Our CEO, Roger Brown, has reiterated the critical role of indigenous oil and gas companies towards achieving Nigeria’s energy security. Speaking at a Panel Session themed, “Pioneering the Future of Energy in Africa” as part of the 50th Anniversary of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), he noted that, indigenous companies have a much greater responsibility beyond drilling and exporting oil and gas.
“As indigenous companies, we have to create energy security within Nigeria, and we have to invest in the next 50 years and beyond. At Seplat we have always believed that domestic gas was going to be very critical. And obviously today, we are seeing a revolution whereby energy security is now being created. We currently have 3 gas plants, which will be operational this year.”
He further pointed out that Liquified Natural Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and other derivatives from the gas sector will serve domestic, transportation and other purposes. “Our responsibility is to ensure that we have something that can be replicated for the future. So, we need the whole ecosystem, including the service companies and everybody else, to deliver this in the future. We have to create energy security for Nigeria, irrespective of what is going on in the world,” he said and thanked the NNPC for the leadership and support it has continued to demonstrate.
He also emphasized the importance of training and talent retention in the nation’s journey to energy security. “In the last 60 years, the IOCs have done a phenomenal job, by training people. In most companies, I would say that over 80% or probably more were trained by IOCs. So, they have delivered in the last 60 years. But I think the responsibility is going to be much more on the local companies to look at training programmes and design what they are going to be for the future, because there's a lot of technological changes coming, including AI and robotics. Again, given the cleaner energy drive, how do you convince a 20-year-old of a career in the oil and gas sector? It is a challenge and if we are going to get them in, we have to train them for the future, not for the past. And the only way we can achieve that is to collectively do it. We have to collectively put money on the table, build training centers and get the right training programmes.”
The panel session was chaired by Austin Avuru, Founder & Executive Chairman, AA Holdings, with other panelists as Jim Swartz, Chairman/MD Chevron Nigeria Ltd; Olusegun Banwo, Executive Vice President & CFO, Renaissance Africa Energy Company; Nosa Omorodion, Country Director, SLB; Matthieu Bouyer, MD/CE Total Upstream Companies, Total E&P Nigeria.
Also in attendance at the event were the Founding President of NAPE, Akomeno Oteri; the current President Johnbosco Uche and a host of NAPE executives and members, including Dr. Layi Fatona, Chairman, Renaissance Africa Energy Company.
The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, was represented by NNPC’s Executive Vice President, Upstream, Udobong Ntia, while the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and his Gas counterpart, Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, were both resented by the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe
