jerome Onoja:

You authored a book on refineries in Nigeria. What informed it?

Yes, I did, but it is not specifically

for Nigeria, it is actually for all oil producing nations of the world. The title of the book is “BlackGold Refinery Business Made Easy-The Ultimate Guide to Making Big Money in Oil and Gas Refining’’.

The book was written to solve the problem of refining, close the knowledge gap in refining, encourage producing nations to refine their oil, make the best of the God-given resource and stop treating it as a typical buy and sell commodity. I wrote the book so that the knowledge can be dispersed everywhere and people can learn and take action.

I joined the oil and gas industry in the year 1995, as an undergraduate intern. It was those days when Nigerian University system was so

unstable with lots of ASUU strike. I was opportuned to work with National Oil and Chemical Marketing Company, now rebranded as Conoil after the Shell and NNPC equity divestment.

There were lots of issues in the oil and gas downstream industry. Frequent scarcity rocked the country, with a lot of queues at gas stations lasting close to 72 hours and sometimes five days, or more!

There were cases where EHSQ were compromised, leading to fire incidents in the gas stations, burnt cars and humans. For me, these were major national problem.

On the flip side, I understood according to OPEC, that Nigeria is the fifth largest oil and gas producing nation in the world. In my mind, I just could not reconcile the two situations. That got me really interested in the industry. I did not do that job like a typical intern. For me, it was a mission to see how this problem can be resolved and how we can actually have a proper match; that was the beginning of the journey.

I worked in National Oil’s regional office with the sales and distribution team and station dealers. Later, I worked in the IT department at the head office, Lagos. Afterward, I moved to Unipetrol which later got rebranded as Oando plc, after the AGIP and NNPC equity divestment. I worked in HR, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Strategy and Planning, Logistics , Projects, and Corporate Services . While serving in those capacities, I still had the mind of being a part of the solution to the industry problem. That mission drove my passion in the industry. How can we make this oil and gas a wealthgenerating resource for the nation and not just a typical commodity that people buy and sell?

While at Oando Plc, I touched virtually every part of the Industry, majorly downstream, some bit of midstream and some bit of upstream, it was a really engaging period.

What gave me that opportunity was my being a member of the team that implemented a major ERP system for the organization as a subject matter expert

and I had an overview of the business model for the entire organization and all its subsidiaries spanning the upstream, midstream, gas and power, services, downstream marketing and distribution designing business process models.

I realized that the distinct challenge in downstream is still the same in the upstream and midstream. That was when I discovered that the major problem was that in Nigeria,

the oil and gas resource is being treated as a typical buy and sell commodity as against it being a major resource.

It is meant to be a transformational resource with the capacity and capability to transform resources like educational resource; human resource; infrastructure, and others.

There is meant to be significant transformation in the nation by virtue of Nigeria hosting this God given extractive the oil and gas but unfortunately that is not so rather we explore and produce the crude oil then sell it out to other nations. In the days where crude oil was US$150 or US$120 per barrel it seemed ok to just explore the oil, sell it out and not go through the stress of refining, which turns it into real wealth. It is only when you refine the crude that you have the real wealth.

Recently I did an exposition on the real value of a barrel of crude. There was a research done about 5 years ago on the true financial value of a barrel of oil post refining. It was discovered that this crude that is currently sold at about US$40 per barrel can actually be worth close to $2,500 per barrel when refined. The people buying it from us are not just going to use it as crude oil but will refine it and turn it into useful products and materials that can create wealth. The reason why Dubai has become what it is today is because they treated and traded their oil as a transformational resource and used it to enhance their tourism industry.

In 2012, I took a break off active employment to really do some research and studies. I discovered that the story hadn’t changed much. We were still selling out the crude at

a $40, $60, $70 and importing the PMS, AGO, DPK, plastic, fertilizer, bitumen, asphalt, LPG and virtually everything else. It just did not add up.

In the course of my study, I consulted for an organisation on a refinery project called First Atlantic Independent Refinery, one of the eighteen firms licensed to build private refinery during President Obasanjo’s tenure. Consulting for the organization was like a learning curve for all of us, because we had to see how we could make refining work in Nigeria; how we could raise funds for the projects. That led to a lot of exposure in refining and other untapped parts of the industry such as petrochemicals, gas flare commercialisation etc.

I decided to reveal all my discoveries, I did not want to be selfish and leave it all to myself. I wanted people to be aware. There is a saying that goes: “There is power in knowledge; knowledge is power’’.

When people know better they will do better, so I decided to capture all my refining knowledge and research work and put it into a book, such that people can read , study it and see that refining is not so much of a big deal.

I remember during those research periods, I interviewed some top oil and gas executives in Nigeria from across downstream, midstream and upstream exploration and production, I asked them why they were not playing in the refining space. While some didn’t understand the process at all, others highlighted that it was not as profitable as it sounded.

Then I asked why would America be buying crude oil from Nigeria if it is not a profitable business? They are not drinking it, they refine and turn it to hundreds of useful products that are then sold back to us at huge price. That is the real wealth.

Yet, our industry executives are of the opinion that “There is no money in refining, the money comes in trickles and it is capital intensive”.

I agree it is capital intensive so

I added this to the challenge and began looking for refining solutions. I included project funding to the portfolio and here we are today. It’s so exciting to see that it’s now happening in Nigeria and some other African nation.

What has the reception of the book been like?

Very well.

I actually launched it in 2016, in the United States of America. Then, my book architect and mentor, Dr Raymond Aaron helped to give it a good outlook and it became an award winning book in America. I got an award for writing the book because it was a solution-driven book, to solve a major multinational problem. The reception has been pretty good in Nigeria and in other African countries.

It is selling on Amazon categorised under Amazon prime. Amazon took it up before I even made prints available for local consumption or distribution.

I really wanted people to pick my brain and learn from the book, the first 1000 copies were given out free at conferences and the industry events since 2016.

Aside the good reception, the impact has been fantastic. One of the major advocacies I have been projecting before and after writing the book are

the refining quick wins and quick fixes producing nations can leverage on, such as modular refining solution: a quick fix to closing refining gaps.

In 2017, my team and I were invited by the former minister of petroleum resources to discuss the possible refining quick fixes. In-country

capacity building and modular refining solution were our major discussion highlight. I appreciate the fact that they embraced that solution and now we are beginning to see increased modular refinery investments both private-sector driven and PPP driven. For me, that is a major feat to be celebrated.

It is heart-warming to see it happening “live” in Nigeria.

Now we have a total of about 16,000 barrel per day

Modular Refining capacity with others coming on stream soon.

I remain a strong advocate for domesticating our oil and gas supply chain; that is where the real wealth is.

What is your assessment of Nigeria’s overall crude oil refining of late, what would you recommend to be improved upon?

Yes, there have been improved activities because of the advocacy and campaigns for in-country refining. The truth of the matter is until Nigeria really sees refining as a solution and starts treating crude oil as a transformational resource we will just be singing the same song we have been singing.

It is great to see Dangote group make that massive refining investment, a totally green field business for the group. One would have expected that it was going to be one of the big players in the industry that would take up the business responsibility. That refinery is going to be a major one in Africa; the second or third largest in the world, the largest refinery in the world has a 900,000 barrels per day, capacity although it is growing old now. Dangote refinery is a 650,000 barrel per day capacity with complimentary petrochemical, fertilizer, power plants and so on. It is 70% completed. It is a massive plant.

The modular refinery solution is actually a solution to help provide refined product to local communities. A typical example is a case study of Texas, where you have several modular refinery units across the states. A refinery can serve just one local community based on their products need. It could be configured to produce just AGO and DPK; you could have others just churning out Naphtha to be used as raw material for petrochemical activities like plastic production and so on.

Of course, we have the Waltersmith modular refinery in Imo State that is currently a five thousand barrel per day refinery. We have the Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) refinery upgraded from a 1000 b/d to 6000 b/d and later to 11000 barrels per day in the nearest future. The OPAC modular refinery is also 5,000 b/d.

There are quite a number of refining investments decision ongoing, about 25 others may come on stream within the decade. I am quite appreciative that Nigeria is beginning to see the need to refine in-country

There was a particular time crude oil price crashed below $20 per barrel, at that point only nations with integrated energy chain enjoyed the dividends of that crash.

We are yet to hear the last on the state of NNPC refineries. What solution would you recommend?

“In total, we are supposed to have about 445,000 barrels per day total capacity of the four refineries, but they are currently working below 15 percent

and of course, it is another embarrassing paradox.

Government cannot run those refineries. That model is not working. My proposal is that Government should divest her equity hold on the plants and allow investors who understand refining business run them.

Currently, I know the refineries are being refurbished to commence production and the government have plans to hire consultants or outsource them to organizations that can run the operation. As good as this may sound, I think a better decision will be to just divest it entirely to the private sector

For instance, Kaduna refinery was built to churn out products like bitumen but in almost five years the refinery has not produced any significant volume of bitumen. 100 per cent of the bitumen on Nigerian roads are imported.

I recommend that the government divests the brown field refining assets 100 per cent. Let private sector take it up.

Some of the national refineries OSBL (Outside Battery Limit) are still in good condition even though the ISBL (Inside Battery Limit) is almost packed up.

There are several things that can be done with those facilities: they can be run as a brownfield project,

collocate the refinery with other smaller modular refineries, smaller petrochemical plants and other smaller power plants thereby maximising the OSBL assets.

What is the vision behind WEOG?

Women in Energy Oil and Gas (WEOG), is an incorporated trustee, duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria in 2019 as a non-governmental organization (NGO). We are currently operating under the banner of international forum for women in energy, oil and gas. We created the forum to promote gender diversity and inclusion in the energy sector, being a male-dominated industry. It is meant to create opportunities for women to step into leadership roles and pursue their careers, businesses and personal goals in the industry, in line with the sustainable development goals.

At WEOG, we believe that a more inclusive workforce will not only enhance business performance but can serve as an integral part of the national growth strategy for private business, for the public sector, for Nigeria and for Africa at large.

It is a mix of a formal and informal forum, focused on networking, capacity building, advocacy, forming alliances, providing funding opportunities, providing information for opportunity leverage, creating exposures, education and enhancing women collaboration and endeavours in the industry.

Research has shown that women are better managers and because the industry is so challenged, we believe that if women step in to compliment the men, it will help to close the huge gap we currently have in the industry.

The gap is just too wide and the industry is not meeting expectations. Like I mentioned earlier, a 10 per cent contribution to the nation’s GDP is far below expectation so we believe that if we have women become major players in the industry there will be a lot of improvement geared towards the oil becoming a transformational resource.

So, we have a ten year outlook because by 2030, we will be expected to show forth what we have been able to achieve in line with the SDG targeted time frame of 2030.

We want to act as the official link between institutions in promoting dissemination of vital information of mutual interest and benefits to women in the industry. We want to be able to provide mentorship and role model structures for industry’s new entrants, young women professionals, and girls in STEM and so on. We want to foster women entrepreneurial participation in the industry during bids, tender for public and private sector projects and so on.

We want to be able to initiate and execute programmes, projects and activities geared towards the developmental objective of the forum. We have several events that will create exposures and opportunities for women to come together to network, enhance their career skills, share experience, explore opportunities, collaborate and advance their personal career and business goals.

You belong to some global bodies of professionals; kindly tell us a few of these bodies and what they represent.

There are quite a number of them like you rightly observed and I will just stick to the ones that relate to the industry: the energy sector.

As a management consultant, it is expected that one would extend their learning tentacles to different professional bodies in order to learn and network. At the Association for Professional Consultant Trainers and Coaches, UK (APCTC) for example, it is a platform for management consultants to further enhance their practice as consultant, trainers or coaches. There is OWIT (Organization of Women in International Trade) which is an international body; there is Institute of Planning (FIPN) that looks at professional and strategic planning for projects. There is Global Women Network for

Energy Transition (GWNET) based in Australia where we basically want to see women practice and get involved in the energy transition. As such, we review current energy mix and transition from just fossil fuel to the other different mixes that will enable renewable energies. We have the WEN, WEOG actually started from the WEN inspiration. WEN is Women’s Energy Network and it is all across America and WEOG is like their protégé since 2018.

I am also a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). I do a few things with them as well. There is a new one, Women in Sustainable Power, Africa (WISPANET) and the objective is to achieve the goal of powering Africa. It is facilitated by the Future Energy Group.

Others are FOBES Women, Women in Renewable Energy Africa (WIREA).

It is a platform to increase knowledge and increase exposure, to learn, to see what is working in other locations, countries and communities and to see how we can adopt, adapt and replicate same in our own community.

For me, that is the passion around joining these professional bodies.

How did you find yourself in STEM and what is your advice to youngsters?

In my case, it is because of my family background, my father was an engineer and so everybody studied science. I studied pure and applied mathematics as my first degree. Then for second degree, I studied operational research (OR).

OR is actually used to design strategies and it can be applied in every strata and sphere of life using sciences. For youngsters, mathematics is the root of STEM, engineering and anything sciences, so you have to understand at least the basics of mathematics. But the challenge we have in this part of the world is the way mathematics is taught. There is that mind-set that it is a very tough subject so we need our educationists to let the learners

know it is no big deal so they can embrace it. As a matter of fact, it is so easy and straightforward. Understand the formula and replicate it. Understand the logic and replicate it.

Personally, I try to let young girls understand mathematics, once you get mathematics right you can get any other subject in STEM right. You can understand sciences, engineering. With good understanding of mathematics, the sky is your limit in playing big in the STEM value chain.

Are you a feminist?

No, I am not a feminist.

When God created the earth, he created male and female. Initially he made just the male but later he said it is not good for the male to be alone, the female will be a help meet. So my personal advocacy is for balance. Anywhere it is found lacking, let us try and bring in it for the benefit of everybody. It is not about trying to downplay the headship of the man, it is about enhancing what we have and maximizing that salient knowledge that has been there and is not being tapped.

Let the women step in to help and fulfil their purpose. This is not just something to happen in the home front, it is across. So it is not good that men alone should be in the energy and oil sector, the women should step in to help make full

realization of the potentials and opportunities of the God-given resource called oil and gas.

How do you manage work-life balance?

Managing work-life balance is very critical to me in the sense that there was a particular point in my life I did not have a good balance. I was more of an all-work-and-no-play kind of person. But, thank God I was able to realize the need to quickly adjust and that is the message I would like to give to many ladies out there who are probably tilting towards just one side. It is good to quickly adjust. Life is supposed to be enjoyed and there has to be a balance.

For me, I am a very adventurous person, I love traveling, discovering new things and making friends. So, I make sure I find a balance between work and what I enjoy doing. Worklife balance is very important.

What is the Nigeria of your dreams?

The dream is huge and massive but I am going to limit it to my dream for the oil and gas industry.

One day I want to see a Nigeria where the standard of living will be commensurable with the resources the country is blessed with.

I want to see a Nigeria where we will not be called the largest oil and gas producer in Africa and yet

the poverty headquarter of the world. I want to see a Nigeria where our resources will indeed transform to wealth, not just for some very few minority but for the majority of the citizens; where equality across board is embraced and achieved.

I dream to see a Nigeria where our roads are fixed. We do not have to wait for a foreign company to import bitumen into Nigeria before we can have bitumen or asphalt to fix our pot-holes.

I dream to see a Nigeria where the crude oil will be refined and we will be able to maximize our extractive mineral resources to grow the wealth of the nation.

I see a Nigeria where all the basic amenities, infrastructure will be there to make life simple and easy for the citizens; where there is power, energy; where roads are fixed, where education and water are not at exorbitant cost to the poor citizens but the responsibility of the government from the dividends and profits made from the natural resources God has blessed the nation with.

I dream of a Nigeria where people do not have to run away to other countries but rather come in to have a better life. I see a Nigeria where rather than being a net importer of different products and finished goods, is a net exporter of finished products and goods to other nations.

I dream of a Nigerian brand that will be strong, such that people do not have to cut corners; a Nigeria where the portion of the national cake which corruption has eaten so badly is moulded back and fixed; a Nigeria where every child is proud to be a citizen of; a Nigeria where every drop of crude and every smear of gas turns to national wealth. I see a glorious Nigeria.