The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has urged increased cooperation among upstream operators, particularly independent producers, to address the obstacles impeding the efficient development of divested assets within the country’s oil and gas sector.
During a panel session at the ongoing 2024 Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES 2024) in Abuja, the company’s Executive Vice President of Upstream, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, issued the statement on Wednesday.
Speaking on the theme: “Innovation, Collaboration, and Resilience: Empowering Independent Producers in the Dynamic Energy Era”, Eyesan stated that past experiences with divestments and how the assets were operated have left much to be desired as most of them experienced a drop in production rather than growth.
“In the industry, if you want to measure success, there are some basic indicators that you utilise – production growth, reserves growth, and asset integrity. If I were to evaluate prior investment initiatives and scale the actors using these indices, I would be untrue to myself if I said everybody has done well. Yes, we acquired the assets; but today, we are worse off in terms of production than we were when we did the acquisition”, the EVP lamented.
Yet, she recognized that there have been notable successes in the endeavors of independent producers.
She pinpointed several challenges, including insecurity, financial constraints, and limited technological capabilities. She emphasized that through collaboration among industry stakeholders, these challenges could be overcome.
“Collaboration cannot be overemphasised. Somebody said we should be in a state of emergency, and I agree with that. It’s not by sitting here and talking about the challenges, I think we should have a war room where we raise the issues and set out concrete plans to resolve them rather than wait for stakeholders individually to take them on. We need collaboration, collaboration, and collaboration”, she enthused.
The panel session featured prominent figures in the sector, including Adegbite Falade, Chief Executive Officer of Aradel Holdings; Elohor Aiboni, Managing Director of SNEPCo; Demola Adeyemi-Bero, Managing Director of First E & P Development Company; and Matthieu Bouyer, Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies.
Also present were Mr. Shane Harris, Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil Nigeria; Dr. Ainojie Alex Irune, Chief Operating Officer of Oando Energy Resources; and Cosmas Iwueze, Director of Joint Venture at Chevron Nigeria.