“The oil and gas industry globally is under siege,” the Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo on Tuesday said.
This was even as he sought the removal of oil export restrictions on oil produced by Iran, Venezuela and Libya.
Barkindo stated this in his address at the opening of the 21st edition of the Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Conference and Exhibition, in Abuja.
He said the disruptions affecting these three OPEC Member Countries, not only contribute to the current market tightness but also directly affect their welfare and development.
According to him, the three countries’ oil industries have been held hostage by geopolitics, while Libya has faced internal challenges that have sharply curbed its exports.
His words: “Yet our industry is now facing huge challenges along multiple fronts, and these threaten our investment potential now and in the longer term. To put it bluntly, the oil and gas industry is under siege!
“We could, however, unlock resources and strengthen capacity if the oil produced by the Islamic Republic of Iran and Venezuela were allowed to return to the market.”
He further stressed that the evolving geopolitical developments in Eastern Europe, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and inflationary pressures across the globe were fueling significant volatility and uncertainty in the commodity markets and in the world of energy.
Similarly, he said for the National Oil Companies (NOCs) to flourish, there was a need for them to have predictable and unfettered access to investment capital.
“It is essential if we are to develop new technologies, strengthen our human capacity and remain leaders in innovation so that we can do our part to meet the world’s growing need for energy, shrink our overall environmental footprint, and expand access to underserved communities,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva disclosed that the Federal Government (FG) targets about two million jobs annually from gas development.
With a proven gas reserve of over 200 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF), the right policies and regulations to expand the utilization of
her gas resources, he said Nigeria has huge potential to become an industrialized nation.
“The president will continue to strengthen the gas value chain as it is vital in transforming the economy of our great country. This initiative will create over 2 million jobs per annum, promote skills acquisition, enhance technology transfer in addition to growing the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” he said.
He noted that although globally, the oil-rich countries are currently having conversations around moving away from fossil fuels to an energy mix dominated by low carbon sources of energy – Renewables, fossil fuels will always have a share in the country’s energy mix for the foreseeable future.
“We will not at this time abandon our fossil fuels. We have, however, adopted our vast gas resources across the country as a transition fuel,” the Minister added.
The Minister said the FG is working on many initiatives to tackle energy poverty in the country.
One of these he stated, includes the gas to power Initiative aimed at minimizing gas flaring and harnessing gas resources to electricity to meet Nigeria’s electricity
demands.
“It is very worthy to note that the Federal Government is providing a lot of enablers, which are needed to realise the full potential of the gas sector,” he added.
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