NAPE supports FG’s 40bn barrels crude reserves target by 2020

The Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) has expressed confidence that the Federal Government has the capacity to achieve 40 billion barrels of oil reserve projection by 2020.

The NAPE President, Mr Abiodun Adesanya, stated this in Lagos against the backdrop of government’s plans to boost oil production.

Adesanya said that the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) target was to restore oil production to 2.2million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2017.

He said that increasing it to 2.5 mbpd by 2020 could be achievable if monitored adequately and that the nation needed to increase exploration activities in order to achieve that lofty target.

The NAPE president said that Federal Government had targeted 40 billion barrels reserves and three million barrels per day production by the year 2020.

According to him, the Nigerian oil and gas industry is currently experiencing declining reserves owing to reduced exploration due to militancy, a situation that had caused much concern.

He said that successful exploration and development of new oil fields would require the use of novel integrated technologies.

Adesanya said that government was committed to meeting the 40 billion barrels oil reserve target, but decried the rate of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the country.

“It was in the best interest of the government to increase production. It is for all of us as stakeholders to work together, minimize the distraction and face the business of boosting the reserves production to 40 billion barrels.

“Exploration successes in other African countries had put pressures on Nigeria as a competing destination for oil and gas investments.

There was an urgent need to examine the effectiveness of existing policies to drive growth in the oil and gas industry as well as the development of roadmaps and new policy initiatives,” he said.

Adesanya said the association was committed to providing other learning opportunities, including short courses and field trips to the carbonate sedimentation areas in the Eastern Dahomey Basin in South-West Nigeria.

On the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the NAPE president said the association would continue to advise the government on the need to pass the bill into law.

“Stakeholders believe that as exploration and production experts in the oil and gas industry, NAPE should have made a greater impact that would have facilitated the passage of the bill into law.

“The only thing the body can do is to advise and cannot force the government. Passage of the bill by the National Assembly will address all aspects of the petroleum industry’s challenges and attract investment,’’ he said.

The Federal Government had, on March 7, released its ERGP with a view to restoring macroeconomic stability that would lead the various sectors toward achieving the nation’s full economic potentialities.

The ERGP’s core vision from the plan is sustained inclusive growth through structured economic transformation with emphasis on improving both public and private sectors’ efficiencies. This is to increase national productivity and achieve sustainable diversification of production.

AfDB’s earmarks $12bn investment in electricity for 130million Africans

Olatunde Dodondawa, Lagos

The Africa Development Bank (AfDB) has said that under its new deal with ‘Energy for Africa’, it would be investing $12billion in energy in the next five years and leveraging $45-50billion from the private sector and other partners.

The goal according to the bank is to connect 130 million households via the grid, 75 million people via off-grid and provide some 130 million households with access to clean cooking energy.

This revelation came during the gathering of African energy leaders at the launch of the Africa Progress Panel Report: Lights, Power, Action-Electrifying Africa.

The President of the Bank, Akinwumi Adesina observed that the electricity deficit in Africa is immense, adding that 645 million people do not have access to electricity.

“Yet the continent has an abundant supply of solar, hydropower, wind and geothermal potential, as well as significant amounts of natural gas and in some countries coal deposits. Africa has energy potential, yes, but we need to unlock that potential. And we must do so quickly because Africans are tired of being in the dark,” he said.

Furthermore, Adesina said he drew inspiration from previous report in developing the Bank’s High 5 development priorities, which places energy as the top priority and which has, through the Bank’s New Deal on Energy for Africa, committed to investing $12 billion in energy in the next five years and leveraging $45-50 billion from the private sector and other partners.

The AfDB President commended the Africa Progress Panel for another very insightful report which, he said, will help Africa think through how to achieve the off-grid electricity revolution, as part of the comprehensive New Deal on Energy for Africa.

The progressing report indicates that more than 620 million Africans without access to electricity cannot wait for grid expansion.

While grid-connected megaprojects such as large dams and power pools are essential to scaling up national and regional energy generation and transmission, they are slow and expensive.

The report, therefore, suggests that governments must also increase investment in off-grid and mini-grid solutions, which are cheaper and quicker to install.

“What we are advocating is for African governments to harness every available option, in as cost-effective and technologically efficient a manner as possible, so that everyone is included and no one is left behind,” former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, stated.

Of the 315 million people who will gain access to electricity in Africa’s rural areas by 2040, it is estimated that only 30 per cent will be connected to national grids. Most will be powered by off-grid household or mini-grid systems.

Lights, Power, Action is an in-depth follow-up to the influential 2015 Africa Progress Report, Power, People, Planet: Seizing Africa’s Energy and Climate Opportunities.

It urges governments to put in place the incentives needed to encourage greater investment in off-grid and mini-grid systems, protect consumers, and facilitate demand among disadvantaged groups.

“Traditional approaches to extending the grid are no longer viable as the main option for African countries,” Annan said.

“They will take too long and will not meet the needs of our growing economies and societies. Instead, governments and their partners need to seize the opportunity to re-imagine their energy futures,”  he concluded.