Majorwaves Energy Report June Edition by majorwavesenergyreport

JUNE 2 0 2 1 VOL 4 NO 6

MAJORWAVES ENERGY REPORT

LOCAL CONTENT

NGN2,000 10 Ghc US $5.00

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com SUSTAINABILITY

INFRASTRUCTURE

Examining some Parameters for a Successful Decade of Gas NCDMB Targets US$3.7bn Investments in Commercial Paanerships LCCI backs NNPC Proposal to Acquire a Stake in Dangote Refinery Deep Blue Project: NIMASA receives Aircraa Delivery, gets Commendation from IMO Secretary General SAIPEC: DPR Boss Urges Africa to Harness Oil, Gas Reserves for Development Equatorial Guinea Successfully Develops Oﬀshore Gas “Mega Hub” Nigeria, African Oil Producers Canvass Regional Investments, New Climate Change Deal

ENERGY WOMAN

“ Advocacy for gender equality, proper legislations will promote growth of oil and gas industry ” Alero Onosode CHAIRPERSON Majorwaves Energy Report Diversity SWG (NCCF) JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

gas development:

our

success story is

Nigeria's success story...

Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), has an aggressive gas development strategy that builds a profitable gas business through a portfolio of domestic, regional and export supply projects that fulﬁll the NNPC/CNL Joint Venture Domestic Gas Supply Obligation and support the Nigerian Government’s Gas Master Plan. We have been the highest supplier of high quality domestic gas in Nigeria since 2015 and will continue to explore opportunities to maintain this position. We have since 2008 also reduced continuous gas ﬂaring in our operations in Nigeria by over 90%. We led the development of the West African Gas Pipeline project through which Nigeria supplies gas to Benin Republic, Togo, and Ghana. All these prove that in the area of natural gas development, Chevron's success story is Nigeria's success story.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

CONTENTS

Nigeria’s Oil Sector Dropped By 19.8% In Q4 2020 – OPEC

LCCI backs NNPC Proposal to Acquire a Stake in Dangote Refinery

Nigeria’s Proposed Upstream Projects May Experience More Delays as E&P Companies Cut Investments By $285b

Nigeria, African Oil Producers Canvass Regional Investments, New Climate Change Deal

NCDMB Boss pays Geoplex Drillteq Limited a Working Visit

NCDMB Targets US$3.7bn Investments in Commercial Partnerships

Nigeria: Ayade Flags Off N8.2b Obudu Ranch Resort Hydro – Electricity Power Project

Fadina Joins The Global Board Of Knowledge For Development Partnership

Examining the Parameters for a Successful Decade of Gas

“Advocacy for gender equality, proper legislations will promote growth of oil and gas industry”- Onosode

REA Signs 5th OBF Grant Agreement with Six Solar Homes System Companies

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

ORGANIZED BY

FROM THE PRODUCERS OF

NIGERIA

MEET SAFELY IN PERSON AND HEAR FROM THE STAKEHOLDERS SHAPING THE NIGERIAN OIL & GAS INDUSTRY AT NOG 21 THIS JULY

H.E. Dr. Timipre Sylva Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Federal Republic of Nigeria

Sen. Teslim Folarin Senate Committee Chairman – Local Content National Assembly

Osagie Okunbor Country Chair & Managing Director

Shell Companies in Nigeria

Mele Kolo Kyari Group Managing Director

NNPC

Mike Sangster Managing Director Total E&P Nigeria

H.E. Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo Secretary General

OPEC

Richard Laing Chairman & Managing Director Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited

Sarki Auwalu Director Department of Petroleum Resources

Simbi Wabote

Olalekan Ogunleye

Executive Secretary Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCDMB)

Managing Director & Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria

Richard Kennedy

Audrey Joe-Ezigbo

Nicolas C. Odinuwe

Chairman & Managing Director

Co-Founder & Deputy Managing Director

Chairman PETAN

Chevron Nigeria/Mid-Af rica Business Unit

Falcon Corporation

PLATINUM SPONSORS

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

BRONZE SPONSORS

For more information on NOG 21, please contact Odiri Umusu on M: +234 813 893 8564 | D: +44 2080 780 789 or email NOGENQ@dmgevents.com

nogevent.com

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

#20NOG21

Editor’s Note Content creators, ‘influencers’ and everyone who benefit from the entire social media valuechain are anxious to see how this Twitter ban pans out as their businesses bleed. NetBlocks, a digital rights platform and an international internet watchdog, has stated that Nigerian government’s ban on Twitter costs the country an average of N2 billion daily. The platform which uses statistics from the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and Eurostat to evaluate the economic effect of an internet outage, mobile data blackout, or app restriction, also stated that, in the event of a single-day total internet outage the country would lose N48.596 billion in economic value. Some can’t imagine what life would look like should the Federal Government of Nigeria stretch the same punitive measure to Facebook for also deleting President Buhari’s post. The same sin committed by Twitter, without prior notice. Should the situation deteriorate into that, resulting in a total ban on Facebook which owns WhatsApp and Instagram; as well as a ban on YouTube, Nigeria’s economy would lose N10.885 billion daily. The multiplier effect of this economic loss ranges widely, depending on the size of dependants on each breadwinner that earns from these platforms, as well as the linkage sectors. While Twitter comes with a lot of economic benefits, it is also proven to wield a huge political influence. As June 12 Democracy Day approaches, Nigeria’s government is faced with a hard task to rescind its decision amid condemnation from the West. But it needs to balance the political effect and economic gain of the social platform on its 40 million users without enabling chaos. This number of users consists largely of a younger generation that recently displayed their capacity for resilience during the #EndSARS protest in 2020. The agitation resulted in destruction of public and private property which left Lagos State reeling from a loss estimated between N700 billion and N1 trillion. But seeing Twitter also delete Nnamdi Kanu’s tweet, it shows Jack Dorsey and his team are considering the peculiarity of Nigeria’s situation. As such, a set of rules and regulation for future engagement shouldn’t be far away. Whatever the intelligence at the disposal of Nigeria’s Government, which the commander in chief alluded to in the controversial ‘viral’ clip, it is understood that the polity is heated. We hate to see oil majors declare force majeure and move on with their investment like Total Energy did in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. We wish the ruling government political ingenuity to manage the situation. And we pray to come out stronger and be open for business long after this heated period. Please, let’s all be calm and stay safe.

Jerome Onoja

Publisher Joshua Bretz Managing Editor Jerome Onoja Editor Margaret Nongo-Okojokwu Senior Correspondents Ikenna Omeje Oluwatoyin Bayagbon Correspondents:Lagos Daniel Terungwa Abisoye Vincent Emeka Enunwah Port Harcourt Stella Odogu Arit Dan US Omaya Joko UK Kunle Kazeem Research Analyst Simon Olanipekun Production Solomon Obande Toma Stephen Business Development Stanley Etim Taiwo Olamilekan Amicable Aluu

Cheers.

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The ‘Bird App’ and Intrigues

Majorwaves Energy Report is published by Majorwaves Communications, 25B, Adebayo Doherty Street, Lekki Phase 1. Lagos Phone: +2349035477966 Email: info@majorwavesenergyreport.com www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

INDUSTRY NEWS

Shell, Rivers Govt Inaugurate Multi-Billion Naira Cassava Company of Rivers people and create tangible alternative livelihood opportunities. Wike said, “I commend Shell for believing in us to partner with us. Gradually, Rivers State will reduce its holding in the company to about 10% from the current near 80%,” adding that the initiative was a preferred method of improving lives, rather than giving handouts to individuals.

eading energy company, Shell, has inaugurated a multi-billionnaira Rivers Cassava Processing Company Limited built in partnership with the Rivers State Government, Vieux Manioc BV of the Netherlands, and the embassy of The Netherlands in Nigeria.

livelihoods ultimately unlocking revenue to government.”

Shell says the company will support the economy and earning power of the Rivers State and its people from the cassava value chain while utilising leading technology to process and create more added value from the household crop.

“Data shows that Nigeria is the largest cassava producer globally, accounting for about 20 percent of total production worldwide. However, though domestic economy’s demand for cassava and its constituents is high, the supply has shown a gap, unable to meet the huge demand,” said Okunbor, adding that the cassava processing company was a critical intervention to bridge the supply gap by providing a reliable offtake for farmers.

Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, and Managing Director, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, said, “We’re happy to deliver a project that is designed to provide the agricultural sector of Rivers State and the wider Niger Delta with a sustainable institutionalised offtake mechanism for regional cassava production.” Okunbor who was represented by the General Manager External Relations, Mr. Igo Weli, said, “It is our hope that a steady source of supply will promote more production of cassava by farmers with the accompanying increase in household incomes and

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

Okunbor commended the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike for his vision and commitment to productive partnership with the private sector to develop the economy of the state.

Citing some expert reports, Okunbor noted that the local value-addition to cassava via local manufacturing and processing could potentially unlock about $16m in taxes to the government. The governor led the Minister for Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Sabo Nanono, to inaugurate the company, and praised Shell for its foresight and collaboration with the State on the project, noting that the factory would positively impact thousands

Speaking at the event, Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, applauded the governor and the project partners for seeing the project through. He advised governors of other states in the country to take up similar projects, highlighting the CBN’s interest to support such tangible agricultural initiatives. He challenged state governors to implement strategies that that would make them self-reliant and viable for economic development thereby reducing their dependence on allocation from the federal purse. Explaining the capacity and operations of the processing plant, the Project Manager, Mr. Ruben Joseph Giesen, said, “The Rivers Cassava Processing Company Limited will process cassava into high quality cassava flour via a unique split processing technology based on the operating principle of taking the factory to the farm gates rather than having the farmer bring the cassava tubers to the factory gate.” In attendance at the event were the Managing Direc tors of Nigeria LNG, Mr. Tony Attah; and Sahara Energy, Mr. Kola Adesina; Archbishop of Canterbury’s Special Representative on Conflict in sub Saharan Africa and Bishop of South Sudan, Precious Omuku.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Nigeria’s Oil Sector Dropped By 19.8% In Q4 2020 – OPEC By Ikenna Omeje

he Organisation of P e t ro l e u m E x p o r tin g Countries (OPEC) has said that Nigeria’s oil sector dropped by 19.8 percent year-onyear in the fourth quarter of 2020, after a 13.9 percent year-on-year contraction in the third quarter of the same year. The largest crude oil cartel in the world, which stated this in its Monthly Oil Market Report for May 2021, released recently, also said that the country’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.1 percent year-on-year in 2020. According to the report, the nonoil sector grew by 1.7 percent, after a decline of 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2020, adding that the growth was driven by growth in the telecommunications and information services sectors. The report also showed that the country’s economy contracted by 1.9 percent year-on-year in 2020, following a 2.3 percent year-on-year expansion in 2019. It further showed that on a quarterly basis, Nigeria’s GDP grew by 9.7 percent, following 12.1 percent growth in the third quarter of 2020.

“Nigeria’s real GDP grew by 0.1 percent y-o-y in 4Q20, following a 3.6 percent contraction in 3Q20. This was the first positive quarterly growth in the last three quarters amid the gradual return of economic activities. The nonoil sector expanded 1.7 percent, recovering from a 2.5 percent decline in 3Q20, mainly driven by growth in the telecommunications and information services sectors. Other important contributions came from the agricultural sector, which expanded by 3.4 percent y-o-y in 4Q20. Meanwhile, the oil sector dropped by 19.8 percent y-o-y after a 13.9 percent y-o-y contraction in 3Q20,” the report stated. “On a quarterly basis, GDP grew by 9.7 percent, following 12.1 percent growth in 3Q20. In 2020, the economy contracted 1.9 percent y-o-y, following a 2.3 percent y-o-y expansion in 2019. In the meantime, the Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria PMI stood at 52.9 in April 2021, unchanged from March. Inflation was still structurally high, with the annual inflation rate jumping to 18.17 percent in March 2021, the highest rate since January 2017 amid the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that has also weakened the currency. These inflationary pressures might slow

the economic recovery in 2021.” On the global oil demand, the report stated that it is assumed to have contracted by 9.5 million barrels per day (mb/d), unchanged from April’s assessment, and now estimated to average 90.5 mb/d for the year 2021. It stated, “World oil demand is assumed to have contracted by 9.5 mb/d in 2020, unchanged from last month’s assessment, and is now estimated to average 90.5 mb/d for the year. OECD oil demand is estimated to have declined by 5.6 mb/d due to a large drop in OECD Americas and Europe, on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, non-OECD oil demand is estimated to have decreased by 3.9 mb/d, led by declines in Other Asia, Middle East and Latin America. “For 2021, world oil demand is expected to increase by 6.0 mb/d, unchanged from last month’s estimate, to average 96.5 mb/d. Slower-than-anticipated demand in OECD Americas during the 1Q21 combined with the resurgence in COVID-19 infection cases in India and Brazil caused the 1H21 oil demand data to be downwardly revised.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

INDUSTRY NEWS On the other hand, for the 2H21, positive weekly transportation fuels data from the US, and the acceleration in vaccination programs in many regions allows for optimism. The assumed return to normality and improved mobility will also positively influence regions such as the Middle East and Other Asia in 2H21.”

Nigeria Needs $2b Monthly for Fiscal Sustainability as FG Builds Oil Reserves

The report revealed that OPEC reference basket of 13 declined by $1.32, or 2.9 percent in April, while Bonny Light, Djeno, Es Sider, Girassol, Rabi Light, Sahara Blend, and Zafiro – fell $1.44l, or 2.2 percent, averaging $62.86/b, in the same month. “The ORB declined $1.32, or 2.0 percent, m-o-m in April, but remained near its highest level since January 2020 at $63.24/b. All ORB components’ values decreased over the month alongside their respective crude oil benchmarks, with lighter grades slipping the most. Sour components fell less than the Dubai benchmark as the decline of these components was partly offset by higher official selling prices (OSP) towards the Asian market. The sweeter components fell more than Brent on lower OSPs and crude differentials. Y-t-d, the ORB value in April was 41.6 percent, or $17.91, higher than the same period in 2020 at $60.97/b. West and North African Basket components – Bonny Light, Djeno, Es Sider, Girassol, Rabi Light, Sahara Blend and Zafiro – fell $1.44 in April, or 2.2 percent m-o-m on average, to $62.86/b. The multiple regions’ destination grades – Arab Light, Basrah Light, Iran Heavy, and Kuwait Export – decreased by $1.30, or 2.0% m-o-m on average, to settle at $63.58/b. Murban crude declined by 98¢, or 1.5 percent m-o-m on average, to settle at $63.35/b, while the Merey component fell by 31¢, or 0.7 percent m-o-m on average, to settle at 46.16/b,” the report revealed.

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

he Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has stated that the country needs over $2 billion monthly revenue to remain sustainable as a nation.

the Nigeria Oil and Gas Excellence Center (NOGEC), the country had so far received at least $20 billion worth of investment proposal from foreign investors.

The Director, DPR, Sarki Auwalu, warned that without this monthly income, the economy would be in doldrums as over 70 per cent of the $2 billion is presently being realized through the nation’s oil and gas sector. Auwalu stated this at a DPR/ Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) strategic engagement session in Lagos.

“Immediately after the commissioning of the excellence centre, a lot of investment houses across the borders of Nigeria indicated their interest to come into Nigeria because of the transparency and predictability of the nation.

According to him, majority of the Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the country are attracted by the nation’s competitive oil and gas sector while stating the Department’s plans to build more oil reserves in the country. “In the upstream sector, we want to grow the reserves to 40 billion barrels and for gas, we want to hit 230 tcf. We already have capacity of about three million barrels per day, but we are not producing at that level and for midstream, we want to monetize the gas and we want to eliminate gas flaring,” he said. The DPR boss reiterated plans of growing oil reserves and increasing production capacity through recovery factor by at least 5 per cent. He pointed out that since the establishment of

“As it is now, the excellence centre is to drive value through safety and enhance cost efficiency. This attracted investors and as you can see, we put a lot of emphasis on data because it is an ingredient of decision making and ingredients of investors”. He said the investment is coming from a lot of investors across the globe, stating their commitment to partner with companies that can prove their competence. On the recently concluded marginal fields bid round, he said the Department is expecting an additional 100,000 barrels to be produced by 2024 even as more modular refineries spring up across the country. “We have a refinery revolution coming up and in fact by 2025, we may have domestic refining capacity with NNPC refinery, 455,000, Dangote 650,000,

INDUSTRY NEWS BUA 200,000 and others combined, we will be talking about 2 million in the next 5 years. Also speaking, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria n E x tra c tive In dus trie s Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said his visit to the Department is expository, adding that the Department has upgraded and now current with data and information. He said in recent times, the Department

has invested a lot on data, saying that the NOGEC centre of the Department has authorized lots of investment while also addressing the fears and concerns of NEITI on data in terms of crude produced, imported, exported, management of crude and tracking real time the development of the oil and gas sector. “I think after the visit, our position and concern that we do not know how much crude oil we are producing have been substantially addressed. We raised alarm

for processes to change, process lapses to be addressed and the DPR is on the verge of addressing that major gap,” he said. He added: “We still have lots of challenges in terms of oil theft, outright sabotage and conspiracy against the whole process. This is still a huge challenge which requires lots of cooperation to address. I hope the work that is already ongoing should be completed full time and expanded to cope with the dynamic changes in the industry.”

LCCI backs NNPC Proposal to Acquire a Stake in Dangote Refinery “The export prospects are also quite bright,” he said. According to him, another exciting thing about this investment proposition is that the NNPC will be a minority shareholder and will therefore not take responsibility for the management of the refinery. He noted that Nigeria had paid a huge price due to the inefficiency in the management of its public enterprises.

Mele Kyari & Aliko Dangote

he Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has backed the proposal by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to acquire 20 per cent stake in the Dangote refinery. The Director-General, LCCI, Mr Muda Yusuf, in a statement issued on Thursday in Lagos said the move was a step in the right direction. The report was that the NNPC had expressed interest in purchasing a 20 percent minority equity stake in the 650,000BPD Dangote refinery. The NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Re f i n i n g a n d P e t r o c h e m i c a l s , Mr Mustapha Yakubu, made the announcement at the recently concluded Nigeria Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair. Yakubu said discussions were already going on with the Dangote Group for the acquisition of the stake which would further ensure undisrupted product supply to Nigerians.

the Dangote refinery was a project of significant and strategic national importance, even though it was promoted by the private sector.

Yusuf said: “The model being proposed with the Dangote refinery is similar in a way to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company model which remains the best example of how government funds should be invested. “It is a model that shields the investment from interference by politicians and bureaucrats.

“Taking a stake in the project also makes a great deal of business sense, especially given how far the project execution has gone and our heavy dependence on importation of petroleum products.

“This proposition is much better than the decision to commit scarce public funds to the rehabilitation of decrepit governmentowned refineries.”

“It also makes both commercial and nationalistic sense for the NNPC to express a interest in a project that has a good prospect to put an end to fuel importation and the associated leakages of public funds.

However, Mr Tunji Oyebanji, Chairman, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, said marketers were hopeful that the Dangote refinery would be allowed to operate as a purely commercial entity without government interference.

” It would also ensure the preservation of our foreign reserves as we currently spend billions of dollars annually on importation of petroleum products.

Oyebanji said: “Our experience is that the world over especially in Africa, once government is involved, decisions become political.

“This is in addition to the several multiplier effects arising from related spin off industries like petrochemicals, fertiliser plants which resonates well with our aspiration for self-reliance and backward integration.

“Personally, I would prefer that if equity has to be sold, it should be to the Nigerian investing public, this will ensure that the refinery runs purely on a commercial basis.”

The LCCI DG said the reality was that

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

INDUSTRY NEWS

NNPC Records 314% Increase in Trading Surplus

Mele Kyari

h e Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced a N39.85billion trading surplus for the month of February 2021 representing a massive 314.24 per cent leap from the N9.62billion surplus it recorded in January 2021. This is contained in the February 2021 edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR), according to a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Corporation, Dr. Kennie Obateru. Trading surplus or trading deficit is derived after deduction of the expenditure profile from the revenue for the period under review. According to the report, in February 2021, NNPC Group operating revenue as compared to January 2021, increased by 35.64per cent or N152.07billion to stand at N578.79billion. Similarly, expenditure for the month increased by 29.21 per cent or N121.83billion to stand at N538.94billion. The expenditure for the month as a proportion of revenue was 0.93per cent as against 0.98per cent the previous month. The signif ic ant increase in trading surplus is attributed

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

mainly to reconciled accounts by the Corporation’s downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), using the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) pricing template. Other factors that boosted the trading surplus figure, according to the Corporation, included the performance of Duke Oil, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and Nigerian Gas Marketing Company (NGMC) which recorded robust gains as a result of increased debt collection and cost optimization measures. Conversely, during the period under review, 54 pipeline points were vandalized representing 50% increase from the 27 points recorded in January 2021. The Warri Area accounted for 50per cent and Mosimi Area accounted for 39per cent of the vandalised points while Kaduna and Port Harcourt Areas accounted for seven per cent and four per cent respectively. NNPC continues to work in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders to eliminate the menace of pipeline vandalism. In the period under review, the Corporation supplied a total of

1.41bn litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) translating to 50.52m litres/day. In terms of natural gas offtake, commercialization and utilisation, out of the 206.05billion cubic feet (BCF) produced in February 2021, a total of 133.06BCF was commercialized consisting of 40.15 BCF and 92.91 BCF for the domestic and export market respectively. This translates to a total supply of 1,433.75Million Standard Cubic Feet Per Day (mmscfd) of gas to the domestic market and 3,318.25mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month. This implies that 64.48per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized while the balance of 35.52 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared. Gas flare rate was 7.67per cent for the month under review (i.e. 565.52mmscfd) compared with average gas flare rate of 7.12per cent (i.e. 529.20mmscfd) for the period of February 2020 to February 2021. The February 2021 NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report is the 67th in the series. It is published in keeping with the Corporation’s commitment to transparency and accountability.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Nigeria’s NNPC Signs Deals to Renew OML 118 agreements, which signalled the end of the longstanding disputes over the interpretation of the fiscal terms of the production-sharing contracts and the emplacement of a clear and fair framework for the development of the huge deepwater assets in Nigeria’. OML 118 includes the Bonga deepwater oil field, which lies 120km south-west of the Niger Delta, in a water depth of more than 1,000m.

he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has signed agreements with the local subsidiaries of Shell, Total, Exxon and Eni, to renew the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118 for an additional 20 years. A total of five agreements have been signed between NNPC and the OML 118 partners. These include dispute settlement agreement, settlement agreement, historical gas agreement, escrow agreement and renewed

It commenced production in November 2005 and is the first deepwater oil field in Nigeria. production sharing contract (PSC) agreement. Reuters reported NNPC as saying that the deal marks an end to the ‘long-standing disputes over the interpretation of the fiscal terms of the production-sharing contracts’ between the partners in the field. NNPC group managing director Mele Kyari said that the more than $10bn of investment would be ‘unlocked as a result of the

It has a production capacity of around 200,000 barrels of oil per day and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. Kyari said that the PSC deal is expected to yield immediate revenue of more than $780m to the Nigerian Government. It would also free the parties from contingent liabilities of more than $9bn.

Africa Oil Week Announces the 2021 Event Edition Will be Held in Dubai, 8-11 November

frica Oil Week (AOW), part of Hyve Group PLC, announces that the 2021 edition of the event will be held in Dubai, 8-11 November at the Madinat Jumeirah. After careful evaluation of government guidelines and consultation with customers, the organisers have made the decision to move dates and location of Africa Oil Week 2021, originally scheduled from 1-5 November in Cape Town, South Africa, and the event will now take place in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) on 8-11 November 2021 in the Madinat Jumeirah. Simon Ford, Portfolio Director of Africa Oil Week and Investing in African Mining Indaba, said: “Delivering the event to the high standard to which our audience is accustomed and ensuring the safety

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

INDUSTRY NEWS

OGTAN Honours Majorwaves

and wellbeing of our attendees has always been our top priority. We believe that hosting the 2021 edition in Dubai will enable us to ensure that the event experience is both safe and premium for our customers.”

By Ikenna Omeje

He added: “Though we are very disappointed not to be able to host our event in Cape Town this year, we believe that Dubai is the next best location. The country has demonstrated exceptional progress in its vaccination programme and has also led the way in safely reopening international events having played host to largescale, highly-successful events recently that attracted business travellers from more than 150 countries, increasing business confidence and accelerating the revival of all major sectors in the country. As such, in order to allow our customers ample time to make travel arrangements, we have made the decision to move dates and location we are confident that Dubai will be a safe and highly desirable destination to host Africa Oil Week’s 27th edition.” The organisers have vowed that despite the location change, Africa Oil Week will continue to be the must-attend event with Africa at its core, a platform dedicated to fostering relationships and driving transactions across the African Upstream. Africa Oil Week has confirmed the continued support from key customers regarding the decision to host the event in Dubai in 2021, including Total, Chevron, Tullow Oil, Eni, PGS and Fugro. Clay Neff, President, Chevron Middle East, Africa, South America Exploration and Production Company said: “Chevron is committed to the African continent, where we have operated for more than a century. We are pleased to sponsor Africa Oil Week and look forward to this annual gathering.” The organisers have also confirmed the participation of the leading Ministers of Energy and regulatory bodies from across Africa for the 27th edition, confirming Africa Oil Week’s position as the event shaping the future of Africa. AOW will take place in accordance with the latest health & safety and government guidance and will reunite the industry under the ‘Succeeding in a Changed Market’ theme, as well as provide the leading platform to help rebuild the future of oil and gas in Africa.

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

he Oil & Gas Trainers’ A ssociation of Nigeria (OCTAN), in April, honoured Majorwaves Energy Report with “The Best Local Content magazine award for 2020,” in recognition of its outstanding achievement at driving local content reportage. The award was presented to Majorwaves at the OGTAN Annual General Meeting/Lecture Series of OGTAN, which took place on April 28th 2021 at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. A letter dated April 23, 2021, which was signed by OGTAN President, Dr. Mayowa Afe, stated that Majorwaves Energy Report is receiving the award for its efforts in coverage of all local content activities & events in the country. “We are pleased to inform you that the Executive Council of the OCTAN noted unanimously with great pleasure your significant efforts

in coverage of all Local Contents Activities & Events in the country. “In recognition of this outstanding achievement, OGTAN has decided to confer on you ‘The Best Local Content Magazine Award for the year 2020,” the letter partly read. Majorwaves in just a little above 2 years of its existence, has become a force to reckon with in the energy space in Nigeria, and outside of the country. The magazine brings indepth analysis and reportage on the growth and development of local content in Africa’s energy space, as well as information on infrastructure and social investment. As a news outfit, it has shown consistency and has been accepted as an authoritative voice among some industry majors, MNC, indigenous firms and regulators alike. Majorwaves is a proud media partner to a host of global energy event organisers, and is recognised as a formidable force to attract delegate participation due to its large and expanding database.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Nigeria’s Proposed Upstream Projects May Experience More Delays as E&P Companies Cut Investments By $285b By Ikenna Omeje GlobalData noted that Nigeria accounts for 23 percent of the total projects expected to start operations during the 2021 to 2025 period. But the current cut in spending may be a stumbling block to realizing these projects. In February 2020, before Covid-19 started impacting the global energy system, Rystad had estimated that the global upstream investments for the year would end up at around $530 billion, almost at the same level as in 2019. Its forecast at the time suggested 2021 investments would remain in line with the previous year’s level.

ige ria’s p ro p o s e d upstream projects may experience more delays as oil and gas Exploration and Production companies across the world cut spending by $285 billion in two years. According to a Rystad Energy report, this is as a result of the toll of the Covid-19 pandemic on upstream investments in the first two years of the downturn, which it estimated at a whopping $285 billion, adding that although spending will slowly start to rise from 2022, it will not reach pre-crisis levels in the coming period. In the last three years, International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria have not shown willingness to do more investments in the upstream sector. This may not be unconnected with the delays in the passage of the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), currently before the National Assembly. The Final Investment Decision (FID) on five offshore oil and gas projects have been put on hold, due to issues

around fiscal terms, which the IOCs want the country to address in the proposed bill, to encourage investments in deepwater projects. The five projects that their FID are being delayed include the 225,000bpd Bonga SouthwestAparo projec t; 120,0 0 0 bpd Zabazaba-Etan project; 140,000bpd Bosi project; 110,000bpd Uge project and 100,000bpd Nsiko deepwater project. These projects are estimated at over $23.5 billion as of 2018. GlobalData in its report in April titled, “Africa Oil and Gas Projects Outlook to 2025 – Development Stage, Capacity, Capex and Contractor Details of All New Build and Expansion Projects” stated that Africa is expected to witness 428 oil and gas projects to commence operations during the period 20212025. Out of these, upstream and midstream sectors would witness the highest project starts with 129 projects each. Refinery and petrochemical segments would witness the start of operations of 65 and 105 projects respectively.

“However, as the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a collapse in oil prices during the early part of the second quarter last year, E&P companies slashed investment budgets to protect cash flow. This spending trend was not reversed in 2021, when prices rose. Compared to pre-pandemic estimates for 2020 and 2021, we observe that spending fell by around $145 billion last year and will end up losing $140 billion by the end of this year. This implies Covid-19 removed 27 percent of planned investments. “Upstream spending was limited to $382 billion in 2020 and is forecast to marginally grow to $390 billion this year. Rystad Energy expects the effect of the pandemic to be a lasting one as – even though spending will start growing from 2022 – it will not return to the pre-pandemic level of $530 billion. Growth will be limited and investments will only inch up annually, rising to just over $480 billion in 2025, when this report’s forecast ends,” Rystad stated. The report informed that over the twoyear period between 2020 and 2021, shale/tight oil investments are the ones most affected in both absolute and percentage terms, losing $96 billion of the previously expected spending or 39 percent for the sector.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

INDUSTRY NEWS

Shafa, A.A. Rano, Matrix, Others Get Marginal Oil Field Licence He pointed out that of the 24 fields awarded in 2003, 11 fields remained undeveloped locking in over 40 million barrels of oil. “With the lessons of the previous exercise we want to refocus, change the approach, we have developed strategy to ensure you (the companies) and the awarded fields achieve early development. “The DPR will continue and guide all of you every step of the way. For instance, the guiding template for working agreement has been drafted for joint awardees and discussions have reached advance stage between DPR and lease holders on the farm out agreement”, he added.

ndigenous oil firms, A . A . Rano, Shafa Exploration, Matrix Energy, and Vhelblerg Exploration were among oil companies awarded marginal oil field licence by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, on Monday. The award came a year after 2020 marginal field bid round began with 591 companies applying to win 57 oil fields on offer. The oil fields are located onshore, swamps and offshore.

the companies after the award but would work with them to ensure immediate development and attainment of first oil in record time.

DPR estimates that Nigeria would produce additional 100 million barrels of crude oil from the 57 fields, in the coming years. Speaking at the award ceremony in Abuja, DPR Director/CEO, Engr. Auwalu Sarki said the fields would boost Nigeria’s daily oil production capacity beyond the current three million barrels per day.

It is important to state that the industry-enabled National Data Repository (NDR) provided all the requisite technical and logistics supp or t for the success ful conduct of the exercise”. He said DPR would ensure that the indigenous companies face minimal challenges from the International Oil Companies, the original lease owners for the fields.

Engr. Sarki explained that after undergoing lengthy and vigorous process, 161 companies were shortlisted as potential awardees out of which 50 percent have met all conditions. He noted that the department would not abandon

Sarki expressed optimism that the development of the oil fields will stimulate job creation because “all the awardees have to recruit people which mean more taxes and revenue to government and at the same time it enhances the GDP because the contribution of the industry to the GDP is very low”.

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

He said: “The journey began exactly one year ago, 1stJune 2020 with the launching of the Bid round registration portal. The portal eased the registration and application process and ensured a transparent exercise. “It also provided the platform for the virtual data room.

He explained that the challenges that hindered the attainment of full development of the last marginal fields award 17 years have been considered and tackled.

On her the awards would improve Nigeria’s oil production, he said: “What DPR did was evaluate various recovery factors. We saw the average recovery value that we do have now, ranges from 27-38. If we increased this by five percent only across, we will hit the 40 billion barrels and at the same time we will hit above three million barrels. “We have identified 7,000 reservoirs and we are producing from about 1,700 reservoirs. We took each of the producing reservoirs to see what kind of enhanced oil recovery that we need to put and once we put the secondary and tertiary recovery methods, technically we grow the reserves and production for the country”. Speaking on behalf of the bid winners, the Chairman of Vhelblerg, Bank Anthony Okoroafor thanked DPR for holding a transparent bid exercise. “It was open to everybody, there was communication established with everybody and they did their own work very well”, he stated. He however urged DPR to support the winning firms by talking to IOCs to allow the operators use their facilities if it is the most effective options. Some other winners were Sigmund Oil Field, Emadeb Energy, Casiva Ltd, Duchess Energy and Duport Midstream.

INDUSTRY NEWS

DPR, NAPIMS Special Briefings to Hold at NIPS2021

s part of the sessions lined up for the 4th e d i t i o n o f N i g e r ia International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) taking place at the International Conference Centre (ICC) Abuja, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) will use the opportunity and the platform to give status update of their organization’s activities to the oil and gas key stakeholders at the event. The NAPIMS briefing will hold on Wednesday June 9, 2021 with Bala Wunti, Group General Manager, NAPIMS, delivering the keynote with the theme; Covid-19 – New Oil and Gas investment opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons for Nigeria IOCs, NOC, IPP. The session is critical given that new investment portfolios are expected to drive the post-COVID-19 era in the oil and gas industry.

The briefing will be followed by a panel session that will feature Victor Bandele, Deputy Managing Director, Total Energies; Bayo Ojulari, Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production (SNEPCO); Patricia Simon-Hart, Managing Director, Aftrac Limited and Victor Okoronkwo, Managing Director, Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production.

Nigeria will net about $500 million from the signature bonuses on the fields, the first marginal field round to hold since 2002.

The following day, Thursday June 10, 2021, the Department of Petroleum Resources will hold its own briefing with Auwal Sarki, Director/Chief Executive, DPR, delivering a keynote with the theme; Independent and Marginal Oilfields Development Status in Nigeria and its Role in Gas-Powered Economy.

The panel session that will follow the DPR briefing will feature Chike Nwosu, Managing Director/ Chief Executive, Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited; Ainojie Irune, Chief Operating Officer, Oando Energy Resources; Wale Olafisan, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Amni International Development Company, Ladi Bada, Managing Director/Chief Executive Shoreline Natural Resources Limited, John Anim, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Platform Petroleum Limited and Abel Nsa, Assitant Director, Department of Petroleum Resources.

It will be noted that last week, the DPR announced that it would issue award letters to successful investors in the 2020 marginal field bid round programme. The oil regulator had projected that

It is, therefore, expected that the chief executive of the DPR will use the opportunity at NIPS2021 to give an industry-wide update on the concluded marginal fields bid round.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

INDUSTRY EVENT

SAIPEC: DPR Boss Urges Africa To Harness Oil, Gas Reserves for Development Daniel Terungw

Mr Sarki Auwalu

he Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr Sarki Auwalu, has urged Africa to rise to the challenge of harnessing its oil and gas reserves for the development of the continent. Auwalu spoke recently at the opening ceremony of the 5th Edition of the Sub-Saharan African International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference organised by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN). The three-day virtual conference had as its theme: “Post COVID-19: From Global Crises to Global Opportunities.” “Indeed, for a better and secured future, Africa must rise to the challenge of harnessing its over 125 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 625 trillion cubic feet

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

of natural gas for the development of the continent. “Africa must not be cowed to abandon its quest to grow its economies by the ‘doomsday’ narrative of ‘end of oil’ era and jettison the development of its resources. Africa’s resources must be used to fuel Africa’s development; the same way other continents utilised dirtier fossil fuels to fuel their economic transformation,” Auwalu said. The DPR Boss further noted that, “to achieve this, we must take our destinies in our hands and join hands across all spectrum (technical, economic, legal, commercial, operational, financial, and political) drive regional energy security and economic sustainability.” According to him, Nigeria recognises the reality of energy transition and is committed to accelerated

development of its petroleum resources through the emplacement of appropriate legal framework to support upstream asset acquisition, development, production and exports. He said, “However, we are putting increased emphasis on midstream investments and gas-focused infrastructural development for domestic value addition via the Refinery revolution and Decadeof-Gas Initiatives. “The Decade-of-Gas Initiative will leverage Nigeria’s 203 TCF of natural gas reserves for domestic gas supply (Gas-To-Power), Alternative fuels (Gas-To-People) and Gas Based Industrialisation (Gas-ToDerivatives) elements of the Gasfired Industrial economy agenda within this decade.

INDUSTRY EVENT

NOGOF2021: Jake Riley Urges Government Functionaries, Stakeholders to Seize Opportunities, Implement Deliberations Jerome Onoja

fear of sudden interruptions. “It can’t be business as usual to see Nigeria attract a paltry five per cent of investment inflows into Africa as registered for the period between 2015 and 2019,” Ogbue said. Among several topical issues, some operators and service companies pointed to the opportunities in collocating projects and joint ownership of pipelines and other assets. From economies of scale to judicious use of scarce resources and available facilities, even down to industrialisation of areas and zones, there were submissions from panelists around benefits of collaboration.

Funmi Ogbue President (WIEN) & MD Jake Riley

o ll o w i n g t h e s u c c e s s f u l completion of this year’s edition of Nigeria Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair, NOGOF 2021, the event consulting firm, Jake Riley has urged state actors, investors, operators, and service companies alike to take advantage of the identified opportunities and not just exit the twoday deliberations like another talk show. This was made known by the Managing Director of Jake Riley, Funmi Ogbue shortly after the awards and closing remarks of the event which registered an attendance of about 900 delegates at peak times. With the theme: “Leveraging opportunities & Synergies for Postpandemic Recovery of The Nigerian Oil & Gas Industry”, NOGOF2021 which held virtually on 25-26 of May 2021 is a biennial event which was first launched in 2017. NOGOF2021 had 22 presenters who identified opportunities with existing and coming projects, ranging from possibilities for collaboration with investors towards FID, through FEED, civil works, drilling, work over, ramping up production and evacuating drilled oil and gas, indigenous and international companies pointed to possible project deals in the upstream sector worth billions of dollars.

“We must deliberately move away from the regular practice of gathering to recite our national issues without a clear path forward. Thankfully, that has not been the scenario with NOGOF. Anyone can pick up the previous compendiums from the last two editions of NOGOF to do a comparison with actual realities. The same is true of this year’s compendium of opportunities which will also be published soon. “Along with the communique, these documents form a compass for the industry, and we follow them religiously in order to plan, collaborate and build capacity towards keeping the industry spend in-country. “However, I’m appealing to the representatives of government who participated and committed to driving implementation of key policies and legislation. We need the PIB now more than ever before. The prolonged period of uncertainty is dampening the enthusiasm of prospective investors with interests in Nigeria. “It is true that the contracting cycle is being reduced from what it used to be by service level agreements (SLA), but we need specific enabling laws that will cement these policies and give industry players the confidence of operating in a very competitive environment without

Also, the NNPC condensate refinery program targeting continuous supply of feedstock to mini refineries is expected to gain traction in the coming months with PMS and DPK in view as end products. Previous NOGOF had highlighted the potential with modular refineries and the intervening plans by NCDMB. Today, the reality is that modular refineries are springing up in different parts of the country. This has broken the jinx that held 40 out of the 44 active licensees back as of 2018 from translating their licenses into actual projects. Ogbue used the opportunity to appreciate the Executive Secretary of NCDMB for the opportunity granted Jake Riley to organise the event. She also thanked the opportunity presenters, sponsors, panelists, media partners and her team at Jake Riley. “I’m grateful to the opportunity presenters and to the panelists at the technical sessions who made out time to perfect the use of the novel virtual platform through several dry runs. Thanks to our amiable E.S; the DME and his team; and special thanks to the opportunity presenters and sponsors. This would not have been possible without them. “Not forgetting our media friends and my own team at Jake Riley for the sleepless nights. Thank you everyone!”

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

LOCAL CONTENT

Nigeria, African Oil Producers Canvass Regional Investments, New Climate Change Deal

he maiden edition of the African Local Content Roundtable ended on Friday at the Nigerian Content Tower in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, with a strong push by Nigeria and other members of the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPO) to develop regional oil and gas investments and renegotiate the COP-21 Climate Change Agreement which is driving the accelerated move by developed countries to disuse fossil fuels (oil and gas) as the preferred source of energy for transportation and embrace renewable sources. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva delivered the keynote address at the two-day retreat attended by representatives of APPO member states physically and via the virtual platforms and charged African oilproducing countries and their oil and gas companies to cooperate closely in developing and sharing capacities and capabilities that would optimize hydrocarbon deposits and achieve economic growth and development. He also advised that it was time to “quickly create innovative funding

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

mechanisms for major projects using local resources and break away from the yoke of depending on foreign lenders who are becoming increasingly reluctant to fund hydrocarbon-related projects.” Sylva also expressed hope that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would make it possible for well-established local manufacturing, operating and service companies to operate across the continent’s hydrocarbons industry without hitches. In his presentation, the Executive Secretar y, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote hinted that the African Local Content Roundtable is a key initiative of the Board’s Nigerian Content 10-Year Strategic Roadmap and the intent is to extend Local Content across the African continent and ensure access to market for capacities that have been developed locally. He recommended that one of the strategies for growing Local Content in the continent is by creating an Africa Local Content Fund that could

be utilised to set up a bank or finance institution to provide funding for the development of oil and gas projects in Africa. He said the funding arrangement had become necessary in view of the declaration of some countries and banks to stop funding hydrocarbon related projects in their push for a shift towards renewables. “These funds can also be utilized to partfinance infrastructural projects in support of production and evacuation of oil and gas products for use by the African populace,” he added. Wabote also emphasised the need for African oil producers to invest in research and development, insisting that “no nation can really develop by being a consumer of other countries technology and intellectual properties. “Local content thrives where there is robust research and development guideline to drive development of home-grown technology. Countries that have witnessed appreciable local content level such as Brazil attributed the growth to the priority attention given to R&D.”

LOCAL CONTENT In his address, Secretary General, APPO, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim announced the plan by the association in partnership with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other likeminded bodies to demand for the renegotiation of the climate change agreement during the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. He said: “Our position is that we have looked at the 2015 COP 21 Climate Change Agreement and we believe that there is a need for some review of some things that our leaders signed on our behalf. “Oil is the main stay of our national economies and we want the life of oil to last as long as possible to enable us use the revenue to effectively diversify our economies.” He explained that COP 21 agreement sought to reduce the world’s use of fossil fuel by 20 percent and increase renewable energy by 20 percent by year 2020 and this would be inimical to the survival of the economies of African oil producers.

The Secretary General hinted that with “proven oil reserves of over a 100 billion barrels of crude oil still in our grounds and economies that still heavily dependent on export oil revenue, African nations are not ready to forgo the production of those barrels and classify them as wasted assets.” He noted that already the leading economies have started to implement the agreement “by introducing discriminatory policies against fossil fuels, while international financial institutions like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and others have stopped or plan to stop funding fossil fuel projects. Even the International Operating Companies that built their fortunes from fossil fuels are now redirecting investments away from oil and gas and international centers of excellence in universities are now closing their faculties in other to be seen to be in conformity with the new global paradigm shift.” Ibrahim warned that the implication of the push is that “advancement in new technologies in the industry would grind to a halt in the next few years, financing of the industry

would dry, influx of capable hands and renewals of skills would also stop.” He also commended NCDMB for convening the African Local Content Summit and assured that APPO would participate actively in sponsoring and hosting the event across Africa. He averred that different countries started operations in the oil industry at different times and with varied capacities and it was high time the players begun to learn from those countries that had accumulated years experience. According to him, “the era of going it alone in this continent and this industry is gone. We need to pull resources together before it is too late. Together we have what it takes to extend the life of oil, if not for the global market, at least to energize our continent which has over 600m people living without access to modern energy.” The two-day summit ended with a site visit to the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park being developed at Emeyal-1, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

NCDMB tasks OGTAN on Categorization, Employment

he new leadership of the Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) have been challenged to take the association to greater heights through the categorization of members’ capabilities and identification of niche areas in the oil and gas industry with high employment opportunities. The Executive Secretary Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote gave the charge recently when he received the new executive of OGTAN led by the President, Chief Mazi Sam Azoka Onyechi at the Board’s headquarters in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Engr. Simbi Wabote (FNSE, FIPS) Executive Secretary, NCDMB

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

LOCAL CONTENT He acknowledged that the oil industry trainers’ body recorded significant achievements under the outgone President, Dr Mayowa Afe and challenged the new leadership on continuous improvements and new goals. According to him, one of the focus areas is the categorization of members according to their capacities and certifications. He said the exercise was a precondition before the Board would consider making it mandatory for companies that seek to offer training services in the oil and gas industry to belong to OGTAN. On the identification of job demand areas, the Executive Secretary said: “OGTAN should conduct gap analysis in the industry and come up with the niche areas. It is your competitive advantage. We want information on those types of trainings where there is 60 percent

assurance of jobs in the oil and gas industry.” He explained that NCDMB’s strategy for capacity building is hinged on the 60-20-20 principle, whereby 60 percent of training programmes and budget is dedicated to skills sets that guarantee employment in the oil industry; 20 percent for the improvement of the skills of persons already employed, and 20 percent to soft skills and other general areas. Earlier in his comments, the new OGTAN President explained that the purpose of the visit was to introduce the new executive of the association to the NCDMB management. He stated that OGTAN has embarked on strategic transformation anchored on categorization, certification, compliance, collaboration, competence, curriculum, and cost competitiveness. He said the plan of the group is to promote the trainings of Nigerians

in strategic areas that have huge employment opportunities. “There are low hanging fruits that can mop up many unemployed Nigerians. They can acquire AP certifications and other relevant certifications and work anywhere in the world.” H e a dde d that “ Th ere are opportunities that exist in the oil and gas industry which are not being harnessed. We want to partner NCDMB to train Nigerians on those areas. We can help Nigerian graduates and even nongraduates acquire those skills and international certifications that would enable them work anywhere in this world. “ We intend to bring those opportunities to the limelight and emphasize that skill is a global currency. There are cer tain certifications, even short courses that one can take within one to three months and get certified internationally.”

Commercialization of the Nigerian Content Towers, Key to its Sustenance – NCDMB Daniel Terungwa

respect to the forthcoming International Scientific Conference of the association themed, “Medical Laboratory Scientific Preparedness for the next Pandemic” scheduled to hold in Bayelsa State between 8th 11th September, 2021.

Engr (Dr.) Ginah O. Ginah

MLS Suoteigha commended the Executive Secretary and the entire Board for building such a beautiful edifice in Bayelsa State.

he General Manager, Corporate Communications/ Zonal Coordinations of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, Engr. Ginah O. Ginah, has reiterated that the commercialization of the Nigerian Content Towers in Bayelsa, is the only way to keep the edifice running.

He said the Association is seeking to use the Board’s 1000-seater conference Centre for the forthcoming conference and also the Board’s support and sponsorship towards the success of the event.

Engr Ginah stated this recently when he played host to the Bayelsa State Chapter of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientist of Nigeria (AMLSN), led by its Chairman, MLS Lelei Suoteigha, at the Nigerian Content Towers, Yenagoa.

In response to the request, Engr Ginah, thanked the association for the visit and welcomed them to the Nigerian Content Tower.

According to the Chairman, AMLSN, MLS Suoteigha, the aim of the visit was in

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

He noted that the Board’s 17

Storey Nigerian Content Towers is commercialized in order to generate income and as such enable NCDMB to maintain the building. “This building is a commercial venture and that is the only way we can sustain and keep this building running. We don’t want to do things the way things have been done in Nigeria. “This building as you know is independently powered by a 10MW soon to be 25MW gas fired power plant in partnership with Agip. If we don’t commercialize, we won’t be able to sustain it,” Ginah buttressed. The GM also promised that the Board will examine the proposal brought forward by the association and look at other areas it can support.

LOCAL CONTENT

NCDMB Boss pays Geoplex Drillteq Limited a Working Visit

Engr Simbi Wabote & Mr Wole Ogunsanya

he Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr Simbi Wabote recently paid a working visit to Geoplex Dillteq Limited on Rivoc Road Trans Amadi industrial layout Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The aim of the visit among others, was to felicitate with the company upon the completion of its UltraModern Industry Standard Facility in Port Harcourt Rivers State Nigeria. Engr Wabote congratulated the company for the feat achieved, while noting that NCDMB derives immense pleasure in seeing

indigenous companies like Geoplex thrive despite current economic realities. He also pledged the board’s relentless support towards ensuring the growth and success of the company. Reacting to this, the Managing Director Geoplex Drillteq Limited, Engr Wole Ogunsanya thanked the Executive Secretary for making time to pay the company a visit. He stated that the facility houses equipment and tools to provide a wide range of services from Electric Wireline, Slickline, Drilling, Coiled Tubing, Cementing and Pumping, Well testing and Completion Services down to Integrated Project Management (IPM).

“This new facility and Geoplex’s capability and technical knowhow have placed us in a position to be a one stop shop for all oilfield services, making us an ideal solution provider for Marginal Fields’ Turnkey Project,” he stated. Geoplex, one among the fastest growing indigenous Integrated Oil and Gas field servicing companies was established in June 2002 to provide Oilfield Services to the upstream industry in Africa. Over the years Geoplex has grown at an exponential rate, evident to this is the recently built Ultra-Modern Industry Standard facility in Port Harcourt Rivers State Nigeria.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

LOCAL CONTENT

Geoplex Facility

NCDMB Targets US$3.7bn Investments in Commercial Partnerships

Mele Kyari GMD NNPC & Engr. Simbi Wabote (FNSE, FIPS) Executive Secretary, NCDMB

h e Nige ria n C o nte nt Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) said on Tuesday that it had committed a total of US$332million

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

under its commercial ventures partnership programme with a view to attracting project developments in-country valued at US$3.7bn.

The Executive Secretary, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote revealed this at the biennial Nigerian Oil & Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) 2021 which held virtually for the first time.

LOCAL CONTENT Some of the partnerships undertaken by the Board include the 5,000 barrels per day Waltersmith Modular Refinery at Ibigwe, Imo State and NEDO Gas Processing Company in Kwale, Delta State for the establishment of 80 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) gas processing plant and a 300MMscfd Kwale Gas Gathering hub. Other investments include the development of 5,000 metric tons LPG Storage and loading terminal facility by Triansel Gas Limited in Koko, Delta State and construction of Energy Park, inclusive of a modular refinery, power plant and 40MMscfd gas processing facility at Egbokor, Edo State by Duport Midstream. The Board also partnered Brass Fertiliser for the development of a 10,000MT/day Methanol Plant and 500MMscfd gas processing plant at Odiama in Brass as well as with Rungas Group for the manufacturing of 1.2million composite LPG cylinders annually in Bayelsa and Lagos States and with Butane Energy to deepen LPG utilization in the North with the roll-out of LPG bottling plants and depots in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Bauchi, Nassarawa, Zamfara, Niger, Plateau, Gombe, Jigawa states and Abuja. The Executive Secretar y confirmed that some of the Board’s partnerships would be completed and commissioned with the next two years, notably a modular refinery in Edo and Bayelsa State. He added: “We shall complete and commission composite LPG cylinder manufacturing plants with combined capacity of 1.2million cylinders per annum. We shall commission three other projects dedicated to gas processing, LPG bottling, and production of base oil. We shall also commission and commence operations from our industrial parks at Odukpani and Emeyal-1 and we shall commercialize at least one R&D project and close skills gaps in underwater welding and any other core skill required in the industry.”

Wabote hinted that the roll-out of new policies and enactment of laws open new vista of opportunities for discerning investors. According to him, the declaration of a Decade of Gas by President Muhammadu Buhari, the impending passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, the amendment of the NOGICD Act, the ratification of the AfCFTA agreement and the recently approved and gazetted Ministerial Regulations are some of the policy and regulatory-driven opportunities in the coming years. In his goodwill message, the pioneer Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Ernest Nwapa remarked that the oil and gas industry had experienced remarkable and sustainable growth in the last 15 years through local content and no other sector in the Nigerian economy had recorded comparable development. The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kolo Kyari spoke at the event and expressed the corporation’s willingness to partner with potential investors towards value creation and a fair share of Return on Investment (RoI) in the exploration of frontier basins, development of upstream gas fields and financing of greenfield/ brownfield additional production on de-risked assets. He also confirmed that opportunities abound in Gas & Power infrastructure development, expanding Gas Pipeline networks, development of Gas based industries as well as the Integrated Power Plants. Other areas of opportunities he said, include the rehabilitation of existing refineries, construction of greenfield condensate refineries as well as in the downstream sector especially in LPG and CNG plants across the country, pipelines and storage tank construction as well as developing Shipping Capacity.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

ACROSS AFRICA

Angola Woos Belgians to Invest in Diamond Industry Daniel Terungwa

he Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, has called on Belgian businesses to invest in the country’s diamond industry and thus help boost the sector. Diamantino Azevedo, who was speaking recently in Luanda to about 20 visiting Belgian business people with the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC), said the call is meant to lure investments into the diamond market, in view of Angola’s current dynamics. The Minister on the occasion reaffirmed Angola’s plan to create a stock market for the sector, and said the country is open to cooperate with the AWDC on a partnership that will come into experimental operation next year. “Let’s work together to boost the sector, as the Angolan people could benefit from the diamonds, through the increment of their value,

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

creation of jobs and, as a result, increase of revenues for the national treasury,” he said. The first Angola Diamond Stock Market, which is expected to come into experimental action in 2022, is meant to bring the diamond flow into the same umbrella for sale through auctions. The Angola Diamond Stock Market will also include a Gems Academy and a Technological Research Centre, intended to operate as a free trade area. Diamantino Azevedo stressed that the Stock Market will bring more business opportunities, both for the local and the world diamond industries. For his part, the Belgian ambassador to Angola, Jozef Smets, stressed the will of his country’s companies to set up strong partnerships with local counterparts in the diamond industry.

He added that his country’s business people are willing to set up good contacts and do good businesses with the Angolan government as they know the country’s potential. Angola is the world’s fourth diamond producing country, with an average annual output of about nine million carat, until 2019. According to figures recently released by the country’s diamond firm Endiama, Angola’s revenue in the first quarter of this year stood at Usd 220,3 million, from the sale of 1,178 million carat. This is 26 percent higher than the revenue of the corresponding period of last year. Antwerp, Belgium’s second largest city, is the world’s major diamond polishing and trade centre, handling about 84 percent of the world’s raw diamonds.

ACROSS AFRICA

Equatorial Guinea Successfully Develops Offshore Gas “Mega Hub”

he West and Central African seaboard is synonymous with rich hydrocarbons deposits, and it has made the neighboring nations into the leading producers and exporters of crude oil in Africa. Equatorial Guinea - one of the smallest countries in this region – has made a name out of oil and gas exports and considered to be the third-largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Central African nation had a decade-long hydrocarbon boom starting in the late 1990s, when oil reserves were discovered, but it ran into economic stagnation in 2009 with declining international oil prices. As oil and gas extraction plateaued, the International Monetary Fund forecasted an economic contraction rate in the range of two to nine percent in 2015-2020 due to government’s fiscal consolidation reducing capital and investment spending. With a view to generate more revenue from hydrocarbons production in the coming years, the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons is trying to drive investment in undeveloped offshore gas resources. This strategy

is contained in a program called Alen Gas Monetization project, led by Chevron’s Noble Energy Limited. The Alen Offshore gas platform forms the first phase of a new gas ‘mega-hub’ located approximately 17 nm off the coast of Bioka Island and represents a direct foreign investment of $475 million. The project is designed to harness previously unexploited gas deposits in the Gulf of Guinea region through a new offshore and onshore network of production, processing and transport facilities. The project started in April 2019, when Noble Energy and its partners signed definitive agreements to develop the Offshore Alen field. It provides for monetization of 580 billion cubic feet of natural gas over six years. Its 40 nm pipeline allows gas from the Alen field to be processed through existing onshore facilities - the Alba LPG plant and Equatorial Guinea (EG) LNG complex at Punta Europa, Bioka Island. Recently, Noble Energy EG Ltd. (Chevron O wned Company) announced the first gas flow from successful execution of the project

“As a company, we are proud to be a strategic partner in this joint effort, and we look forward to continue contributing to the economic and social development of the country,” said Gene Kornergay, Vice President and Country Manager of Noble Energy EG Ltd. This creation of an offshore gas industry will facilitate crossboundary linkages with gas projects in the neighboring countries, as discussions with Cameroon are at an advanced stage to create a monetization framework for gas resources in the Yoyo-Yolanda cross border field. “It will drive the energy sector and by closing deals with Cameroon and Nigeria, we intend to incentivize the industry, drive economic growth, and generate revenues for regional government to help finance education, hospitals and infrastructure,” said Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Limo, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

ACROSS AFRICA

‘Sub-Saharan Africa’s Gas Production Boom Weighs on Volatile Grounds’ – GlobalData

he new entrant countries in sub-Saharan Africa show great gas supply potential for the region but weigh heavily on mega projects getting the green light and suppression of ongoing civil unrest and domestic instability that is hampering progress in the sector, according to GlobalData. Sub-Sharan Africa has witnessed slow and steady grow th in both demand and supply of the commodity as countries begin to develop their gas resources. The region is waiting on a significant gas supply boom coming from projects under construction and in the pipeline. However, many countries are struggling to significantly break into the expanding LNG market besides Angola and Nigeria. Con or Ward , oil an d gas analyst at GlobalData, commented,

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

“The newcomers to the market over the next decade, most notably Mozambique, Mauritania, and Senegal could bring an additional 20 mtpa of LNG to market by 2025. The majority of this new capacity is due to come from Mozambique’s Rovuma LNG totalling 15.2 mtpa, however, the project continues to experience delays and it is becoming increasingly unlikely that this capacity will be seen within the decade due to ongoing instability in the country. In Mauritania and Senegal, BP lifted its force majeure last year and the long awaited Tortue project should see first LNG in 2023, adding 2.5 mtpa for each country.” To t a l S E , t h e o p e r a t o r of the Mozambique LNG development, recently enacted a Force Majeure citing danger to staff as a result of civil unrest and the participants of the

Mamba Complex have continued to delay FID as they now step back to re-assess the market in light of the upcoming mega-projects in Qatar which are expected to come online in the next few years. Ward continued, “On the flipside, the region is showing signs of a growing gas reliance with aims to increase the use of the fuel in power generation to replace coal or diesel. With this in mind, Ghana has become the first Sub-Saharan African nation to construct a regasification terminal (Tema) to secure its long-term gas supply and will have sufficient capacity to meet almost the entirety of the country’s demand for the fuel. With the growth of regasification in the region, this will provide greater supply flexibility and reduce reliance on pipelines which have been prone to disruption.”

POWER

REA Signs 5th OBF Grant Agreement with Six Solar Homes System Companies By Ikenna Omeje

he Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has signed Out-Based Fund (OBF) agreement under the standard Solar Homes System component of Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) with six companies. The companies include Solar Sisters Inc. & Affiliate, Fenchurch Offgrid Energy Systems Limited (SOLARPAWA), Morton78 Limited, Creeds Renewable Energy Ltd, Beebeejump International limited, and Azuri. The objective of the Standalone Solar Home Systems component of the NEP is to provide access to millions of Nigerian households and Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with affordable energy services through private sector companies, which in turn will significantly scale up the market for SHS in Nigeria. ‘With the signing of these grant

agreements, about 75,953 SHS Units will be added to the existing 200,000 SHS connections since the project was launched in 2019,” REA said in a statement on its website. Under the agreement, Solar Sisters Inc. & Affiliate is expected to deploy 4, 663 Solar Homes System units; Fenchurch Offgrid Energy Systems Limited (SOLARPAWA) will deploy 5, 000 Solar Homes System units; Morton78 Limited will deploy 8, 550 Solar Homes System units; Creeds Renewable Energy Ltd will deploy 3, 600 Solar Homes System units; Beebeejump intl Ltd will deploy 52, 500 Solar Homes System units; while Azuri Nigeria will deploy 1, 640 Solar Homes System units. “The scope is for over the next two (2) years thereby increasing the number of households and MSMEs to have access to clean, safe, reliable and affordable electricity before the end of the project.

“This event is a testament to the Federal Government of Nigeria’s determination to secure a better future in the Power sector by focusing on providing off-grid solutions to increase electricity access across the Country,” REA stated. “REA encourages more Private Sector Companies to leverage on this opportunity to achieve the goal of electrifying one house, one business, one community at a time. They can also participate in the Solar Power Naija (5M Connection) programme by visiting our website www.nep. rea.gov.ng,” the statement added. The agreement was signed on behalf of REA by its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, while the representatives of the companies signed on behalf of their companies.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

INFRASTRUCTURE

Nigeria: Ayade Flags Off N8.2b Obudu Ranch Resort Hydro – Electricity Power Project

Governor of Cross River State: Dr Ben Ayade and dignitaries

overnor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has flagged off 8.2 billion naira hydro electricity project situated at the Obudu Ranch Resort to provide alternative electricity to the state and other surrounding states.

” I declare this workshop open with a sense of melancholy because I find it difficult to understand why at this age we are still where we are: black is no longer a colour but an expression of failure and it is my sincere faith that we grow beyound the level we are now”.

Speaking at the workshop for technicians, and stakeholders in hydro electricity, Senator Ayade bemoaned the failure of Nigeria to utilise the billions of cubit water available in the country to provide alternative power supply in the country.

Also speaking, Dr Inyang Asibong, the Commissioner for International Development Cooperation, said there is an urgent need to develop alternative sources of energy from the National Electricity Grid which has not been able to reach all parts of the country.

“After the construction of the Obudu hydro power project, let the next plant be constructed by Nigerian engineers because we have those willing to acquire the skill”.

He said four types of alternative sources of electricity: hydro, wind, solar are available for exploit in the state.

He said the Chinese who are serving as consultants to the hydro power project adopted the technology from Germany and there is nothing wrong if Nigeria adopts the same approach to meets its electricity needs.

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

“Small hydro is the development of Hydro electric power on a scale suitable for local community or isolated locations usually not connected to the National Electricity Grid . A small hydro system generates less than 50 mwgawatts of electric.

Cross River State haa many sites suitable for small hydro power supply such as Obudu Ranch Resort, Agbokim Waterfalls, Kwa Falls, etc” She said the state’s Industrial Policy has its policy thrust and strategy has been the development of the hydro sites to provide alternative sources of energy using environmentally friendly techniques however, over the years “successive administrations in the state have made attempts o develop some sites but such efforts did not go beyound mere policy pronouncements” The United Nations Industrial Organisation, UNIDO Representative Mr Jean Bakole said there are four hydro sites in the country, Gombe, Cross River, Ekiti and Enugu where 3.5 megawatt hydro electricity sites are being developed at a cost of 60 million USD and in the next few years, work will ne completed in all the sites.”

INFRASTRUCTURE

NAOC Hands Over 10MW Gas-Fired Power Plant to NCDMB By Ikenna Omeje

Engr. Simbi Wabote (FNSE, FIPS) Executive Secretary, NCDMB

he Nigerian A gip Oil Company (NAOC) has formally handed over the 10- megawatts gasfired power plant it constructed at Elebele, Bayelsa State to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB). The NCDMB, which made the disclosure in a series of tweets recently, said NAOC handed over the gas plant to NCDMB at the Board’s liaison office in Abuja, where their team was received by the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr Simbi Wabote. “Earlier today, the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), formally handed over the 10-megawatts gasfired power plant it constructed at Elebele, Bayelsa State to NCDMB at the Board’s Liaison office in Abuja.

The ES NCDMB, Engr. @wabote_ simbi received the NAOC team,” NCDMB tweeted.

Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and Oando Energy.

The power plant was built in partnership with the NCDMB as a capability development initiative (CDI) and it supplies uninterrupted power to the 17 storey Nigerian Content Tower at Swali, Yenagoa. It wOULD also provide electricity to the Nigerian Oil and Gas Park at Emeyal-1, Bayelsa State.

The power plant also aims to enhance the capacity of NCDMB and other government infrastructures in the State, kick-start sustainable industrialization, create employment opportunities and generally improve the standard of living through reliable supply of electricity.

The power project, which was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari in August last year, is acknowledged as a giant leap in the journey towards the development of Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry. It is an initiative of NAOC and its partners - Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC/NAPIMS),

The project activity includes the provision of 10MW GE Gas Engine Generator Power Pack Units (including all associated ancillaries) and installation of Overhead Transmission Lines and Balance of Plant for the evacuation of power to end-users in the State.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

PHOTO GALLERY

OGTAN AGM/Lecture Series & Awards

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

PHOTO GALLERY

1st African Local Content Roundtable

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

Examining some Parameters for a Successful Decade of Gas By Ikenna Omeje and Jerome Onoja

s part of the Federal G o v e r n m e n t ’s g a s revolution agenda, President Muhammadu Buhari, in March, launched the “The Decade of Gas” programme, which aims to make Nigeria a gas powered economy by 2030. Gas is seen as the energy of the future and Nigeria has over 200 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) of gas reserves and over 600TCF of unproven gas reserves, which if properly harnessed will keep the country relevant in the energy space as the world transits from fossil fuels to green and cleaner energy. Buhari noted that the current 32

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

global trend in favour of green and cleaner energy presents the country with an opportunity, adding that Nigeria is a gas nation. He said, “Nigeria is gas nation, rich in oil. But the country has focused on oil over the years. This is a paradox that we have decided to confront by declaring the Decade of Gas. “The rising global demand for cleaner energy sources has offered Nigeria an opportunity to exploit gas resources for the good of the country. We intend to seize this opportunity,’’ he said. “Global developments have indeed

presented Nigeria an opportunity. Gas will become the dominant fuel for generating power, especially in Africa and Asia. The question now is ‘’Can we rise up to the challenge?” In his speech, the President also said that

“

gas development and utilisation should be a priority to stimulate growth, drive investments and provide jobs for Nigerians. Gas will continue to remain relevant as the world pushes towards energy transition. But for Nigeria to

COVER STORY take advantage of the opportunities of rising demand for cleaner energy sources, which include gas, the country must tackle issues around gas flare, poor infrastructure, political climate and formulate enabling laws and policies to drive investments in the gas space. Speaking with Majorwaves, Mr Emeka Ene the vice chairman at the Council of the International Gas Union (IGU) and chief executive officer of Oildata Energy Group said that the announcement of the Decade of Gas is not enough. But noted that policy statement creates alignment with the private sector. He said, “Announcement alone doesn’t solve the problem. Policy statement creates alignment, and sustaining that process is going to create the relevant handshake with the private sector. And one of the relevant handshake is of course, the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Programme, which is an experiment itself, but the idea is to have private sector invest in flaring out, rather than rely on operators to do it on their own.”

stakeholders work together towards achieving the set target. Gas flare extermination commitment history Despite huge gas deposits, Nigeria’s economy largely depends on oil. According to some experts, this is because of the failures of successive governments in the country to focus and explore other natural resources, which the country possesses. This, unfortunately, has led to loss of revenues that could have been generated from gas, and other natural resources. According to Aderonke Adejugbe and Bayo Onamade in an article, ‘Nigeria: Gas Flaring In Nigeria: Challenges & Investment Opportunities’ stated, “ It is however worthy to note that whilst statistics may not be accurate,

He also noted that for the country to achieve industrialization through the Decade of Gas, there must be a deliberate plan to do so, adding that countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea, who hitherto were referred to as third world countries, did not come this far through wishful thinking.

“

“Nigeria cannot be successful through wishful thinking.

So if we’re going to succeed, it’s having clear, razor-sharp vision of what we want to see our industries and economy be 10 years from now,” he said.

Mr Emeka Ene

According to him, the clear vision may be to increase Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to certain level from now to the next 10 years, noting that the aspiration of the country is bigger than an individual. He added that policies like the Decade of Gas requires that all

Aderonke Adejugbe

“

the quantity of gas flared in Nigeria exceeds over 40 percent of the gas flared annually across Africa, which amounts to about $7billion in waste. Apart from economic waste being a consequence of gas flaring, flared gas is also known to contain toxic substances which cause respiratory diseases

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

COVER STORY and air pollution, leading to depletion of the ozone layer, ultimately having an adverse effect on weather and climate.” In 1979, the country came up with its first regulatory framework aimed at promoting anti-gas flaring policies, known as the Associated Gas Reinjection Act, 1979. Under the Act, oil and gas producing companies in the country were required to submit to the minister for petroleum, detailed programmes in relation to the re-injection of produced associated gas or programmes for the use of produced associated gas.

“

The Act also provided for the deadline for gas flaring in the country as stipulated by the Federal Government to be 31 December 1974.

Till date, this deadline is yet to be met despite several extensions through a succession of bills and amendments of laws. In recent years, the Federal Government had initiated a number of actions to reaffirm its commitment to ending the practice of gas flaring in the country’s oil fields. As part of its commitment, the government ratified the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and is a signatory to the Global Gas Flaring Partnership (GGFR) principles for global flareout by 2030.

gas in the country. The launched NGFCP struggles The former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu, on December 13, 2016, launched the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), following an approval by the Federal Executive Council. This was in recognition that flared gas could be harnessed to stimulate economic growth, drive investments and provide jobs in oil producing communities and indeed for Nigerians through the utilization of widely available innovative technologies. “The NGFCP is designed as the strategy to implement the policy objectives of the FGN for the elimination of gas flares with potentially enormous multiplier and development outcomes for Nigeria. The objective of the NGFCP is to eliminate gas flaring through technically and commercially sustainable gas utilization projects developed by competent third party investors who will be invited to participate in a competitive and transparent bid process. The commercialisation approach has been considered from legal, technical, economic, commercial and developmental standpoints.

“

It is a unique and historic opportunity to attract major investment in economically viable gas flare capture projects It also committed to zero flare whilst permanently addressing of gas by year 2020, which a 60 year environmental unfortunately, did not come to problem in Nigeria,” realization.

“

NGFCP stated on its website.

The continuous flaring of gas in the country may not be unconnected with lack of political will on the part of successive government in the past; unavailability of the infrastructure required to control gas flaring; unavailability of market for domestic gas products; and the low price of

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

“The NGFCP will offer flare gas for sale by the Federal Government of Nigeria through a transparent and competitive bidding process. A structure has been devised to provide project bankability for the Flare Gas Buyers, which is essential to the success of the Programme.”

Subsequently, Kachikwu in April 2019, inaugurated the Ministerial Steering Committee of the NGFCP to evaluate the bid for the 178 flared sites that have been identified in the country. This was after over 800 co m pa nie s ex p re ss e d th eir interest to manage the identified 178 gas flared sites. Each of the bidding companies was to make a compulsory payment of $1,000 fees to back their bids. The Ministerial Steering Committee was to recommend the best governance structure prior to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) carrying on with the programme as a statutory function immediately after the first auction rounds.

Dr. Ibe Kachukwu

However, nothing was done until after 10 months. The Director of DPR, Engr Sarki Auwalu, disclosed at NGFCP bidders’ conference in February 2020, that 200 companies had been shortlisted, following the evaluation of statements of qualification. He subsequently declared that 45 gas flare sites would be put up for auction in the first phase of the programme. In June 2020, the Department announced that the NGFCP is being delayed by six weeks due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions, th us limitin g th e invo l ve d stakeholder’s ability to access to flare points. The first phase of the programme was expected to resume once travel restrictions eased.

COVER STORY institution said the seven countries produce 40 per cent of the world’s oil each year but account for nearly two-thirds, representing 65 per cent of global gas flaring. In 2019, about 320 billion Cubic Feet of Gas (BCF) was flared, while the .

In January 2021, the Microsoft cofounder, Mr. Bill Gates, announced through his blog an ar ticle entitled “These advances will make 2021 better than 2020 “, that the world was not out of the wood, regarding Covid-19.

Engr Sarki Auwalu,

“In response to the prolonged lockdown due to Covid-19 Pandemic and the attendant consequences on daily business operations and commercial activities across Nigeria, the Department of Petroleum Resources has extended the NGFCP Bid Submission Due Date by a period of 1 month. Accordingly, all Qualified Applicants are hereby notified that the NGFCP Bid Submission Due Date has been extended to June 4, 2020,” a statement dated June 4, 2020, signed by Dr Musa M. Zagi, on behalf of the Director of Petroleum Resources, read partly. Attributing the delay of the scheme to the recent oilfields marginal bid round, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, late May, said that with the licensing round off the table, the government would focus on the NGFCP and see to its completion before the end of June 2021. He assured that the Federal Government will award licences under the NGFCP to qualified bidders as part of efforts to meet zero gas flare target in the country and expand its gas footprint. Early in May, the World Bank listed Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela and Nigeria, as the top seven gas flaring countries in the last nine years. Similarly, the Bretton Woods

pandemic, the global economy was brought to its knees in the second quarter of 2020, as a result of lockdowns and restrictions put in place by countries, to stem the tide of the virus. This led to dip in oil and gas prices, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) trading negative for the first time, to close at -$37 per barrel on April 20, 2020.

Chief Temipre sylva

“

Federal Government and local operators lost approximately 90.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas due to gas flaring in the period from January to May 2020. Authorities put the estimation of the financial loss at close to $230 million during the five months. Nigeria is a signatory to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and on paper adheres to the Global Gas Flaring Partnership (GGFR) principles for global flare-out by 2030. But this shaky start is already casting a shadow over the realisation of the 2030 target. The delay being witnessed in the bidding process of the NGFCP, appears to be more of a bureaucratic issue than unforeseen circumstances. Impact of the Pandemic Following the outbreak of Covid-19

He warned that the issue of Covid-19 will continue to be on the political agenda around the world, whose subject people will continue to hear very often. Although the arrival of vaccines has provided some succour, Gates warned that the mass production and distribution of vaccines will be a great challenge for countries. “Unfortunately, there are still not many factories where you can build mRNA products. Some must also be stored at temperatures as low as -70 ° C, which makes them particularly difficult to distribute in developing countries , although this is more of an engineering challenge than a scientific barrier, ” he said. He, however, gave encouraging message, saying, “Human beings have never advanced more in any disease in a year than with Covid-19 and, in that sense, the philanthropist considers that 2021 will be a year full of hope .” “ Still t h e re a re t wo main reasons to be hopeful . One is that masks , social distancing and other interventions can slow the spread of the virus and save lives while vaccines are being implemented , ”he further stated. Similarly, during an interview on Derek Muller’s YouTube channel Veritasium, Gates pointed out climate change and bioterrorism

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

COVER STORY as prominent threats facing the modern world. “Every year that [climate change] would be a death toll even greater than we’ve had in this pandemic,” Gates said during the interview. “Also,

“

“Hopefully, by the time we start entering 2022, we really will have a degree of normality

that will approximate the kind of normality we’ve been used to.”

related to pandemics is something people don’t like to talk about much, which is bioterrorism, that somebody who wants to cause damage could engineer a virus.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, Federal Government has taken various measures to keep the oil and gas industry running. In March 2020, the DPR directed oil and gas firms to reduce the workforce on offshore platforms.

So that means the chance of running into this is more than just the naturally caused epidemics like the current one,” he said.

“All travels to and from offshore/ remote locations shall strictly be in line with the guidełines and procedure for travel to offshore/ swamp location and obtainment of offshore safety Permit 2019,” the Department said in a circular.

Also, the Director of the United States Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Chief Medical Advisor to the President, Dr Anthony Fauci, predicted in February that normalcy will return hopefully in 2022. ABC News reports that Fauci in an interview with Times Today, said,

current quota hovers around 1.5 mb/d. To discourage gas flaring and increase government revenue, the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, in August 2020,said the government would “tighten implementation of the 2018 revised gas flare penalty payment regime (resulting in upward revision of gas flare penalty for 2020 from N44.7bn to N103.51bn)”. According to the revised payment regime for gas flaring, oil firms producing 10,000 barrels of oil or more per day will pay $2 per 1,000 standard cubic feet of gas, compared to N10 per 1,000 scf in the past. Firms producing less than 10,000 barrels of oil per day will pay a gas flare penalty of $0.5 per 1,000 scf. But the effect of this new policy is yet to be felt.

It noted that only staff on essential duties should be nominated and permitted to travel to offshore/ remote locations. “Non-essential staff current(y at offshore/remote locations should be withdrawn with immediate effect. “Staf f rotation less than 28 days/28 days is hereby temporarily suspended. This implies that staff are required to stay a minimum of 28 days at these locations per rotation,” the Department further stated, adding that “Representation by government agencies at offshore/ remote locations shall be limited to a maximum of one person per rotation.

Ben Akabueze

Political climate “You are to ensure strict compliance with the above while we continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as required.”

Dr Anthony Fauci

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

Nigeria in April 2020, together with other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), agreed to a historic production cut of 9.7 million barrels per day. Although, this has been reviewed downward, the country’s

The rising insecurity in Nigeria, and agitations by separatists group like the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and pro-Yoruba nation group, as well as kidnapping and act of terrorism being carried out by bandits and members of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), call for concerns, especially from investors’ perspectives.

COVER STORY The southeast and some states in the south-south region of the country, over the last 3 months, have become danger zones for security operatives. Several security personnel have been killed, with various police formations and units attacked by unknown gunmen. To address the current challenges facing the country, and boost investors’ confidence to invest in the country, the former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, is suggesting restructuring of the country as a panacea.

“They have forgotten the price of oil in the international market has depreciated and will continue to depreciate. “No developed country in the world depends on crude oil but they invest in their children, agriculture and encourage small and medium enterprises by giving out soft loans and other incentives.

“

“There is urgent need to restructure the country for the economy to grow to desired level.” He said Nigerians who do not believe in restructuring should stop misleading others by claiming it is a deliberate plan to divide the country. “Rather, it should be seen as a move to build the ailing economy and restore adequate security in the country,” he said.

Mr Peter Obi

Speaking on ”Restructuring, Security Challenges and Development” at the fourth Adada public lecture organised by the association of Nsukka professors (ANP) at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, Obi said it is unfortunate that governors depend on oil revenue but through restructuring, governors will look inwards to make their states productive. According to him, with restructuring, state, local and community police will be set up to tackle criminality within their areas. “It is unfortunate that some governors believe in going to Abuja monthly to get federal allocation from proceeds of oil,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted him as saying.

wants Shell to continue to operate its onshore assets, it seems the company has made up its mind to focus on offshore exploration and production. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Sylva, confirmed in May that the country is in talks with Shell over its planned divestment of all onshore assets.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, Mr Ben van Beurden, in May at the company’s annual general meeting, hinted the company’s plan to exit from its onshore oil and gas operations in the country.

“

“When law and order breaks down, when sabotage and theft is rife where you try to operate, no amount of effort that we put in can actually try to compensate for that,” Argusmedia quoted him as saying. “At some point in time we also have to conclude that this is an exposure that does not fit with our risk appetite anymore. We have drawn that conclusion, and we are now talking to the Nigerian government on the way forward”. Even though the Federal Government

Mr Ben van Beurden

“Nigeria, in its talks with Shell included options of handing over Shell’s stakes in the assets to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Co. (Company), the upstream arm of state oil firm Nigerian National Petroleum Co., or NNPC, inviting bids from Nigerian indigenous producers, or having a mixture of local firms and foreign independent producers to bid for the assets,” Sylva told journalists in Abuja. If the views of opinion leaders in the country are anything to go by, the country needs to go for restructuring as an option, to avoid a situation where oil and gas companies begin to declare force majeure, thereby making the targets of The Decade of Gas unrealizable. For instance,

“

Total withdrew all Mozambique LNG project personnel, and declared a force majeure in April, because of rising insecurity in the north of the Cabo Delgado province Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

COVER STORY of the country.

flaring as one of the six goals.”

to be given necessary legal backing.

“Considering the evolution of the security situation in the north of the Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique, Total confirms the withdrawal of all Mozambique LNG project personnel from the Afungi site. This situation leads Total, as operator of Mozambique LNG project, to declare force majeure.

The National Gas Policy is a fantastic piece of policy document, which aims at setting goals and implementing an institutional framework for the gas sector. The document insists on encouraging the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as a way to combat climate change, reduce deforestation and improve community health.

“We must progress it to the level of regulation backed by law, thereby deepening its stamp on the Nigerian gas sphere. This aside, I consider it to be a well thought out and articulated document. It may not contain every provision that would have been needed in order to establish Nigeria as a gas-based industrialization, but it undeniably constitutes a great starting point. Do I see the NGP being able to harness the potential of Gas as a tool for national economic development? Certainly!

“Total expresses its solidarity with the government and people of Mozambique and wishes that the actions carried out by the government of Mozambique and its regional and international partners will enable the restoration of security and stability in Cabo Delgado province in a sustained manner,” Total said in a statement. Enabling laws In December 2017, the Federal Government published the National Gas Policy and the National Petroleum Policy in the official gazette. The National Gas Policy commits to ending gas flaring, creating an enabling environment for investors, seeking value addition for gas, and improving governance in the sector. The programme information memorandum of the NGFCP, states, “The Federal Government of Nigeria will work to grant open access to all pipelines and other essential midstream infrastructure. With respect to pricing of gas for the domestic market, which is largely controlled by the Federal Government of Nigeria under a transitional pricing framework, the current framework will be retained for a limited period until a sufficient gas market is established. The policy objective is to move to market-led wholesale gas pricing without gas price regulation, except where there are natural monopolies. Earlier in 2015, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources announced ‘7 Big Wins’, 7 which outline short- and mediumterm priorities to grow Nigeria’s oil and gas industry from 2015 to 2019. The third pillar is a gas revolution, which includes reduction of gas

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

As interesting as the content of the document appears to be, the country needs a market-led wholesale gas pricing model without regulation. This would transform the content of the document to reality and by extension, achieve the objectives of The Decade of Gas. There is need to back the Policy with enabling law. This is why the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (Bill (PIB), currently before the National Assembly, needs to be passed into law as quickly as possible. It will drive investments in the country’s oil and gas industry. Speaking in this regard in an interview with journalists in February 2020, the former President of the Nigerian Gas Association (NGA), Mrs Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, said, ”Let me first say that

“

the decisive action by the Nigerian Government to approve the National Gas Policy was certainly a significant move in the right direction, establishing the recognition of the Gas Industry as a stand-alone Industry with viable economic benefits to Nigeria. Its primary aim is to advance the diversification drive initiated by the government to move the Nigerian economy from being oil export based to a gas-based industrialized one. It is important to note that although the policy was approved by the government, it is yet

Mrs Audrey Joe-Ezigbo

“

The policy provides for the separation of key aspects of the value chain -infrastructure ownership, operations and trading in order to dissuade monopolistic business operations along the gas value chain.” According to her, “The primary dilemma of the gas pricing conversation has been that on one hand, you have the government’s intent on ensuring lower gas prices in order to ensure affordability of the end product to the final consumer, including power; and on the other hand, investors’ need to ensure gas prices that are reflective of the spectrum of their infrastructure cost profiles and other variables that impact on the viability

COVER STORY of their investments. The

“

intention of government is a laudable one but in practice, this is difficult to sustain, especially if we want to see any tangible results in the short to medium terms. We have such a humongous and rather daunting dearth of infrastructure.”

Infrastructure President Muhammadu Buhari in June last year, flagged off the construction of the AjaokutaKaduna-Kano gas pipeline. The 614 km long gas pipeline, represents phase one of the 1,300km-long Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline (TNGP) project, which is being developed as part of Nigeria’s Gas Master Plan (now National Gas Policy) to utilise the country’s surplus gas resources for power generation as well as for consumption by domestic customers. The TNGP project also forms part of the proposed 4,401kmlong Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) to export natural gas to customers in Europe.

(BOOT) basis under public private partnership (PPP) to be supervised by Nigeria’s Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC). Other parts of TNGP projects includes the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) 2, and the ObiafuObrikom-Oben (OB3) gas pipeline. “Today marks an important chapter in the history of our great nation. It marks the day when our domestic natural gas pipeline networks from Obiafu in Rivers State, Escravos in Delta State and Lekki in Lagos State, are being connected through Kaduna to Kano states thereby further enhancing national energy security,” a statement by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) quoted Buhari as saying while flagging off the $2.6 billion gas pipeline project that will further enhance the country’s energy security. The President further stated, “We promised the nation that we will expand the key critical gas infrastructure in the country to promote the use of gas in the domestic market. “These include the Escravos to Lagos Pipeline System - 2 (ELPS-2), Obiafu – Obrikom - Oben (OB3) pipeline and the AKK. I therefore directed NNPC to ensure that these critical projects are completed on time, within budget and specification.” Speaking early this year at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum, 2021 on the topic “Delivering Energy Access in the Developing World,” the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, had said that

“

President Muhammadu Buhari

The AKK pipeline is being developed on a build-own-operate-transfer

there is at least $10 billion worth of investments currently ongoing in the energy sector, especially in the area of gas, in the country.

“We are not a petroleum country in the real sense. It’s agreed that we have the 10th largest reserve of oil and a significant gas reserves. Of course, what everybody recognises is the oil. The reality today is that we have a country in excess of 200 million people. Seventy per cent of this population is well below 30, with a growing middle class and one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. “More importantly, for us today, an energy deficient country, over 60 per cent of our country is not electrified, the poverty level is very high, extremely challenging. But so much is going on to see how we can reverse this trend. When you combine all these, you will see that as a country of focus today, many things are happening in the energy sector. “For instance, we are seeing inve s t m e n t in o u r e n e r g y infrastructure, especially in the area of gas in excess of $10 billion; this is ongoing. There are a number of gasbased projects about $3 billion to $5 billion dollars and some of them are at the Final Investment Decision (FID) stage,” he said. Gas infrastructure is capital intensive, and the current dip in the country’s revenue will make it difficult for Federal Government to solely put in place the necessary infrastructure needed to drive gas development in the country. According to data recently obtained from the DMO by Punch, as of December 31, 2020, the country’s debt portfolio had risen to N32.92tn, with N10.26tn spent on debt servicing between 2015 and 2020. This is why PPP model as currently being used in the construction of AKK, is needed in the area of providing regasification equipment for LNG, and other infrastructure in the gas sector. Also, the Federal Government and its partners need to begin to think of increasing the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Trains capacity to probably 100 Million Tonnes Per Annum. Speaking on a panel session on the strategic relevance of The Decade

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

COVER STORY of Gas to the economy, at the virtual Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) 2021 Pre-Summit Conference and official launch of the Decade of Gas, the Managing Director of NLNG, Engr. Tony Attah, said, “Train 7 is no longer ambitious. The way to enable Train 7, 8, 9 & 10 is to actually do a lot in the upstream by accelerating development of gas and moving Nigeria from 9th to 4th position in the ranks of gas producing countries.

It, however, took the intervention of President Buhari, who doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, for the licences to be restored to Addax. “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the restoration of the leases on OMLs 123, 124, 126, and 137 to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC which is in production sharing contract with Addax Petroleum, a company wholly owned by Government of the People’s Republic of China on the blocks. The leases belonging to the Federation were revoked on March 30, 2021. “This development reaffirms the commitment of President Buhari to the rule of law and sanctity of contracts.

Engr. Tony Attah,

“

“We were excited about the move to increase LNG capacity only to hear what Qatar wants to do. Qatar wants to add 30MTPA as incremental capacity. Our total existence after Train 7 is 30MTPA. That was when we started to feel small. “Look at Australia with about 150TCF, they have 88MTPA of LNG capacity. Qatar was 2 years ahead of us in developing LNG. Qatar is now 77MTPA capacity. We made a move with Train 7 and set to move from 22MTPA to 30MTPA.” Litigation The DPR revoked four oil mining licences of Addax Petroleum in April, citing the inability of the company to develop the assets.

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

“While directing the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR to retract the letter of revocation of the leases, the President also directed NNPC to utilize contractual provisions to resolve issues in line with the extant provisions of the Production Sharing Contract arrangement between NNPC and Addax. “The restoration of the blocks to NNPC will boost the organisation’s portfolio, thereby making the Corporation to, in the long run, boost its crude oil production and in turn increase the revenue it generates to the Federation Account,” a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, on April 23, 2021, read partly. Similarly, the Department on April 6, 2021, also issued letters revoking 11 Marginal Oil Fields licences.

“

According to the operators of the assets in a letter to Buhari, they have invested over $400 million in these assets. “The revocation of the licenses will certainly lead to litigation against

the Marginal Field Operators by foreign partners and banks who have financed the development of the Marginal Fields, in addition to sending the wrong signal to both foreign and local investors” the operators stated. “We have conservatively invested over US$ 400 million in developing the affected fields, with a number of them in production, whilst others are in various advanced stages of development including testing of oil wells, drilling of new wells, construction of production facilities, etc. “These investments were made despite low crude oil prices, militancy, and insecurity in the Niger Delta region, resulting in frequent shut down/ vandalism of crude export pipelines,” they added. There is a question when it comes to sanctity of agreement in the country’s oil and gas industry. There have been cases where the country has been sued either locally or abroad, on issues around breach of contract agreement. The case of Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), which was awarded $6.6 billion in damages against Nigeria in January 2017, by an independent London tribunal, is a case that is still fresh in the memory of Nigerians. Every investor wants to invest in an environment where sanctity of agreement is held in high esteem. This is what the government needs to work on in order to send the right message to investing potentials so as to achieve its gas targets within the next decade. Conclusion Despite the current challenges, the Decade of Gas presents huge opportunity for Nigeria to industrialise. It will create additional sources of revenue for the Federal Government,

MARITIME which could in turn provide valuable support for renewables and generate millions of skilled, green jobs for Nigeria’s young and fastgrowing population. Speaking at a virtual event organised by the Association of Local Distributors of Gas (ALDG), tagged “The Decade of Gas: “Unlocking Opportunities in the Domestic Gas Market,” the Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power, NNPC, Yusuf Usman, said that

the Nigeria Oil and Gas Excellence Center (NOGEC), is yielding positive results as the country had so far received at least $20 billion worth of investment proposal from foreign investors, according to the DPR Director, Sarki Auwalu. Auwalu said,

“

the country’s oil and gas industry will require at least $40 billion in direct investments in basic infrastructure to achieve the objectives of the Decade of Gas.

“Going forward into 10 years, we expect to do another big pipeline that will take up gas from south, all the way into Ajaokuta and possibly we extend it all the way to Maiduguri,” he said. The NNPC expects to grow about 10 gas-based industries as it works towards the 10-year target. All these require huge investments, which the government cannot handle alone. However, the establishment of

Daniel Terungw

“

“Immediately after the commissioning of the excellence centre (NOGEC), a lot of investment houses across the borders of Nigeria indicated their interest to come into Nigeria because of the transparency and predictability of the nation.

Mr Yusuf Usman

NIMASA to Facilitate STCW Status for Navy, Accredit Professional Courses.

“As it is now, the excellence centre is to drive value through safety and enhance cost efficiency. This attracted investors and as you can see, we put a lot of emphasis on data because it is an ingredient of decision making and ingredients of investors”. The Decade of Gas will help in expanding the national power grid. Having about 200 million population, the country needs 200 megawatts of electricity generation. By the NNPC’s projection, demand for gas to generate electricity in the country is expected to consume between 60 to 70 per cent of the entire commodity produced, with the ongoing plan to generate 45,000MW. With these positives, and deliberate commitment to the policy statement to address issues around laws and political climate, Nigeria should be on the path to become an industrialised nation in the next 10 years, through effective implementation of the Decade of Gas policy.

he Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, has pledged to assist the Nigerian Navy in the accreditation of professional courses offered by the Nigerian Navy with particular reference to the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW). The agency promised to facilitate the attainment of International Convention on STCW status for the Nigerian Navy training institutes. The Director General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, disclosed this recently during a courtesy visit by the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Naval Training Command, Rear Admiral Kamarudeen Lawal at the Agency’s headquarters. Jamoh spoke in response to a request by Lawal, who believed that collaboration between the Nigerian Navy and NIMASA was not only required for success of the country’s maritime goals but also inevitable. “NIMASA is all for anything that would enhance safety and security in our waters and promote shipping. This is in line with our mandate. We would support and advance courses and causes geared towards maximizing our maritime potential. “Our maritime training institutions and courses have their basis in the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW). “We would help the Nigerian Navy obtain the STCW status for its training bodies, and facilitate the accreditation of its programmes, on purpose to advance our common goal of maritime safety and security,” Jamoh stated.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

MARITIME

NPA to Resolve Truck Call-Up Challenges Government for the collaborative s y n erg y a n d th eir role in enforcement. Speaking on behalf of haulage operators doing business at the port, President of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, expressed his delight over the unannounced visit of the Acting Managing Director. He described the visit as a demonstration of the NPA’s helmsman appreciation that the truck call-up system is a priority.

he Acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, has assured port users of the authority’s commitment to speedily resolve all teething challenges against the smooth implementation of the electronic call-up system. Bello-Koko made the pledge while interacting with truck owners and drivers during his visit to the Lilypond Terminal in Ijora, for a firsthand assessment of the physical infrastructure built for the call-up system, which is domiciled in the terminal. The visit, according to him, was to enable him re-evaluate the performance of the truck call-up system three months after it was deployed, and also engage directly with the service users to appreciate their concerns and bottlenecks arising from their subscription of the traffic management platform. Bello-Koko said all teething issues arising from the truck call-up system would be addressed progressively, stressing that both the online scheduling process and truck transit

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

“We are very happy with your visit, it shows clearly that you a listening and focused leader, who is prepared to tackle the critical issues affecting port business in our country. We will work with you as the success of NPA is our success as well. arrangement would be fine-tuned to check against manipulation and other related irregularities. According to him, “We will ensure that the entire process is fully automated and secured to prevent counterfeiting, while priority will be given to export cargoes in line with the economic diversification agenda of the federal government.” He told stakeholders that the NPA was poised to sustain the implementation of the minimum standard of trucks operating in the ports with the view to assuring that standard operating procedure (SOP) are imbibed at all times pointing out that trucks that fail to meet with expectations would not be allowed onto the “Eto” app. He called on the ports community to collaborate with the NPA’s management in order for the sector to operate in tandem with international best practice. According to him “Eto” has come to stay, we shall together ensure its workability”, the economy being better for it. He appreciated the Lagos State

“We commend the Authority for giving us this call-up system, however the story so far has not been enjoyable, we’re hopeful that things will improve very soon, ”he said. The Nigerian Ports Authority had on February 27 this year rolled out an electronic call-up system for trucks dubbed “Eto”, to address the intractable traffic gridlock along the access roads leading to the two major seaports in the Lagos area. The visit to Lilypond Terminal by the Acting Managing Director, his first since he assumed office on May 6, is to enable him assess the quality of equipment so far deployed and identify the necessary measures required, so that the system can be made to achieve its intended objective.

MARITIME

Deep Blue Project: NIMASA Receives Aircraft Delivery, gets Commendation from IMO Secretary General Daniel Terungwa

H.E Chief Timipre Sylva; Dr Bashir Jamoh and others

he Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, recently took delivery of the last batch of the Deep Blue Project equipment. The agency said it is now set to take on the criminals terrorizing the nation’s territorial and coastal waters. In a statement signed by the Head of Public Relations, Mr. Philip Kyanet, Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, and other officials of the agency inspected three Special Mission Helicopters at the Naval Base, Apapa, under the project set to be launched.

mark the arrival of the aircraft, Jamoh said the assets would further improve security in Nigerian waters. Jamoh noted that a drastic reduction in the rate of attacks in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) with the deployment of the Deep Blue Project assets, is expected in the next few weeks and months. “There has been a drastic decrease in the rate of security breaches in our waters in recent times. This is a clear indication that we are getting it right with the Deep Blue Project.

The equipment, which includes a Special Mission Aircraft, was received and installed to secure Nigerian waters up to the Gulf of Guinea, GoG.

“The figures we are getting from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) are encouraging. We ultimately aim to completely eradicate security hindrances to shipping and business generally in the Nigerian maritime domain.

Speaking to journalists at the Nigerian Air Force Base, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, during a brief ceremony to

In the same vein, the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Mr. Kitack Lim, at the 103rd session of

IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), commended NIMASA on the milestone achievement which is part of Nigeria’s efforts towards tackling sea piracy and criminality. IMO also called for improved governance of available protection solutions, such as security escort vessels for assisting other vessels, in accordance with international law and respect for sovereign rights of coastal states. To help improve maritime security and safety in the region, the IMO urges support and participation in the Gulf of Guinea Maritime Collaboration Forum (GoG-MCF/ SHADE GoG) as well as other platforms, such as the G7++ Friends of the Gulf of Guinea (G7++FoGG). “There is need for greater collaboration with all critical stakeholders, including informationsharing on maritime criminality and illegality, use of maritime domain awareness such as MDAT-GoG

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

MARITIME (Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade for the Gulf of Guinea) and use of surface and/or air patrol capabilities,” Mr Lim said. Reacting to this, Dr Jamoh stated that “It was most encouraging to hear the Secretary-General take out time to commend NIMASA and indeed Nigeria openly for our efforts to tackle piracy and sea criminality through the Deep Blue Project.” He noted that the agency would do all it

can to secure Nigerian waters and by extension the Gulf of Guinea. The Deep Blue Project, otherwise known as the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, is designed with three categories of platforms to tackle maritime security issues on land, sea, and air. The land assets comprise the Command, Control, Communication, Computer, and Intelligence Centre (C4i) for intelligence gathering

and data collection; 16 armoured vehicles for coastal patrol; and about 600 specially trained troops for interdiction, known as Maritime Security Unit. On air, there are two Special Mission Aircraft for surveillance of the EEZ, three Special Mission Helicopters for search and rescue; and four Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The sea assets consist of two Special Mission Vessels and 17 Fast Interceptor Boats.

NIMASA Donates 40 Computers, others to Anambra Govt

he Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety A gency (NIMASA) has donated some education materials to the Anambra State Government for onward distribution to the schools in the state. Some of the items were: 40 desktop computers, 19 whiteboards, 30 packs of markers, 60 dozens of exercise books, 30 packs of erasers, 30 pieces of Oxford Mathematical Instruments, three cartons of calculators, eight cartons of UPS. Others were: 18 pieces of chemistry textbooks, 20 pieces of physics textbooks and 20 pieces of biology textbooks, 20 pieces of economics textbook, 6 pieces of New Primary 1 English, 6 pieces of New Primary 2 English, 6 pieces of New Primary 3 English, 6 pieces of New Primary 4 English, 6 pieces of New Primary 5 English and 6 pieces of New Primary 6 English among many others.

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

responsibility.

Executive Direc tor of NIMASA Hon Chukwudi Ofodile, who presented the items to the state government on behalf of his organisation, said that the gesture was par t of the NIMASA’s corporate social

‘We have 40 desktop commuters, some books, boards. This is part of our corporate social responsibility. So, on behalf of the Director General of NIMASA and the governing board, I present this to the government of Anambra State through the secretary to the government. ‘I hope that this state will find this useful and the different schools that will benefit from it will take advantage of this for the betterment of the society,’ Ofodile said. Responding, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof Solo Chukwulobelu, thanked NIMASA for the donations, saying that the items would be put to the best use. ‘On behalf of the governor, Chief Willie Obiano, I would like to convey the state’s heartfelt appreciation

for these wonderful donations to our schools by NIMASA as part of their corporate social responsibility. ‘You may recall that during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019/2020, the same NIMASA actually donated some palliative to the state. I think that underscores the reason why sometimes we feel that in appointments, there should be a reflection of the federal character. ‘We are proud of our son. He is representing our interest in NIMASA but I am sure, being a true Igbo man, he is also doing the same across the other states of Nigeria. So, we are pleased to receive these educational materials. I can see computers, whiteboards and other things. ‘We will appeal for more because you know that education is the very fundamental enabler in any development. We look forward to a time when NIMASA will actually adopt a technical school, a big secondary school and equip it for everything it requires. ‘If they are able to do the same for some of our hospitals, it’ll be good because at the end of the day the state government cannot do everything given its resources. This administration has lived through recessions and anyhow we can get from the corporate sector will be fully appreciated,’ the SSG said. Source: Sun

ANGOLA’S OIL & GAS CONFERENCE

15-16 JUNE LUANDA, ANGOLA

ANGOLA OIL & GAS 2021 CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION ATTRACTING VALUE-ADDED

INVESTMENTS

THE ENGINE FOR SUSTAINABLE

ENERGY GROWTH IN ANGOLA

Account Executive mariana@africaoilandpower.com

www.angolaoilandgas2021.com JEAN-PIERRE DE CARVALHO

International Sales Director jp@africaoilandpower.com

KATIE BROCK

Event Director k.brock@africaoilandpower.com

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

ENERGY WOMAN

“Advocacy for gender equality, proper legislations will promote growth of oil and gas industry” - Onosode

lero Onosode has had a long illustrious career in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry as an accomplished Human Resources (HR) expert in both generalist and specialists roles covering industrial relations, HR services, policy development and organization effectiveness. As a woman wearing many hats, she is the founder and Chief Executive

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

Officer of AAO-Tsalach Ltd, a consultancy firm providing services to the oil & gas and other industries and currently the chairperson of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF) Diversity Sectorial Working Group (SWG). In this interview with Majorwaves Energy Report, Alero shares her career journey with insights on how to succeed in the workplace. Using a gender-focused narrative, she

highlights challenges, bordering on the bias that has stifled women’s growth in the sector over the years. Her recommendations on how to recalibrate the existing systems and institutionalize sustainable policies that promote diversity and inclusion for local and national economic development lends credence to the change agenda of the Diversity SWG. Excerpts by Margaret and Toyin:

ENERGY WOMAN What informed your choice, or decision to join the Oil Industry? I must say that the caliber of people working in the oil and gas industry was what informed my career choice. Fresh out of the university, at the beginning of my career, when you interact with the average employee of an oil multinational, they exuded this aura of being distinguished, smart, purposeful, and yet humble. My parents also had friends who worked in oil and gas, some of whom were scholars in those days, and they were just very composed, accomplished people. So, when I got the opportunity to spend my youth service (National Youth Service Corps- NYSC) in the oil and gas sector, I embraced it wholeheartedly. My service year was a defining moment in my career. My plan, post-NYSC was to embark on a postgraduate degree in Law but my foray into the oil and gas industry at the time took me to the world of what we call “Personnel Management” in those days and that was how my experience with HR (Human Resources) started. I just went into that space and fell in love with it, but I think I fell more in love with the “character” of the company, Shell, where I served. Shell came across as a very caring company, with employee friendly policies and clarity around the rules of engagement. All employees were primed for both personal and professional growth. While job hunting after my service year, I always benchmarked every company I applied to, with Shell and they just always fell short. Not in terms of remuneration, but in terms of the values, organizational culture, spirit of care and community I had come to identify with. I became sold as it were, on advancing my career in the oil and gas industry. Considering the International Women’s Day theme for this year: “Choose to challenge’’, what did you choose to challenge? My personal commitment is twofold: What I choose to challenge and what I choose to advocate for. The first thing I choose to challenge

is the mindset that limits women’s abilities and boxes them into a corner. I choose to challenge every mindset that propagates any form of discrimination or any form of bias towards women. On the flip side,

“

I choose to advocate for policies and initiatives that allow for gender equality and advancement of women in all spheres of the oil and gas sector. I am committed to creating an enabling environment that removes those blockages and limitations and enjoin others to be part of this advocacy.

Over the years, this has become increasingly important owing to numerous experiences and narratives being propagated not only in the oil and gas sector but in other economic sectors as well. These negative, self-limiting mindsets have been at play for many years so whether we like it or not, there is already a dichotomy in the industry. It therefore means that we need to focus on sustainable policies and initiatives that create a level playing field and that is where I would like to put my energy going forward. Tell us your personal experience. What lessons have you learned that has framed your disposition towards your career? I would say that my formative years laid a solid foundation and has made me who I am today. Growing up, I did not feel any form of limitation being a woman. I grew up in an environment where my mother was a career woman and I saw my parents treat each other as equals. I saw my mother serve my father and my father serve my mother. Although my parents were both civil servants, my mum was the one who was always on the road. She worked with WAEC (West African

Examination Council) and she was always travelling. My father was really the one that stayed more at home, so I never grew up with a mind-set that there were traditional roles that I was required to play as a woman. Coming into the workplace from that background, I never really came with any limitations. I just came in believing that all I needed to do was prove myself and I would get treated the same way others would and I was fortunate to have a supervisor who gave me the room just to be me. That was why my first full work experience was as a Youth Corps member. It was also during my NYSC that I commenced fieldwork, independently conducting HR visits. So, it took me quite some-time before I began to hear “noises” about gender inequality and the attendant issues. In my marriage, I have also been blessed with a husband who has never limited me, in terms of what I can achieve. So again, I have never been constrained to accomplish my career goals and develop myself professionally. The reality check comes when you look around you and see only a few women who can demonstrate that same level of freedom mixed with a depth of experience. Sadly, a lot my female counterparts have been hindered one way or the other in the context of the environment in which they grew in and have operated from. So, I must say I was privileged. On the work front, I have had supportive bosses who have come through for me at times when I needed help most. I was raised to request for support when needed, so, over the course of my career, when the kids came, I did not hesitate to ask for help. If I needed to travel on official assignment and I needed a nanny to come with me, I would go to my supervisor and ask for the practical support I need for me to carry out that assignment successfully. Another fine lesson I would like to share, is the need to speak up albeit respectfully, when there is perceived injustice that could affect your work output. I think this is very important

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

ENERGY WOMAN The second thing is you must fundamentally believe in yourself. Self-confidence when developed and applied to the proper degree, is very key. As I said earlier, there is a lot of noise that would come in terms of what you can or cannot do, but the one thing I know is that what determines your success is the voice that you choose to respond to. So that means that the ‘I can’ mindset is one that is very critical for every woman that comes into the oil and gas sector. I had colleagues at the time that I have seen move on to greater laurels in terms of success and one of the things I recognize in all of them was that they did not allow the noise to limit them. So, you really must believe in yourself. The third one is what I mentioned earlier. You must learn to speak up. Each person has needs, and each person is vulnerable- male or female- so you should not attempt to be an action figure like “Voltron.” You are not superhuman. Whatever the need or support is, you must speak up and you must go to the right people for such support and sponsorship.

for us as women, because many times we keep quiet and allow the system to deal with us. Most times, people do not deliberately look out to hurt you but if someone is stepping on your toes or treating you unfairly and you are not speaking, they just might not recognize it. So, I think it is important to have a voice and request for needed help and support at various points of your personal and professional journey. Looking at your experience, what advice would you give young girls aspiring to go into the industry? One of the things I would say is that it is very typical that we head in the direction of where our role models are. So, you see even in my generation, there were a lot more women

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

interested in going into banking, fastmoving consumer goods, and the likes because that is where you saw high profile women. Now in oil and gas, you see few women, especially higher up the ladder. My first advice is that for you to come into the industry even in today’s modern world,

“

you must be ready to forge a path for yourself. You may not necessarily depend on the statistics to make your call. Do not limit yourself but push and seek out opportunities. Find out the few women in the industry and learn from them. Be mentored by them. But more importantly, be ready to forge a clear path for yourself.

The other thing I would say is that you must learn to tell a story and back it up with facts. I recall when we were to set up the Shell Women’s Network in those days, I had a few strong female colleagues at the time and one of the first things we decided was that for our story to be heard, we needed to work with facts and figures, we needed to be data-driven and not just run with emotions. We advocated our case, influenced action, and got the needed support. It is a skill that I believe is very important for anyone coming into the industry- the skill of storytelling to influence. The last thing I would say which cannot be overemphasized is:

ENERGY WOMAN

“

You must be willing to put in your best. Our standards, our ethics, and our ethos of trade are not determined by those around us, rather, we define how we want to distinguish ourselves. Always remember that the story starts from you and the story ends with you. You must define your course of action, you must solicit for the right sponsorship, you must tell your story, you must do the work and not be shy to take the reward when the accolades start rolling in. If you have put in the work, you are worthy of the reward. What does work-life balance mean to you as a person and how do you ensure that it works for you? It is true we always talk about work-life balance. But whether it is balanced or not, I honestly do not know. What I do know is that you must have a life and work forms part of that life. My attitude to it is that there are seasons of life and at different seasons in life, different things take priority, the important thing is that you maximize the space that you are in. Before marriage, I had ten years to make my life, my work, my everything revolve around work. I started my career in Warri, I had no friends save for my colleagues at Shell. At the time, there was not much of a social life in Warri, so it meant even during weekends, I focused on work. What I am trying to say is that during that phase of my life, I maximized my full potential and I believe that the foundations I laid in that period meant that even later, people had confidence in my abilities because I proved myself fully. So, wherever life meets you, live it to the full, give it your best shot and make

the most of it. However, in this conversation I must also say that there are some choices that influence whether you can achieve your full potential. These choices are in terms of the home front. For example, what kind of support arrangement do you have with your spouse or partner? If you are looking to succeed, it is important that you secure every support you can get. During my career, I have had to travel significantly, and sometimes on very short notice. However, one of the things I have come to value over the years was that in that period I could count on my husband not to harass me for travelling. I did not need to secure prior permission before I could go to Warri or Port Harcourt as the case may be. So, I think the choices we make in terms of the home setting is important and, in many cases, it involves just being upfront with our partner about what those needs are and being able to secure their support. Leveraging on support from my extended family and social network helped me a lot. On another note, at work, advocate for policies that would support and enable you for success. Being in HR, I leveraged on the women’s network we set up, which was a strong platform for us to articulate what our peculiar needs were as women. With this, we engendered changes in policy that were advantageous to us. Relatedly, you must deliberately create an environment that gives meaning to your life- the totality of who you are- including family, social life, recreation/sport, or faith. Whatever matters to you must be integrated into the essence of what you bring to work. So, I would not call it “work-life balance,” I would call it an integrated life. Work is part of it, family is part of it, my faith is part of it, my health is part of it, my overall wellbeing is part of that story which all need to be congruent. This is what makes me a whole human being.

What is your take on limited number of senior positions occupied by women in the oil and gas Industry? There is clearly an imbalance, and that imbalance did not just begin. When you discuss advocacy for more female representation, the first thing my male colleagues would ask is: “How many women studied engineering in the first instance?” You would here statements like: “This is an oil and gas company; we are technically centric.” While that was somewhat true in the past, in recent times, we are now beginning to see women go into STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics) and distinguish themselves in these fields. One of the fundamental things that I believe inhibited and still inhibits women from getting senior level positions are the experiences early on in their career. What we see as the C-suite today reflects the last two to three decades. The journey to the top on average takes 20-25 years so if something fundamental is not addressed at the point of entry, it begins to show up when you are trying to make decisions purely based on capabilities. In a video I did during the International Women’s day week, I commented on what the norm was when I joined the oil and gas industry. At that time, the women were not even given opportunities to go to the field. If you do not have field work experience and if you do not do well site experience, how would you successfully supervise operations in the field at a future date? Those are the dividends and benefits our male counterparts enjoyed, giving them an “edge” over the women. Hence, when conversations based on experience now come to the fore, there are gaps and those are the things that must be fixed from now. There is a lot of work that has been done over the years in this regard. I have a few female colleagues in my time who basically have pushed that boundary and have managed to pull through, but we need to consistently pay attention to all these unintended consequences from gaps created

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

ENERGY WOMAN in those experience profiles. Towards the end of the late 90s, going on overseas assignments were privileges reserved for men. The common thinking was that a married woman could not leave her husband or children to take on key assignments that involved travel. Those thoughts also created gaps in our experiences, and this has become more evident today.

“

Now more than ever, we must have a very targeted approach towards ensuring that from the beginning of one’s career, opportunities are balanced, policies are balanced, and enablers are put in place that allow people to be the best version of themselves regardless of gender. What we see today for me is just a journey of 20 years, the fruit of 20 years of inequity in how the playing field has been. Going forward, we need to address these inequalities every step of the way. The guys always say “it is not intentional, we only pick the best person for the job”, but if overtime your decision as to what qualifies as best is around skills and experiences that are peculiar to you, then there is a problem; because every time you make that decision about who is the “best”, you keep going back to conversations about technical knowhow forgetting that in the world of leadership today, there are other capabilities that are also important and should be considered. Here, considerations are around issues of authenticity, nurturing, and being able to deal with multiple tasks at the same time. These qualities in some cases, do not always show up in the profiles that are used in terms of determining who is the best fit for the job. Do you think that we presently have policies that are in place that will enable fair and equitable appointments on the C-Suite level? Also, since we must start preparing

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

STEM-inclined young girls to become poised for senior-level positions in the next two decades, do you think we are doing enough now? I would say there is a lot more work that needs to be done. The operating landscape and many organizations favor a lopsided approach to handling the issues of gender supportive policies or gender supportive developments. We still have schools of thought that are “pro-men” because many still do not see the value that they derive as a business from having a gender-balanced world view. I call it a gender-balanced world view because the reality is that by the nature of how we are made, there are certain abilities and skill set that we all bring together and the world is only better by having a wholistic view of everything. The first conversation to be had especially among leaders, is the struggle to understand why women are needed in the workplace. It is even more difficult for us in the oil and gas sector because the consumers of our products are not known. You are bound to hear conversations around marketing the products alone and not about understanding the customer or other stakeholders. This comes from a narrow view of who your stakeholders are in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria. The conversations over the last 30 years with regards to stakeholders including the host communities and the issue around environmental preservation would have been a lot different if you had the balanced world view. That for me, is one of the areas where I think that women could have and can still bring a clear value to the table. We therefore need to articulate and communicate what we stand to gain as an industry by having a genderbalanced world view. Secondly, we need to go back to each of these policies that exist. The structures in place are lopsided because as a country and as an industry at large, the decisions relating to

equitable gender representation is basically left to each organization to determine. Until we begin to have conversations at national and industry-wide levels, it will be difficult for us to get the level playing field across board. With the IOCs (International Oil Companies), the pressures they put on gender issues in many cases were not driven locally, these are coming from the global corporate front- both at governance and legislative levels- which forces them to do things in a particular way. The dividends we experience here are the trickles of the efforts put in placed in other parts of the world. We need to advocate for a balanced world view at the local levels, backed by proper legislations while highlighting its importance to the overall growth and development of the industry.

“

Now more than ever, we need to actively encourage younger girls to pursue careers in STEM. The few cases or few success stories that we have within the industry needs to be celebrated a lot more. We need to profile them in a manner that makes it attractive for younger girls to make choices that allow them sit on the C-Suite soon. We need to make the business case for this clear so that leaders take us seriously.

“

We must recognize that there is a clear value one derives as a business by having a genderbalanced world view with the requisite skills and abilities being brought to bear in terms of how organizations are run. During and post COVID -19 pandemic, women have time and

ENERGY WOMAN

again demonstrated unrivalled value in terms of dealing with crises and nurture issues. Women have proven to be the best responders to host community issues while wielding authority in proper measure. We must leverage a lot more on influence. This influence is fueled by having a ‘win-win mindset’, developing the ability to co-create and collaborate, the ability to nurture, and the ability to redirect energies and emotions. These are the skills that women basically bring to the table. Talking about the workforce and speaking generally to the industry, the peculiar problem as observed, is an aging workforce and who their potential replacements are. As a HR pundit in the industry, what do you think can be done to ensure Nigeria’s oil industry does not record huge deficit of the required skill set? I like the way you have categorized it. To be honest, the issue of the aging workforce is with the aging professional workforce. In terms of the skill set, the past generations in the oil and gas sector benefited from the depth of planning that

was put in place, but these ones are all now entering retirement or moving on. Also, the cyclic nature of the oil and gas sector meant that there were periods of “dips” which were occasioned by reduced oil prices and decline in activities. At such periods, after slashing training budgets, the skills that you require are not necessarily in place when activities pickup. So that creates a gap in capacity development. The decline in activities further affected technical know-how in areas such as drilling. To bridge these gaps and make up for the deficit,

“

we need to emphasize more on coaching and mentoring, while putting less emphasis on classroom training. There must be incentives in place to encourage skill transfer from the older generation to their potential replacements.

Furthermore, there must be collaboration between established companies and smaller companies that do not necessarily have the structures to grow their talent base. Where this cannot be done directly, vendor capability should be enabled for training to occur and services deployed across board. We must create platforms for shared continuous learning. Expounding on skills transfer, we must institutionalize a system where experienced consultants and expatriates transfer knowledge in an organized fashion. This knowledge should be recorded, archived, and documented in various ways for capacity building. So, in other words, you are saying use the veterans, do not just use them as vendors and consultants but also use them as mentors and coaches as well? Exactly!

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

ENERGY WOMAN Currently, there is hype on technology and on simulation. Even if you are not actually experiencing something you can run learning modules that simulates the environment, simulates the challenge, and teaches the younger generation even in organized settings where the practical experiences are not available. Learning on the job is also very important. From experience, there is always a tendency to give tasks to experienced hires just to get the job done quickly and smoothly. Despite the pressure within the industry, we must be willing to create the opportunity to teach and we must be ready to take the risk. The older generation- including me- learnt this way. I think our environment now is different from when I was in the industry.

“

There is too much attention on the bottom line to the extent that we lose the benefits that come from intentionally supporting and developing talent. If we embark on sustainable development of budding talent in the industry, we would be sowing seeds that grow mighty trees which provide a refuge in the future. Brain drain in the industry is something that is on the rise right now. How best do you see the oil industry coping with this trend? I think this is a reality that is beyond the industry particularly in the context of Nigeria and our socio-economic challenges. These challenges make it almost imperative for experienced resources to relocate along with their families in the search for better standards of living. With the growing acceptance of remote work in a COVID-19 world, there are now more with opportunities which allow us as an industry, become more flexible in terms of our definitions of work and the nature of the contracts. These contracts should

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

foster capacity, skills development, and vendor development, allowing companies request for workers on need basis and freeing up the worker for other jobs as the demand arises. Customized work cycle is another issue that warrants closer scrutiny. In essence, even if somebody works in the field, there is nothing that says that if he is off field, his location must be in Nigeria. Regardless of where he works from, he should be able to go back home- wherever home is. So, we really need to revisit those schedules in line with what our requirements are while we maintain flexibility about the kind of pay and other enablers that consistently gives us access to the best resources across the world. With the foregoing, despite COVID-19, productivity can remain at optimal levels and outcomes trump efforts. We can now proactively deploy a lot more solutions around contracting and the nature of work. Increase in technology is inversely proportional to the workforce site. How would you advice industries viz-a-viz the nation’s unemployment levels? The key issue is that with increased technolog y, you require less manpower to run operations in some cases. However, with the socioeconomic challenges prevalent in Nigeria, industries should create an enabling ground for skills and capabilities to be developed which can be deployed in any sector of the economy.

“

In unleashing the nation’s economic potential, focus should be on ensuring the workforce is gainfully employed in a manner that creates wealth for individuals and their household.

Here again, the conversations and actions around enabling development in our communities

should be on the front burner. Indigenes should be empowered at grass root levels to provide for themselves and their families. Over the years, I have been involved in some projects that propagated “energ y pacts”, where small businesses can thrive. These kinds of enablers will create wealth across the entire value chain such that we can operate lean and efficient businesses and as a byproduct, engage the entire community in gainful employment. With advancement in technology, we can ramp up local production, for example with fish drying. By engaging the communities in this way, the nation enjoys a balance of trade via increased exports relative to imports. Look at most of the equipment we still bring into the country. Everything is assembled, imported, and developed abroad. Those are the auxiliary services that we need to encourage and that for me is where the opportunities exist. With the COVID-induced new normal, it appears we benefit more from technology, because right from the comfort of your home, you can now take E-courses from Coursera, Google, Microsoft, and the likes. How does that fit into reducing the unemployment rate in the country and putting people on the pipelines to get skills and be gainfully employed? What ways can that be supported to ensure there is reduced number of unemployment? I would not say the new normal totally bridges the skills gap or solves the unemployment issue. I think while our infrastructure has improved, it is still not where it needs to be. For instance, when you look at the capacity or the speed of network, it is still sub-optimal, and it limits your learning experience while trying to do training on a particular course. I believe that internet connectivity, particularly in our areas of operation, can be a lot more enhanced for better experiences and uninterrupted communication between colleagues working from the office and those working from the field. With improved penetration of technology infrastructure, communities can be empowered to learn new information and become

ENERGY WOMAN

innovative while connecting with the cities and world at large.

“

As an industry, we must find ways to provide support to the communities from the background without them being dependent on our businesses. Sadly, we built communities that are dependent on us for hand-outs so it is always about what you can give them. We must constantly initiate conversations with communities. The GMoUs (Global Memorandum of Understanding) that we put in place cannot be end products. It should be an enabler, a gateway to the end product. It means that instead of giving you money or cash, I will be ready to invest in your business and support you to the point of building your capacity for growth. I will be ready to support you by delivering

technology so that you can build the business, with some level of ownership, and ensure there is some development in the process. Now, even if you employ the youths in the community when building a facility or asset, when those projects come to an end, if they are not gainfully employed doing something else, these same youths will excavate those same facilities (like pipelines) that you have built.

“

We need to pay more attention to make the indigenous youths our sustainable development partners and they in turn will help build sustainable communities.

As the chairperson of the Diversity Sectoral Working Group (SWG) of the Nigerian Content Consultative

Forum (NCCF), what is the mandate of the SWG and what specific goals are you pursuing? The SWG is keen on issues aimed at gender parity and moving away from the barriers or limitations therein. I believe this is a key enabler for growth and development in the sector. This is one of the areas where we would all acknowledge and appreciate the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB (Nigerian Content Development and Management Board) because it takes a lot of guts to step aside and choose to do something different as we have seen him do over the years The essence of the SWG is basically to look at ways which we can increase the participation of women in oil and gas. Now, to increase participation of women in oil and gas, there are several factors at play. First, you must understand the present situation. What are the statistics of women within the oil and gas sector and in what areas are they playing?

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

ENERGY WOMAN Second, you must understand what has hitherto limited them and what enablers they require for them to play effectively within the industry. Thirdly, it is imperative to find out what will attract more women to want to work in this industry. These, I believe will begin to define our mandate and priorities as a sectoral working group. Over time, we have alluded to the fact that there are limited numbers of women within the oil and gas sector, hence, our priority is to even understand the operating landscape. We need real-time data on the women-owned businesses. This is not defined anywhere. We need to ask questions about how many women are in leadership. How should leadership be defined? Should focus only be on women in the C-suite? Or only the executive directors and leadership teams? So, there is clearly a lot of diagnosis that needs to be carried out in terms of what our current situation is. As you go through the value chain and you even begin to look at businesses within our communities, the roles women play come to the fore, hence, the sectorial working group is committed to building databases and carrying out market research. We are also partnering with private sector companies and educational institutions to attract more women to the industry from school. Access to funding is another bigticket item for us. It remains a fact that our industry is very cash intensive, hence there is a need for us to go back and find ways in which we can provide access to the necessary funding. From my vantage point, I can say for a fact that we are not limited in terms of ideas on what women can do and accomplish. We are not limited in terms of the gusto, the desire, and fire to execute our ideas. In the words of Fela Anikulapo Kuti: “African woman na fire”, meaning that the average woman is fire. She is equipped and she is hungry to go after her dreams. Our primary goal as a sectoral working group is to understand and find ways around removing

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

limitations that pull women down and instead create policies that would set them up for success.

“

As chairperson of the SWG, I am focused on the development of women in terms of closing existing gaps and sponsoring policies with clear initiatives aimed at giving women a voice in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. We will succeed with commitment and support from the NCDMB and private sector players. We have seen the trend in the banking sector with more female representation on their board. The stakes were clear, and it was enforced. Using data-driven insights, we will create a compelling case for the necessary changes to take effect in the industry. In actual numbers, what are the percentages of women-owned businesses in the oil and gas industry? To be honest, I do not know the actual numbers. Recall that first, we need to know what qualifies a company to be adjudged as woman owned. Has anybody ever asked for that information? So those are the changes we need to make. If for instance, it is agreed or established that for a company to be a woman owned business, the stakeholder or ownership must be a certain percentage minimum, then we can say how many women qualify in line with global standards or measures around same. Are there deliberate plans or policies to increase the influx of women in this male dominated sector? I think the first plan is having this sectoral working group. It is a step in the right direction. It means that there is somebody paying attention to this longstanding issue and there is somebody recognizing that there is a need for us to do some real work overtime. I am confident that by the

end of the year we can begin to have the first push in terms of policies that will be sponsored to drive and moving our work and vision forward. Does the diversity Sectorial Working Group have plans to influence an increase of girls participation in STEM? Sure! That would be one of our advocacy touchpoints. As I mentioned earlier, what we see today is an outcome of the last two decades. To make a change, our advocating would start from the secondary schools right now, almost from the foundation of education because already it is at that point young ones decide on whether they like mathematics or science. We therefore need to be vested in education that makes science appealing. The essence of STEM is built around curiosity, so early on we must shape the mind of our children to be curious, to get them interested in problem solving, to get them interested in solutions. These interventions need to start much earlier in terms of raising the awareness around STEM and telling stories that make the girl child interested. When we were growing up, we found many women in the medical profession because it was built around care and nurture. Same with lawyers, you find many women there. But that engineering space for some reason was always sold as hard and that is the narrative that we need to change. I would personally see how the work progresses; I would be advocating for much earlier intervention even pre-secondary school. What role do associations play in this context. As a SWG, what role does your association play in mainstreaming women in oil and gas industry? To me, the key thing we have set out to do as SWG is to network widely with all the women associations and organizations because as a body we do not have all the answers.

ENERGY WOMAN I have already shared a perspective of the story that is limited to my own experience and the case for change is a lot more compelling when you have the experiences running across a myriad of professional lines, organizational lines, backgrounds, and education. So, one of the things we need to do is to ensure that we all come together and collectively articulate the case for change. Working with the network is essential to how we can advance change. Change does not happen with one man. In our change management circle, we say you make a case for change. But

“

for change to happen, then you must build a coalition behind the change and clearly articulate the changes you want to see. This coalition, this force, is required for the change. We need all hands onboard and to be honest with you, we need the hands of women, but we also need the hands of the men and this is so extremely important.

I do not want the conversation to be around women pushing a case for themselves. This is about creating an industry and a sector that is viable, stronger than it was, able to take new frontiers. That means that the conversation around gender is about creating value, it is about sustaining value and if there are gains for males and females, then the case should be made by men and women. When we talk about networks, I am clearly relying on the women’s network for us to make the case, for us to articulate the challenges that we face that is peculiar to us. However, the solution lies in collaboration across gender lines. We need to jointly forging ahead to sponsor and support the initiatives

that pull back these barriers. We were talking earlier about brain drain and limited professional skill set. The industry can only benefit from the best of both genders so we must create the space to make this happen. So far, I have thrived on the sponsorship of men that have gone ahead of me, of women that have gone ahead of me and we need to continue to ensure that this happens with the present and coming generations. Do you see energy transition as a great threat to the oil industry? I honestly do not. I see it as a continuum and again I see it as an entrenching of the solutions leading us into the future. First and foremost, if you look at our local setting, clearly oil and gas is still going to be at play for a long time to come. Again, when we look at our current domestic economy, there is still a large unserved population with varying needs that have not yet been met. So, there is clearly a lot more room for oil and gas domestication and there is room also for new energy solutions. So, I do not see it (energy transition) as a threat at all. While there is still a long way ahead, I am also hoping that the energy transition should be seen for what it is. It is a partnership that would involve building sustainability into the very fiber of our businesses. This transition will bring to light the need for oil companies to churn out creative solutions to continue their operations profitably and sustainably.

you and I care enough to vote for the right person, you care enough to ensure that fairness and equity are entrenched in our value systems, you care enough to hold people to account, you just care. In those days, we would usually make fun that the white people gossip a lot, but really, most of us moved to the point where their world, your world, my world, is just defined by self. We need to care. Again, looking at the industry, I would say over the years, the challenges we are experiencing today arose just because we did not care. We were concerned about the returns of the present and at the expense of that, our community suffered. We have an industry today that still flares gas in the backyards of people’s homes, we never cared and now the cost of caring becomes too exorbitant. My plea is that we must care and now is the time to start, one step at a time.

What is the Nigeria of your dreams? The Nigeria of my dreams is a Nigeria that cares for its people. When I say “care”, it comes across as so simple, but in effect caring cuts across all spectrums of humanity. The Nigeria of my dreams is a Nigeria where leaders care for their followership, where each person cares for their neighbor, where our primary aim is to help others be the best they can be. This is a Nigeria where we care about the environment in which we live. Distilling further, it is a Nigeria where

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

SUSTAINABILITY

Fadina Joins The Global Board Of Knowledge For Development Partnership Jerome Onoja

“K4DP is linking education and research with action and practice. We envisage that the post COVID-19 and beyond require international transdisciplinary research, knowledge management, innovation and creativity for the digital transformation,” he said.

Prince Lekan Fadina

ustrian-based international, multi-stakeholder platform dedicated to advancing knowledge for development, economy and society, Knowledge for Development Partnership (K4DP) has announced the appointment of Prince Lekan Fadina to its Board of Directors. This was disclosed recently by the General Manager, K4DP, Dr Andreas Brandner in a press statement on the official website of the organization. Prince Fadina who is a fellow, Institute of Sustainable Development Practitioners, Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria, Institute of Stockbrokers of Nigeria, Director, Centre for Trade Practitioners, Fellow- World Innovation Foundation, an Economist, Educationalist, Environmentalist and an Entrepreneur, is well known globally for his interest in trade, capital market development, sustainable development, environment and public affairs. Fadina is an alumnus of Harvard Universit y G ra duate S ch o ol,

United States of America, SouthWest London College, South- East University, London, Sundridge Management Centre, United Kingdom, British Institute of Finance and Investment England who comes to the Board with a wealth of experience having served in senior positions in government and private sector including General Manager, Nigeria Stock Exchange, Chairman, Technical Team Presidential Initiative on Cassava Export, Consultant, African Business Roundtable and Member of African Roundtable to mention but a few. The General Manager, K4DP, Mr Andreas Brandner, delighted to welcome Fadina to the Board, expressed hope that his inclusion would help propel the Partnership to greater heights. Brandner stated that the K4DP along with its partners from across the world has developed a global agenda for knowledge development with partners cutting across governments, businesses, academia, civil societies and more.

The Knowledge for Development Partnership, K4DP is a non-profit organization founded under Austrian law at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on 3 April 2017, with an objective to promote the global advancement of peaceful, wealthy, sustainable, and inclusive knowledge societies, foster global knowledge partnerships for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and implementing the Agenda 2030. In recent times, the group has been involved in promoting knowledge as an essential resource and an indispensable prerequisite for the development of societies all over the world. The Partnership has helped in the advancement of knowledge sciences in the global ecosystem serving universal humanity through the School of Knowledge Sciences, offering outstanding academic, research agenda linked with the SDGs and teaching with global Faculty working at close partnership with UNESCO, UNDP and the United Nations University The 15-member Board of Directors headed by Dr Andreas Brandner as the Managing Director constitutes members from countries including Netherlands, Spain, Austria, United Arab Emirate, Togo, USA, Uganda and United Kingdom among others.

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

SUSTAINABILITY

Schneider Electric Commits to Global Fight Against Biodiversity Loss By Jerome Onoja

s part of its activities around the International Biological Diversity Day, Schneider Electric, a leading firm in energy management and automation has made commitments to actualize its pledge of combating the global loss of biodiversity by achieving a net zero loss of biodiversity from its operations, with a specific target of 2030. This statement was captured in a press release that included highlights of planned actions towards enhancing protection and restoration of biodiversity. As countries and corporates continue with inaction, the damage done to biodiversity become irreversible. Some of the effects include serious peril not only to animals going extinct but to the world’s economies and to the health of human beings. The pledge made by Schneider Electric to stem the negative tide saw it commit to quantifying and regularly publishing its impact on biodiversity; achieving netzero biodiversity loss in its direct operations by 2030; and developing solutions and technologies that contribute to the preservation of 58

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

biodiversity. Others include partnering with suppliers to eliminate the use of single-use plastics from packaging; and partnering with NGOs and investment funds, and engaging employees and partners on local initiatives, such as ensuring that all of its sites deploy biodiversity conservation and restoration programs. Olivier Blum, the Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at Schneider Electric said: “We urgently need to take stock of the impacts we have on nature and biodiversity but it will take much more than that to preserve and restore our ecosystem. “Quantifying resources utilization and setting up bold ambitions are key, but success will come from concrete and immediate actions that do not compromise on our needs or those of future generations.” The commitments made by Schneider Electric are captured as part of the Act4nature International, an alliance of international companies, NGOs, academic bodies and public institutions that aims to accelerate business action in support of nature.

The release noted that, th e A c t4 Nature s te e rin g committee has described the Schneider Electric commitments as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely (SMART). Due to human activities leading to habitat destruction, climate change, over-exploitation of natural resources, and pollution, there is a high rate at which biodiversity is being lost. As a consequence, modern times are often referred to as the 6th mass extinction. A new study looking at extinction rates in freshwater ecosystems explain ed that sp ecies are disappearing faster today than they did during the end-Cretaceous extinction which killed the dinosaurs. It also noted that, the damages being witnessed would take millions of years to undo. The year 2021 will be remembered as one with great mobilization for biodiversity with programs like One Planet Summit which held in January, while the IUCN World Conservation Congress is scheduled for September and COP15 Biodiversity is due in October 2021.

Stimulating deals and transactions in the African oil and gas sector 8-11 November 2021 | Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

YOU’R E O P P O RT U N I TY TO H EA R D I R ECT LY F RO M :

Patrick Pouyanné Chairman of the Board and CEO

Win new contract |

Hear directly from Ministers |

Network with Africa’s E&P leaders

DISCOVER HOW WE CAN PUT YOUR BRAND IN FRONT OF THESE MAJOR OIL AND GAS NAMES ALREADY CONFIRMED FOR 2021:

Enquire about sponsorship and exhibition space today: www.africa-oilweek.com

Majorwaves Energy Report JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6

Majorwaves Energy Report

JUNE 2021, Vol 4 No 6