The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has assured the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, that its members are ready to crash oil production cost with hi-tech equipment.
PETAN chairman, Mr. Wole Ogunsanya, gave the assurance when he led a delegation of PETAN Executive on a courtesy visit to the Commission’s Chief Executive (CCE), Gbenga Komolafe at the NUPRC headquarters in Abuja.
He said that PETAN members with decades of experience in the industry have all the equipment required to boost oil production in the country.
“We have the rigs, the requisite skills and services to tap the untapped resources underground to be supplied for refining in-country to serve our people. Consequently, we are here to state, just as we told the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources days ago, that we are ready to help boost oil production levels at reduced cost of production using our marginal fields, equipment and commitment to successfully deliver projects with reasonable incentives.
“At a time that assets are being sold off through series of divestment with Nigerians taking them over, the services of PETAN members will easily complement efforts to ensure maximum production capacity of oil in the country,” he said.
A statement by the publicity secretary of PETAN, Mr. Innocent Akuvue, which quoted Ogunsaya, thanked the CCE and expressed PETAN’s support for the government’s policies in the oil and gas industry, adding that as an advocacy group, PETAN is not unmindful of the challenges facing the industry, including low-level oil production.
He further pledged PETAN’s support for the three road shows of the NUPRC to raise funds for further explorations, stressing that PETAN is bringing in several other partners such as the AFRIEXIM bank to help actualise the goal of shoring up investments.
Responding, Komolafe congratulated the new PETAN chairman and expressed excitement by the enthusiasm of the new PETAN executives.
He said it is encouraging to have PETAN’s support in Nigerian oil and gas industry because the multidimensional challenges are of great concern to the government, who stands ready for stronger collaboration with stakeholders such as PETAN to navigate turbulent waters.
The NUPRC boss noted that PETAN remains a source of hope in the industry, especially in areas of exploration and production, as well as the development of human capital within the sub-region.
“I’m so excited that we have indigenous capacities thanks to PETAN, that can deliver on projects and demonstrate outstanding capacity . We are also proud of the platform that PETAN presents annually to address issues affecting the industry. Our planned road shows will help raise the funding required to drive investments and we look forward to PETAN’s collaboration on this,” he said.
Further discussions and contributions from the visiting team centered around payments to indigenous operators for projects executed, application of dispute resolution mechanisms and regulations of the Commission to ensure sanity in the way businesses are conducted to protect all key players.
Other areas of discussion include; addressing oil theft; helping to shape regulations and new processes for the industry to ensure proper hyrocarbon accounting; deeper collaboration through workshops and meetings between the Commission and PETAN’s 13 Technical Interest Groups (TIGs) for information sharing as well as creating a model and benchmark for cost of production.