Stakeholders to discuss critical industry issues at NAPE conference

STAKEHOLDERS in the Nigerian oil and gas industry will converge at an international conference organised by the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) to deliberate on major critical issues in a quest to address the challenges in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

Speaking to journalists at a pre-conference briefing, the President of NAPE, Dr Andrew Ejayeriese, stated that oil and gas will continue to be a commodity characterised by peaks and troughs. The cyclicality of the industry is not a new phenomenon.

He said stability in oil prices is critical in order to achieve high economic growth. The global energy market is getting increasingly more complex; with the low oil price regime, hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation are no longer as profitable it was prior to the price decline in 2015.

“While global demand for reliable and affordable energy will continue to rise in the foreseeable future, the world is moving toward a lowcarbon era. Consequently, oil and gas companies will find it expedient to review long term strategies and innovate, recognising the possibility that oil is on the brink of suffering a fate similar to coal.

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“Although the global economy continues to recover, growth has been slower than anticipated. Oil price fluctuations are strong determinants of inflation rate and unemployment levels which in turn impact the growth rate of a nation’s economy. For most developing countries oil accounts for a large proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) expenditures in energy production. Nigeria, for example relies on crude sales to make up 70 per cent of its revenue. The sharp decline in prices led to an economic crisis.

“Significant hikes in energy prices will lead to appreciable rise in production, transportation and sundry costs for many allied industries. In emerging economies, the challenges are similar: uncertainty in regulatory frameworks, poor physical infrastructure,lack of skilled resources, corruption and poor ethics. For Nigeria, there is no better time than the present to begin to envision an era beyond oil,” he said.

He argued further that successive administrations have enunciated economic policies and strategies on how to diversify the nation’s economy from oil to other sectors like agriculture, mining and tourism. The Nigerian economy has not diversified at the anticipated rate.

“It is against the backdrop of the foregoing that the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) will at its 36thAnnual International Conference & Exhibition be examining strategies to tackle these realities,” he said.