OGRepublic August Edition

GECF GAS OUTLOOK

“Africa boasts a number of

promising growth factors”

Yury: “GECF’s Global Gas Outlook 2050 show that

Africa will witness the highest growth rate of

natural gas among all regions of the world

AFCFTA AGREEMENT

“Let’s drive inclusive trade to

boost sub-regional economy”

Osinbajo: “With the opportuni es presented by the

AFCFTA, there is need to drive more inclusive trade

ini a ves and expand intra-regional trade.

OIL AND GAS

REPUBLIC

OIL AND GAS REPUBLIC

www.oilandgasrepublic.com

August Issue 2021

USA $12, Europe €10, UK £8, Nigeria N1500, South Africa R60

3PETAN Promises to Deepen

Collaboration Between SAIPEC

Member Countries and AFCFTA

3AECIPA to Host 2021 AOTC

with Multiple Webinars

3GECF Unveils Plan to Deepen

Gas Development in Africa

3EACOP to Produce First Oil

By 2025 - TotalEnergies

3Shell Boost Support for Women

in Energy, Appoints Eloho Aiboni

as First Female MD for SNEPCO

WOMEN IN ENERGY

“With the Proper Contractual,

Supportive Regulatory

Framework, Project like Egina

can be Replicated..." -

SNEPCO’s ‘Digital Twin’:

A Structural Model for FPSO Digitalisation,

Local Content Opportunities in

Nigeria’s Deepwater Operation

I S S N 2 7 0 5 - 2 0 5 2

Dolapo Kukoyi - PARTNER,

DETAIL COMMERCIAL SOLICITORS

EDITOR’S NOTE

Dear Execu ves,

Publisher:

Engr. Idowu Babalola

(MBA, MNSE, MEI)

Managing Editor

Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme

Editor

Tobi Owoyimika

Legal Counsel

Barr. Jackson Olagbaju

Correspondents:

Genevieve Aningo

Ifeoma Ofole

Samson Binutiri

Oil and Gas Republic (OGR)

Reg. Number: 2347423

Oil and Gas Republic (OGR) welcomes you to our August edi on which is structured based on the

latest trends in the energy industry globally. As part of our commitment to energy transi on, we

are pleased to inform our readers and subscribers that we will be rebranding our publica on soon

to be focused on clean energy developments - from renewable energy, hydrogen, ammonia, offshore

renewables, natural gas, and eventually providing the correct orienta on for an energy transi on

which is now a major talking point in the global energy space.

In this edi on, we did a special focus on SNEPCO's 'Digital Twin' technology for Bonga FPSO, which is

now a trending story in the Sub-Saharan Africa oil and gas industry. The SNEPCO 'Digital Twin' is a

structural model for FPSO digitalisa on, and providing local content opportuni es for indigenous

service companies opera ng in the Nigerian deepwater segment.

Interes ngly, we had an exclusive interview with Dus n Meyer, American Petroleum Ins tute's (API)

Vice President, as he shed more light on how API is using data to measure the role of natural gas in

reducing GHG emissions among others.

Furthermore, we featured some latest industry updates in Africa, Asia, Europe, and America with

other interes ng stories from around the world.

For general inquiries, please email us at: info@oilandgasrepublic.com

Thank you for reading and have a nice day!

Best regards,


Managing Editor

For: Oil and Gas Republic Publica on

Oil and Gas Republic is an interna onal

publica on covering the en re value

chain of the Renewable Energy, Power

& Electricity, Avia on, Mining, and

Oil & Gas Industry. For more informa on,

please visit www.oilandgasrepublic.com

Email: info@oilandgasrepublic.com

oilandgasrepublic@gmail.com

Phone: +2348065187468

Page 4: Energy Advance Events

Page 11: African Energy Stories

Page 22: Special Features

OIL AND GAS

REPUBLIC

August Issue 2021

GECF GAS OUTLOOK

“Africa boasts a number of

promising growth factors”

Yury: “GECF’s Global Gas Outlook 2050 show that


natural gas among all regions of the world

AFCFTA AGREEMENT

“Let’s drive inclusive trade to

boost sub-regional economy”

Osinbajo: “With the opportuni es presented by the

AFCFTA, there is need to drive more inclusive trade

ini a ves and expand intra-regional trade.

OIL AND GAS REPUBLIC


3PETAN Promises to Deepen

Collaboration Between SAIPEC

Member Countries and AFCFTA

3AECIPA to Host 2021 AOTC

with Multiple Webinars

3GECF Unveils Plan to Deepen


3EACOP to Produce First Oil

By 2025 - TotalEnergies

3Shell Boost Support for Women

in Energy, Appoints Eloho Aiboni

as First Female MD for SNEPCO

WOMEN IN ENERGY


Page 25: Oil Market Report

Page 26: Nigeria Oil and Gas

Page 35: Local Content

Page 40: American Petroleum Interview

Page 44: Women In Energy

“With the Proper Contractual,

Supportive Regulatory

Framework, Project like Egina

can be Replicated..." -

Dolapo Kukoyi - PARTNER,

DETAIL COMMERCIAL SOLICITORS

SNEPCO’s ‘Digital Twin’:

A Structural Model for FPSO Digitalisation,

Local Content Opportunities in

Nigeria’s Deepwater Operation

I S S N 2 7 0 5 - 2 0 5 2

Page 49: SNEPCO's 'Digital Twin' Top Story

Page 54: Venezuela Chamber of Petroleum Interview

Page 56: Industry News

ENERGY ADVANCE EVENTS

AECIPA Set to Host 2021 AOTC with

Multiple Webinars

SAIPEC is a Regional Conference Attracting

Players Across the African Continent - ED

Ubong

06 08 09

GECF Unveils Plan to Deepen Gas

Development in Africa

PETAN Promises to Deepen Collaboration with SAIPEC

Member Countries Alongside AFCFTA

The Petroleum Technology Association

of Nigeria (PETAN), promises to deepen

collaboration between the Sub-

Saharan Africa International Petroleum

Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC) member

countries alongside the African Continental

Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), and working closely

with the event organiser to develop a stronger

platform for SAIPEC subsequent editions.

The PETAN Chairman, Mr Nicolas Odinuwe,

disclosed this while speaking in an exclusive

interview with our correspondent at the sideline

of the 5th edition of the Sub-Saharan Africa

International Petroleum Exhibition and

Conference, held as a hybrid event.

By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme

He noted that Sub-Saharan Africa has about

62.6 billion barrels of proven crude reserves

with an estimated 221.6 trillion cubic feet of

natural gas reserves, which has positioned the

region to be the last energy frontier and global

hub.

According to him, PETAN created SAIPEC as an

awareness informative platform for the Sub-

Saharan Africa oil and gas industry with a

strong focus on collaboration within the

African market.

"SAIPEC is one of those good catalysts to

fostering collaboration and deepening local

content in the African continent.

"Through this partnership with SAIPEC, we

intend to develop stronger collaboration

between SAIPEC member countries alongside

the African Continental Free Trade Area

(AFCFTA) as well as increasing regional

investment.

"The value chain in the African energy industry

if properly harnessed will transform the

economies in the continent and make us stop

looking out for donor agencies," he added.

PETAN’s sixth edition of SAIPEC will once again

set the stage for Africa’s energy, oil and gas

professionals on 23 – 25 February 2022 at the

Eko Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria.

Hosted by the Petroleum Technology

Association of Nigeria, the Sub Saharan Africa


Conference (SAIPEC) stands as not only the

largest event in the centre of the region's oil and

gas hub but also the only truly industry-led

event, held in partnership with the country’s

petroleum sector.

SAIPEC is a sell-out event, hosted by the

Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria.

The event features over 80 industry leaders and

Mr Nicolas Odinuwe, The PETAN Chairman

global experts on an insightful programme

which was held alongside the sold-out

exhibition with over 111 companies showcasing

their products and services and generating

meetings with thousands of invested industry

professionals.

Over 6000 attendees participated in total, from

36 countries, including 20 National Oil

Companies from Mozambique, Nigeria, Côte

d'Ivoire, Senegal, Uganda, Angola, Cameroon,

Ghana, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea and Gambia.

SAIPEC OFFICIAL EVENT PUBLICATION

04

OIL AND GAS REPUBLIC I SPECIAL EDITION

23 - 25 FEBRUARY 2022 I Eko Hotel & Suites delivered by


SAIPEC is a Regional Conference Attracting Players

Across the African Continent - ED Ubong

F

ollowing the successful editions of

t h e S u b - S a h a r a n A f r i c a

International Petroleum Exhibition

and Conference (SAIPEC), the President of

Nigerian Gas Association (NGA), and

Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Gas

(SNG), ED Ubong has described the SAIPEC

as the largest regional gathering, attracting

industry stakeholders, government and

players in the entire value chain of the Sub-

Saharan Africa oil and gas industry.

ED Ubong disclosed this while speaking in

an exclusive interview with Oil and Gas

Republic's Managing Editor, Ndubuisi

Micheal Obineme, at the sideline of the

2021 SAIPEC held virtually this year.

For Shell Nigeria Gas, Ubong said that

SAIPEC serves as an opportunity for the

company to share knowledge and

experience, as the SNG is fully committed

to helping Nigeria unlocking its huge gas

reserves.

He added, "Shell Nigeria is the most

reliable gas distribution company in

Nigeria. We have been operating for over

20 years; providing reliable and cleaner

energy to industries in Nigeria.

"Our current operations cut across Agbara-

Ota and Igbesa in Ogun and Lagos state.

We also have operations in Port Harcourt

and Abia state.

"We are looking to complete our

expansion project in Bayelsa while also

looking for opportunities to sort off expand

into Imo, the greater Lekki area and

Anambra state.

"We are playing an active role in that

energy transition. Gas is the cleanest

source of fossil fuel and, then, we are looking at

how industrial and manufacturing companies,

heavy users of energy sources can convert from

diesel and other liquid fuels to gas, which is a

cleaner source of fuel.

"At SNG, we are looking at retro-fitting some of

our current fleet where we will be moving from

PMS powered vehicles to gas powered vehicles

in the short term.

"We are looking forward to, may be having the

first gas retro-fitted vehicles available in the

SNG fleet before the end of the year.

"The vision for Shell Nigeria gas is really tied to

Nigeria's vision. How do we industrialize

Nigeria? Create more industries, create more

jobs, help states to generate internally

generated revenue; that is the role SNG will

play.

"We would enable industries to spring up

wherever there is gas. We would enable those

industries to build viable clusters that can

provide jobs for people, sustaining the Shell

bigger social development initiatives, and also

ensure that Nigeria begins to benefit by closing

its energy deficit."

On the other hand, Ubong noted that the new

council of the Nigerian Gas Association, will

manage the affairs of the association between

2020 and 2022.

He noted, "It is actually the first council for the

Decade of Gas and we are really committed to

lay the right foundation for Nigeria's gas

development”

Speaking on Nigeria's gas potentials, he

stressed that Nigeria sits on top of a huge gas

reserves, and the whole of West Africa is

looking up to Nigeria to unlock these resources

and help sort of provide the energy needs of the

rest of the West Africa region.

“A key requirement will be how we put in place

the right regulatory framework that will allow

upstream to bring the gas to the surface.

"We also have to build the right regional

infrastructure.

"Today, we have the West Africa Gas Pipeline

(WAGP) which runs from Nigeria through Togo,

Benin and all the way to Ghana.

"There is a huge opportunity to continue to see

how that line is fully utilized to help power the

energy needs of other West Africa sub-regions.

"There are always three key areas that of

concern to us. The first one is the regulatory

space where we are sure we have the right

regulatory framework that will assure investors

to invest in the gas sector in Nigeria.

"The second one of course is around

infrastruture; key infrastructures projects are

ongoing.

"The key one being the AKK line between the

East and West, the OBOB line; we are keen to

see the projects completed.

"Of course, the third area when you are dealing

with gas is always around safety. As Nigeria

attempts to grow its gas base we also need to be

sure that we have the right safety framework to

ensure that gas activities are carried out safely.

"For example, a key regulation would be the

'Call Before You Dig', which ensures that gas line

laid-in highly built areas are protected from

indiscriminate tampering and possibly damage

from third party," he concluded.

The Nigerian Gas Association is the largest

stakeholder body in Nigeria responsible for

advocating gas development in Nigeria. NGA

has over 200 members across the various

sectors of the gas value chain in upstream,

midstream and downstream.

06


COUNTRY

REPORT

INTERVIEWS

AND

INDUSTRY

NEWS


AECIPA Set to Host 2021 AOTC with Multiple Webinars

F

ollowing the successful edition of

the inaugural Angola Energy

Month December 2020, the

Angolan Oil & Gas Service Companies

Association (AECIPA) has announced the

launch of its Angola Energy Series

programme, which will culminate in the

2nd Angola Oil and Gas Service and

Technology Conference (AOTC) hosted in

Luanda from 23-25 November.

AECIPA established the Angola Energy

Series as a platform for the sharing of

knowledge, information, ideas, solutions

and most importantly, purposeful business

interactions. AOTC 2020 was hosted under

the high patronage of the Ministry of

Mineral Resources and Petroleum, Angola

with in-depth content from over 50

speakers, engaging with an audience of

more than 1,250 from 43 countries across

the globe. In addition, over 300 video

meetings were held between delegates

and more than 5,000 messages exchanged

via the event platform.

Local Content will again form the core of

the 2021 AOTC programme, following the

Presidential Decree 271/20, of October

2020, approving the new legal framework

for the promotion of Local Content in the

Angolan oil and gas industry. Delegates will

hear addresses from Government and

expert speakers from the oil and gas

industry and other private sectors,

surrounding the key issues affecting

Angola in the sector today.

Bráulio de Brito, President, AECIPA

Four free to attend webinars for audiences

across Angola and the international community

will precede the main conference, which will

also set the scene for the local content

programme as well as discussing diversity in the

industry, the empowerment of women and

youth and oil and gas procurement business

opportunities and value chain in Angola.

Mr Bráulio de Brito, President, AECIPA and

Chairman of AOTC explains; “The inaugural

Angola Energy Month was a resounding

success, setting the benchmark for future

collaborations and business development

throughout the service industry. Following this

level of engagement, we have extended the

programme for 2021 to create the Angola Energy

Series – again bringing together the international oil

and gas industry in an insightful and highly

informative programme of virtual and physical

events.”

AECIPA is at the forefront to develop Angola's oil

and gas industry by bringing together local and

international players of the industry to share ideas,

expertise, and experiences for growth

opportunities.

AECIPA have over 150+ members companies that

comprises the Service Sector of the Angola oil and

gas Industry, particularly in debating, mitigating and

strategizing all common issues in a concerted and

measured way.

AECIPA is Angola's oil and gas industry major

contributor when it comes to discussing industry's

matters with the country's stakeholders. The

association is responsible for ensuring stability and

coordination within the industry.

The Angola Oil and Gas Service and Technology

Conference will take place on 23 -25 November

2021 at the InterContinental Hotel, Luanda with

virtual access options also available via the energy

advance network. It is hosted in partnership with

international event organiser GEP.

OGREPUBLIC

PUBLICATION

OIL & GAS REPUBLIC

www.oilandgasrepublic.com Vol 4 NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2019

November/December Issue 2019


CREATING GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES


NIGERIA, CANADA TO RATIFY INVESTMENT

AGREEMENT IN 2020: Nigeria and Canada

Bilateral Trade Worth $984 Million.

I S S N 2 7 0 5 - 2 0 5 2

UK SET TO HOST AFRICA INVESTMENT SUMMIT

IN LONDON BY JANUARY 2020: The idea is to

Showcase the opportuni es that UK can offer.

POSITION YOUR COMPANY IN THE

GLOBAL OIL AND GAS PUBLICATION

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23 - 25 November 2021

Angola Oil & Gas

Service and Technology

Conference

23 34 51 500+ 1200+

hours of

content

countries speakers a endees registra ons

“The Angola Energy Month 2020 addressed

the core challenges and abundance of

opportunities Angola has to unleash.”

Mr Bráulio de Brito

President, Association of Contracted Companies

of the Petroleum Industry of Angola (AECIPA)

CONTACT US TODAY TO

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Local Content, Digitalisation, EACOP Project Opportunities Major

Talking Point at 2021 UIOGS, EAOGS

Local Content, Digitalisation, East

Africa Crudeoil Pipeline (EACOP)

project opportunities will be a major

talking point at this year's Uganda

International Oil and Gas Summit (UIOGS),

and East Africa Oil & Gas Summit (EAOGS)

2021.

UIOGS attracts over 400 attendees from

across 125 national and international

companies, the 6th Uganda International Oil

and Gas Summit (UIOGS 2021) will be held as

a virtual event on 28th - 29th September

2021, which stands as the official platform

for the oil and gas business in Uganda and

the must-attend meeting for all stakeholders

in East Africa.

Uganda is now transiting from Exploration to

Development Phase of its oilfields. With

about three projects coming up, the country

expects to develop those of its oilfields

where it has some discoveries. It also

expects to have a 60,000 barrels refinery and

200,000 barrels export crude oil pipeline

from Uganda to Tanzania.

According to the report, Uganda has about

21 oil and gas discoveries, 6 billion barrels of

oil in place, 1.4 billion barrels of recoverable

resources, 500 Bcf of gas, 9 production

licenses, over 14 discoveries to CNOOC, Total

and Tullow, 3 exploration licenses to Armour

Energy and Oranto Petroleum, and 90 per

cent of the Albertine Graben is unlicensed.

The country is certainly experiencing a

transformative time, with a stabilised

government, numerous tax and financial

incentives for investors.

The 6th UIOGS strategic conference

programme has been developed in close

consultation with The Ministry of Energy and

Mineral Development, ensuring its clarity in

addressing the most important issues for Uganda

and all its stakeholders across the value chain

with an interest in the future of oil and gas

exploration and production in the region.

For its sixth edition with the theme "Driving the

Final Steps in Commercialisation and Production',

UIOGS will be brought to you exclusively online

via the energy advance platform, making the

conference even more accessible to hundreds of

companies from all over the world and combining

convenience and knowledge discovery with

virtual exhibiting and one-to-one matchmaking.

"With the EACOP FID now signed, we explore with

those leading major infrastructure and

development operations of the project, the

requirements and next steps in contract

acquisition for cross border operations and the

raft of supporting services throughout the value

chain," says, Global Event Partners, the event

organiser.

For the East Africa Oil & Gas Summit (EAOGS)

2021, the event annually provides a platform for

East African ministries and National Oil

Companies to engage with international and local

investors to examine, discover and debate the

vast opportunities across East Africa's oil and gas

sector.

For its sixth edition, EAOGS will be held as a virtual

event from 17th - 19th November 2021, making

the conference even more accessible to hundreds

of companies from all over the world.

The scope, scale and spread of current and future

oil and gas infrastructure development projects in

East Africa is positioning the region as a hotbed of

oil and gas exploration, investment and

development.

About US$50 billion major oil and gas projects are

underway and planned to support the oil and gas

industries in Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and

Uganda and the whole East Africa region

continues to be of great interest to the global

energy community.

The conference programme, which is spread

across two days, is lead directly by major

Government, State companies and global players

in the region and the issues and areas they

highlight of most importance to those operating

in the region.

Throughout EAOGS, an emphasis is placed on the

interaction between all participants of the event

to ensure the best possible access to everyone

who matters to your business. All participants can

take advantage of the exclusive Business

Matching service, allowing you to pre-arrange

virtual meetings with other attendees through an

easy to use technology platform.

Global Event Partners (GEP) has formed a long

term partnership with energy advance - an online

subscription platform designed to keep our

exclusive industry network connected, offering

more value and year-round networking for all of

our delegates.

With access to over 30 world-class energy events

across the globe, year-round chat and video

networking, AI-powered business matching,

exclusive international news, reports, interviews,

webinars, digital round tables, careers and an

energy marketplace, energy advance has been

developed with one thing in mind - to keep you

connected in an ever-changing world.

09


SIXTH EDITION

28-29 September 2021 V I R T U A L E D I T I O N

uiogs.com

Driving the final steps in

commercialisation and production

Two of the most

established platforms

for business in East

Africa’s energy sector

returning this

Autumn

Featuring

a combined

100+

expert industry

speakers

“Gatherings of this kind

are among many ways of

promoting the country’s

potential and showcasing

investment opportunities not

only in the oil and gas sector

but also other sectors.”

Rt. Hon Gen. Moses Ali, 1st

Deputy Prime Minister and

Deputy Leader of Government

Business in Parliament

7

17-19 November 2021 V I R T U A L E D I T I O N

eaogs.com

Positioning East Africa as the real

destination for oil and gas investment

Organised by

Discover the full range of participation options for these

events and the entire Africa advance network today

Dan Grogan

e: dgrogan@energyadvance.org | t: +44 7881 344 662

energyadvance.org

AFRICAN ENERGY STORIES

GECF Unveils Plan to Deepen



AFREC, APPO, and the Africa Energy Chamber

(AEC).

While speaking about the recent developments

in Africa’s gas industry, he highlighted that there

are more than 74 million mt/year of LNG export

capacity to be approved in the Sub Saharan

region by 2030, provided that all the conditions

are met.

Yury Sentyurin, Secretary-General of Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF)

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum

(GECF) has unveiled plans to

promote gas development in the

African oil and gas industry to overcome

energy poverty, enhance growth and

mitigate CO2 emissions pollution in the

continent.

His Excellency Yury Sentyurin, Secretary-

General of GECF, made this disclosure

recently in an exclusive interview with our

correspondent, as part of their efforts to

foster stronger cooperation with African

countries.

He explained that Africa dominates the

GECF agenda and there are at least six

African countries represented in the forum

out of its nineteen member countries,

accounting for more than 90% of Africa’s

proven natural gas reserves.

He noted that during his tenure since 2018,

Angola has joined the Forum as a new

member and this confirms that Africa

holds a strong footprint in the global gas

sector.

He continued, “That same year, Africa

gained a new elevation in the world of

energy at the Russia-Africa Summit, held in

October 2019 in Sochi, Russia, and cohosted

by Russian President Vladimir Putin

and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-

Sisi, with the attendance of 43 heads of

state or government.

“As the world is progressing to increase energy

access and fulfil the UN Sustainable

Development Goal (SDG) #7, to ensure access

to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern

energy for all, there is still an estimated 548

million people in sub-Saharan Africa, or 53% of

the population without access to electricity,

according to the United Nations. Further, nearly

789 million Africans currently have no access to

clean cooking.

“This enthusiasm and belief in Africa’s energy

potential are not unfounded or without merit.

Projections from the latest available iteration of

the GECF’s Global Gas Outlook 2050 show that


natural gas among all regions of the world, at

nearly 150% up to 2050.

“Countries such as Senegal and Mauritania in

Africa stand on the precipice of the league of

gas exporters in the short-term, while

Mozambique and Tanzania are expected to

become natural gas exporters in the long-term.

“The GECF’s first Annual Short-Term Gas Market

Report (2020) shows, Africa boasts a number of

promising growth factors, such as in the area of

power generation, in transport through natural

gas vehicles (NGVs), and investments.”

In another development, Yury said that GECF is

working to foster stronger partnerships with

other Africa-based organisations such as

In his words, “Mozambique alone took FID on

3.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in 2017

followed by a further 13 mtpa in 2019. The first

project is expected to be commissioned in 2022,

and the second one will enable LNG flows from

Mozambique to the world by 2024-25.

“Newmarket players are rising with the

discovery of huge gas reserves in Tanzania,

Gabon, Mauritania, Congo, Senegal, and

Cameroon that are likely to support an

ambitious gas master-plan for the domestic

consumption as well as LNG exports.

“I believe our multi-faceted efforts are bearing

fruit and this was evidenced at the last GECF

Ministerial Meeting, held in November 2020.

“The 22nd GECF Ministerial Meeting was

hosted (virtually) by Algeria and welcomed the

participation of ministers and top authorities

from several guest African countries who

delivered their key messages on the energy

sector and gas market in particular, including

from Mozambique, Tanzania, Tunisia, and

Senegal.”

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is an

international governmental organisation that

provides the framework for exchanging

experience and information among Member

Countries. The GECF is a gathering of the world’s

leading gas exporting countries and was set up

as an international governmental organisation

with the objective to increase the level of

coordination and strengthen the collaboration

among Member Countries.

11


Gas Expor ng

Countries Forum

Member Countries

Observers

“GECF Coopera on with African countries to use gas as the core

source of energy... with the aim to overcome energy poverty, enhance

development and to mi gate Co2 emissions,” - Declara on of Malobo at

5th GECF Summit of Heads of State and Government in

Equatorial Guinea (November 2019).

“Inves ng in cleaner energy such as natural gas would increase

na onal GDPs, jobs and create prosperity in Africa” - HE

Yury Sentyurin, Secretary General, GECF at Nigeria Decade of

Gas Conference (March 2021)

“GECF is really a beacon of hope and light.” - HE Nair Bedoulle,

Assistant Director-General for Natural Science, UNESCO

Signing of MoU between UNESCO and GECF (December 2020).

“Thank you for bringing the natural gas agenda to Africa” -

Mr N.J. Ajuk, Execu ve Chairman, African Energy Chamber at

3rd GECF Annual Workshop on Promo on of Natural Gas

Demand (July 2020).


EACOP to Produce First Oil by 2025 - TotalEnergies

T

o t a l E n e r g i e s , a F r e n c h

multinational energy company, has

announced that the first oil will be

produced from the East African Crude Oil

Pipeline (EACOP) project by the year 2025.

According to Uganda's Daily Monitor, the

oil pipeline works is expected to

commence by September 2021. While

construction is scheduled to kick off in the

second half of 2022.

Evy Maffini

Speaking in an exclusive interview, the

EACOP General Manager, Mr Martin Tiffen

said that a new holding company will take

overall pipeline-related operations from

TotalEnergies E&P, which TotalEnergies has

been managing since 2016.

Tiffen said that everything the EACOP

project needs in order to function will be

managed by the new holding company

b a s ed o n EACOP's Shareholders

Agreement that was signed on April 11th

2021.

He continued, "Our current timetable is to

have the EACOP company fully up and

running by September. Since 2016, It's

been TotalEnergies taking the lead on the

EACOP project, and whilst we continue to

do that, we want the EACOP company

itself, in which all the pipeline shareholders

have a stake. Once EACOP Company is fully

constituted and operational, it will take the

lead on the project.

"The Uganda National Oil Company

(UNOC) holds 15%, Total Holdings

International B.V, 62%, and Tanzania

through its national oil company, TPDC,

holds 15%, while China's CNOOC holds 8%

respectively.

"We are currently fast-tracking land

acquisition both in Tanzania - where the

process is a lot faster as the land belongs to

the government and in Uganda, where the

process was imperilled by the back to back

lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-

19.

"We are now in what's called the disclosure

process of both the Resettlement Action

Plan and the valuations; we're about 1/3

way through, which should allow us to start

the actual compensation process later this

year."

In April, Uganda, Tanzania, TotalEnergies,

and CNOOC, signed off the key project

development agreements including the

Shareholders Agreement, and Tariff and

Transportation Agreement.

TotalEnergies, CNOOC and Uganda also signed

the Host Government Agreement (HGA), which

provide the basis for the development of the

pipeline. On May 12, Tanzania signed its version

of HGA with the two oil companies.

Speaking further, Mr Tifften, said "These

agreements require some additional work to be

fully implemented, and that's what we're

working on as we speak with both governments

and the other shareholders.

"An example of this is what we call enabling

legislation which is one of the key requirements

for implementation.

"The common objective for the EACOP project

is that we should be ready for first oil export in

Q1 2025".

In a statement made known to Oil and Gas

Republic, Hon. Mary Goretti Kitutu, Uganda’s

Minister for Energy & Mineral Development

said that the EACOP project will create 10,000

jobs as soon the project commences, and

providing job opportunities for the youths and

skilled workers in the country to participate in

s o m e o f t h e capacity d evelopment

programmes that has been put in place by the

government.

“Capacity building is managed by the Petroleum

Authority of Uganda. Ugandans are not left

behind. The local people are very excited, and

they are all preparing to see that they

participate as there are lots of areas in the

industry where they can get involved within the

oil and gas industry in Uganda.

“Also, our University is also training people who

are working in this industry. We shall have a

good percentage of Ugandans trained in the oil

and gas sector by the time the sector booms.

G

Speaking on the local content opportunities, she

highlighted that the EACOP project offers Ugandan

companies several opportunities, noting that the

government is opening up and working closely with

the Ugandan Chamber of Mines and other industry

associations to make sure local companies gets a

fair share to participate on the project.

Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné, Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu and Ugandan president

Yoweri Museveni in Entebbe (Photo: Total in Uganda/Flickr)

According to her, the government has set aside an

additional $20 billion financial instrument which

will be used to support Ugandan companies in areas

of oil and gas projects, and the funds will be made

available to the companies.

The East Africa crude oil pipeline will stretch

approximately 1,443km from the future Kabaale

Industrial Park in the Hoima district of Uganda to

the Chongoleani peninsula near the Tanga Port in

Tanzania. The Ugandan section of the pipeline will

be approximately 296km-long starting near Hoima,

close to Lake Albert, and traversing 10 districts and

25 sub-counties to the Tanzanian border between

Masaka and Bukoba.

The Tanzanian section will comprise approximately

80% of the pipeline’s total route length. It will run

for approximately 1,147km from the Uganda-

Tanzania border and traverse eight regions and 25

districts to terminate at a peninsula north of Tanga

in Tanzania.

EACOP is an integral part of the co-development of

three projects, which are the EACOP project,

together with Tilenga and Kingfisher. Tilenga and

Kingfisher will drill the wells and process the oil to

export quality. While part of the production will be

made available to the refinery project, and the rest

of the daily production will be sent via EACOP to be

sold into world markets.

EACOP is 80 per cent in Tanzania in terms of length,

and 20 per cent in Uganda. The project cost is

estimated at $3.55 billion.

14



Zimbabwe: President Mnangagwa, African Energy

Chamber Held Talks Over Oil, Gas Opportunities

According to the International Trade

Administration, Zimbabwe’s lithium deposits are

the largest in Africa. With the rapid increase in

global demand given the mineral’s importance to

the energy-battery industry, the country has the

potential to become a major exporter, while

contributing to the global energy transition. To

position itself as a clean energy player, Zimbabwe

requires significant investment in mining, with

additional opportunities available in mining

supplies, transportation infrastructure and

materials. In a bid to attract further investment,

the government has proposed regulatory

changes to the Mines and Minerals Act, making it

more progressive and investor-friendly.

President Mnangagwu, and NJ Ayuk, Executive Director of African Energy Chamber

President Mnangagwa has committed to

developing a robust energy sector in Zimbabwe to

meet the rising power demand brought about by

an increasingly vibrant, productive and resilient

economy and people. With significant potential

across multiple segments of its energy economy,

Zimbabwe hopes to attract both regional and

international investment, utilizing its energy

sector as a catalyst for wider socio-economic

growth.

Th e P re s i d e nt o f Z i m b a b we,

Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa,

held a high level meeting with the

African Energy Chamber's (AEC) leader, NJ

Ayuk, over the first ever Africa's energy

focused event, African Energy Week (AEW)

2021.

In a statement made know to Oil and Gas

Republic, the discussions also focused on the

opportunities in oil, natural gas and other

potential mineral resources for energy

transition.

Zimbabwe is making headway to pioneering

a diversified energy mix and strengthening

the country's energy industry for growth

opportunities.

African Energy Chamber's Executive

Director, NJ Ayuk said: "President ED

Mnangagwa is committed to developing a

roburst energy sector to meet the growing

needs of a potentially vibrant, productive,

and resilience economy and people.

"Zimbabwe has done an amazing job with

COVID-19 vaccination and must be

complimented and encouraged.

"We discussed opportunities in oil and

natural gas, critical minerals for energy

transition, solar and also energy security and

infrastructure.

"Investment is needed into these critical sectors,

and we will make Zimbabwe a priority during

African Energy Week in Cape Town.”

Furthermore, Zimbabwe holds significant

exploration opportunities for stakeholders.

Despite the lack of proven oil and natural gas

reserves – and the continued dependence on

crude imports to supply the nation – Zimbabwe is

redirecting its focus on exploration, specifically of

natural gas.

Having experienced critical electricity shortages

for decades, Zimbabwe is seeking alternative

power generation solutions, in which natural gas

may be a viable alternative. The Southern African

nation is pursuing partnerships and investment

deals with international stakeholders, focusing on

accelerating exploration and driving energy

sector diversification and growth.

The report shows that Zimbabwe’s coal reserves

have the potential to address energy supply

challenges and meet demand across the region.

Currently, the country’s largest thermal power

station, Hwange Thermal Power Plant, has a

capacity of 750MW, supplying critical electricity

to the population. However, with ageing power

plants requiring upgrades and the country opting

to reduce its reliance on coal, alternative power

generation solutions are being considered and

significant investment opportunities have

emerged.

Ayuk’s visit initiated a dialogue on one of the

country’s most promising sectors: renewable

energy. Zimbabwe is home to impressive

hydropower potential – estimated at 18,500 GWh

per year, of which 17,500 GWh is technically

feasible – and aims to drive further investment

and associated development to establish

domestic energy security and independence.

To date, only 19% of the country’s hydropower

potential has been exploited, with most of

Zimbabwe’s electricity supply produced at the

750MW Kariba Dam Hydroelectric Power Station.

AEW 2021 aims to further this agenda, placing

Zimbabwe as a top priority and showcasing all

that the country has to offer.

African Energy Week is the African Energy

Chamber's first ever interactive exhibition and

networking event that seeks to unite African

energy stakeholders, drive industry growth and

development in the entire value chain of Africa's

energy sector.

The event will hold on 9th - 12 November 2021 at

The V&A Waterfront in Capetown, South Africa.

15



H.E. Gabriel Obiang Lima, Equatorial Guinea Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons (MMH)

Equatorial Guinea Issues a Mandate for Oil and Gas

Worker Vaccinations

In a bid to ensure the protection of

oil and gas industry workers, as well

as increase operations and

production across the sector, the

Government of Equatorial Guinea is

driving an effective vaccination rollout for

all hydrocarbon workers in Equatorial

Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea is leading the way in

maintaining prevention measures and

ensuring operational safety within the oil

and gas sector with the Minister of Mines

and Hydrocarbons (MMH), H.E. Gabriel

Mbaga Obiang Lima, issuing a mandate

during a virtual meeting this month for all

oil and gas workers to be vaccinated

against the coronavirus. The mandate has

been enforced in order to drive the

country’s vaccination rollout program,

ensuring increased operations and

production across the hydrocarbons sector

while safeguarding workers against the

virus.

H.E. Gabriel Obiang Lima remains

committed to expanding the country’s oil

and gas sector while at the same time

mitigating the spread of the virus. By

requiring all oil and gas workers, including

both national and expatriate employees to

be vaccinated, the MMH is paving the way

for other industries to put the safety of

their workers first.

“It is forbidden for unvaccinated

individuals to work on onshore or offshore

facilities. They are public servants and

must be protected,” stated H.E. Gabriel

Obiang Lima in the virtual meeting.

Despite experiencing relatively low COVID-19

cases compared to other African countries,

Equatorial Guinea’s oil and gas sector suffered

significant impacts from the pandemic

throughout 2020 and into 2021.

With Equatorial Guinea prioritizing its

vaccination rollout program – the country has

received a shipment of 500,000 Sinopharm

vaccines from China at the end of June 2021

with more expected to follow – the oil and gas

sector is driving progress.

Additionally, in the virtual meeting, the MMH

and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare

have requested an increase in the number of

weekly flights to Equatorial Guinea, specifically

for the oil and gas sector.

Requested through the Political Committee of

Surveillance Against COVID-19, the MMH is

focused on boosting oil and gas productivity

while maintaining the safety of employees. By

working with the Committee, and driving their

own vaccination rollout program, the MMH is

making significant progress in positioning the

country as an African vaccination leader.

“Equatorial Guinea has taken the right steps in

driving oil and gas productivity by ensuring that

the oil and gas sector is both a safe and

productive working environment for all oil and

gas employees. Africa’s oil and gas sector can

lead the way in the continent’s vaccination

rollout and we are thankful to the government’s

covid committee and other Ministries within

Equatorial Guinea,” concluded H.E. Gabriel

Obiang Lima.

The Republic of Equatorial Guinea is located in

Central Africa. The country consists of an insular

region, made up of several islands, and a

mainland region named after the Río Muni. The

mainland region is bordered by Cameroon to

the north, and Gabon to the south and east. On

the west, the Río Muni region overlooks the

Gulf of Guinea. Equatorial Guinea covers an

area of around 28,000 square kilometres and is

inhibited by approximately 1.360 million

residents.

The capital city is Malabo, which has a

population of 297,000 persons, while the seat

of government is in Oyala. The country’s

currency is the CFA franc, a currency used by

five other countries in Africa, including OPEC

Member Country Gabon. The official language

of Equatorial Guinea is Spanish. French and

Portuguese are widely used, too.

While the African nation is a producer and net

exporter of crude oil, it is also a key producer

and exporter of natural gas. In former times,

Equatorial Guinea exported coffee, timber and

cocoa.

Equatorial Guinea expects foreign direct

investment in 2021 could reach $1.11 billion,

according to the energy ministry, while

production is expected to increase.

16



Africa Need to Diversify its Economy, Invest in R&D - Wabote


The Executive Secretary of Nigerian

Content Development and Monitoring

Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote,

has said that the global paradigm shift from

fossil fuels to renewables is a wakeup call for

African countries to diversify its economies and

investment in research and development.

This statement comes in-line following the

successful edition of the 5th Sub-Saharan Africa

Internatioal Petroleum Exhibition and

Conference (SAIPEC), hosted by the Petroleum

Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN).

In his speech, Wabote urged the African oil and

gas producing countries to reposition their

economies from a single income source towards

multiple sources of revenue generation, which

will require some delibrate actions from the

public and private sector.

According to him, "In the early days, firewood

was the source of energy and every body

decided to burn firewood in order to use it as an

energy source. And when African countries

realise that it was the source of energy, we

decided to start burning our woods.

Engr. Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB)

"By the time we got into it, they discovered coal.

They came back to Africa and said, burning of

woods is dangerous that the best form of energy

is coal.

"Of course, we have to abandon firewood as we

also discovered coal in Nigeria. We were

planning to invest towards the utilization of

coal.

"But, all of a sudden, the developed world said it

is no longer coal but hydrocarbon is the best

form of energy.

"Now, African countries such as Nigeria

abandoned all the coal opportunities that we

have and we moved into fossil fuels.

"But, in China today, one of their major source

of power is still coal. China has been able to

utilise coal to generate electricity.

"China was able to invest in Research and

Development (R&D) to produce technological

innovations and resources to ensure they use

coal as part of their energy mix.

"In a country like Nigeria, we aren't using coal

despite the abundance of coal in the country.

Now, we are beginning to grabble with the

opportunities in fossil fuels. This aggression is

that fossil fuel is no longer acceptable, but it is

now renewables.”

He added, "African countries that has just

discovered oil and gas should move beyond

exploration but invest in Research &

Development and technology such that they

can be able to utilise this natural resources.

“If African countries do not diversify their

economy and invest in R&D, we will not have

the funds and technology to develop fossil

fuels.

"They will abandon this resources and depend

on the developed economies to survive. This is

the Train that is coming to Africa.

"The Train has started moving. If care isn't

taking most African countries that are just

discovering this resources will not even tap into

it before the world leave them behind."

Speaking on the Nigerian oil and gas industry,

Wabote said that the Federal Government has

decided that it will utilise its hydrocarbon

resources to diversify the economy. This should

be a push for African countries that are just

discovering oil and gas.

He further explained that the NCDMB has

developed a Nigerian Content Plan to move

beyond oil and gas activities such as drilling,

construction and processing facilities.

He noted that the Nigerian Content Plan

ensures that the various part of the oil and gas

project are linked to the procurement of locally

manufactured goods and services.

“The Nigerian Content Plan outlines the

requirement in equipment, consumables,

fabrication, personnel, marine vessels, research

and development, banking, insurance, and legal

services in order to link the entire value chain

into the oil and gas activities. It has worked very

well for us.

"The opportunities in the oil and gas industry

can be linked to several sector of the economy

and indirectly to other areas such as

Agriculture, Aviation, Medical Services,

Telecommunication among others.

"The Nigerian Content Plan captures this

activities and other industry opportunities

rather than focusing on the drilling. There are

other ancilliary activities that support such

activities as well.

"There are Seventy services, and Two Hundred

& Seventy Eight opportunities contained in the

Nigerian Content Act which are also used to

drive patronage of goods and services as well as

guide investors on areas of opportunities.

"I think this is what African countries need to

focus on so they will be specific in the services

they can provide as well as link those services to

other opportunities.

"In Nigeria, we have a very robust tool you can

use if you want to start a local content journey in

the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

"If you use the Nigerian Content Plan efficiently,

you will attain the desired success.

"Local content is moving beyond the oil and gas

industry to become a national agenda. It is no

longer use to be a CSR project to appease some

agrieved community," he concluded.

17


AFRICAN ENERGY

Ethiopia Diversifying its Energy Sector Towards Hydropower,

Renewables, Wind Energy

E

thiopia has developed a national

strategy programme that guides the

diversification of the country's overall action

plans towards the utilisation of its energy

resources.

The Special Advisor to Ethiopia’s Minister of

Water Irrigation and Energy, Hizkyas Dufera,

disclosed this at the virtual Energy Advance -

Africa Energy Series with the theme,

"Financing the Energy Transition Across Sub-

Saharan Africa".

Dufera said that based on Ethiopia's geographic

location of its infrastructure, it

estimates that about 65% of the country's

population will be connected to the grid,

while 35% will be using renewable energy

and offgrid solutions.

According to him, Ethiopia has about 45%

electrification rate, noting that 50% of its

population need to be connected to

electricity.

On the grid side, he said, it is divided into

three areas which are; Generation,

Transmission and Distribution.

"For Generation, we have policies in place.

We plan to develop all future generation

power plants and investing in the private

sector.

"Our overall strategy in Ethiopia is to

electrify 95% of our population with Hydropower

and diversify our energy mix towards

climate change.

"Our water levels reduced due to climate

change. We are diversifying to other energy

sources. Our strategies is to develop

Geothermal, Wind, and Solar Energy," he

said.

On the transmission side, he explained that it is

mostly for the public sector to develop.

"We are looking at Public Private Partnership

(PPP) modality in form of Independent Power

Transmission (IPT) systems.

"Our Distribution sector has recently opened up

for local private and international investors.

"We have established the enabling environment

to attract investments.

"About 8.2 million households will be connected

to the grid which means that people who leave

two and half kilometres from our infrastructure

scheme will be connected with our grid

extensions.

"We have started offgrid initiatives which are

divided in three main areas. The first one is minigrids,

solar home systems, institutional solar

solutions for schools, health sector, and public

institutions.

"On the minigrid side, we have a strategy into

three modalities. One of them is the public sector

implementation which we have innagurated up

to 12 projects and they are operational. About 25

projects are under design and will be

commissioned by the end of this year.

"We have secured $400 million funding from the

World Bank which will enable us scale up our mini

and offgrid sector.

"Our second modality for mini-grids is the Public

Private Partnership (PPP) where we leverage the

opportunties in the private and public sector. For

example, our public utility is very good in building

distribution systems at very low cost.

"We want to build partnership where there will be

a willing tariff arrangement with the private

sector to use the distribution system. The private

sector will develop the generation.

"We want to secure and reserve the highly

productive use areas for the private sector and

the rest for the public sector because we want to

reduce subsidy to make sure that the financing

that we receive is properly managed to achieve

our objectives.

"For solar home systems, we have a strategy to

deploy solar home sytems effectively. One of the

things we are adopting is the pay-as-you-go

systems to reduce the cost.

"Our energy sector value chain is too long which

presents opportunities for manufacturers,

distributors, importers, micro finance

institutions.

"We will be deploying solar home systems where

people will be connected at a reduced cost in

certain communities.

"We are also working with corporatives with very

strong operational financial strengths.

"For institutions, we will be deploying utilities to

procure EPC contracts.

"For e-mobility, we spend more than $3 billion per

year to import fuel in Ethiopia. But we can

leverage a low cost electricity through renewable

energy based infrastructure.

"We are spending more than 90 percent on

energy for cooking which is based on burning

wood that can be transited to electric cooking. It

will go a longway in saving the environment and

increasing revenue for the private sector," he

added.

18



Nigeria, Senegal Held Bilateral Talks on Collaboration

The Nigerian Minister of State for

Petroleum Resources H.E. Timipre

Sylva, held a high level meeting with

the entourage of the Senegalese Ministry of

Petroleum and Energy led by the Country’s

Minister, Ms Aissatou Sophie Gladima, in his

Office at the NNPC Towers in Abuja.

Both parties discussed key areas for

collaboration and deepening local content

development in the oil and gas industry,

which Nigeria leads the way in Africa.

Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum

Resources, Timipre Sylva, commented:

"African countries must take full

Responsibility for the continent ’s

development by deepening local content

participation in oil and gas.

"Africa must forge a better synergy and

leverage on the experience of Nigeria which

has been in the business of oil and gas for

the past 60 years.

"There is need for African countries to chart

a new course, as the global community was

moving towards renewable energy.

Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources H.E. Timipre Sylva and Ms Aissatou Sophie

Gladima, Senegalese Ministry of Petroleum and Energy

Nigeria to Seek New Reference

Volume From OPEC - Sylva

"African countries need to have financial

institutions to fund development of the oil

and gas sector".

He assured the Senegalese Minister of

Petroleum and Energy of the willingness of

Nigeria to guide them from pitfalls in the

industry especially in the area of Local

Content which he described as significant

for any country blessed with oil and gas.

In her response, the Senegalese Minister of

Petroleum and Energy, Ms Aissatou Sophie

Gladima thanked H.E. Timipre Sylva for the

gesture to host as well as to lead the

pathway for Senegalese to get it right in Oil

and Gas especially in four areas including

security, National Oil Company, Local

Content and National Oil and Gas Strategy.

She affirmed that there was the need to

deepen conversation through bilateral

agreements between the two countries

especially around oil and gas sector.

"I believe that Nigeria is in a good position

to share experience on Petroleum resources

with other African countries so that they can

avoid our mistakes".

The Minister of State for

Petroleum Resources, H.E

Timipre Sylva, has said that

Nigeria will seek new reference

volume, from the organization of the

Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC,

in view of the economic impact of low

productions.

Sylva stated this when he received,

OPEC, Secretary General, H.E.

Muhammad Sanusi Bakindo in his

office, at the NNPC Towers, in Abuja

recently.

Silva while commending OPEC

S e c reta r y - G e n e ra l , w h o m h e

described as worthy ambassador of

the country, submitted that Nigeria

needed his support to actualize the new

reference volume on the basis of

economic reality.

Responding to his speech, OPEC's

Secretary General, Muhammad Sanusi

Bakindo acknowledged the success

recorded by the Honourable Minister of

State for Petroleum Resources and urged

him to keep the flag flying.

He added that the Minister of State for

Petroleum Resources is on course with

initiatives such as the declaration of the

decade of gas among others.

19



African Development Bank Develops New Financial

Instrument for Local Currency Loan

African Development Bank (AFDB),

Africa's premium financial

institution, has developed a new

financial instrument for local currency loan

to bridge the gap on high value exchange

rate and return of investment (ROI) to

boost investment on infrastructural

development in Africa's major industries.

Wale Shonibare, AFDB's Director for

Energy Financial Solutions, Policy &

Regulation, disclosed this in his keynote

speech at the Energy Advance Africa

Energy Series virtual event held on 16th -

18th June 2021.

Shonibare noted that African government

are reaching their sustainability limit as

they no longer have the capacities to

provide guarantees.

To bridge the gap, AFDB is investing a lot to

building regional connections with an

investment portfolio of $20 billion in the

energy sector.

He added, "In certain countries where they

have high currency volatility, if you take a

hard currency loan over 15-20 years. Every

five years the size of your loan will

effectively double because of currency deevaluation.

"We have developed new financial

instrument such as the Nigerian

Infrastructure Debt Fund. For the first

time, you can borrow up to 15 years in

local currency in Naira which hasn't

happened before to support investment

on infrastructural development.

"We are also investing on capacity building

for the power pools to equip them so that

they can be able to do regional trade.

"By the end of 2022, all the countries in the

West African Power pool will be linked by

the regional connections.

"We are also putting in place systems and

regulations to allow power trade across

the African countries.

"The South Africa power pool is the most

developed but we are working with the

East Africa and Central African power pool

as well. It is important to have regional

regulations."

Speaking on the energy transition in Africa,

Wale Shonibare, AFDB's Director for Energy

Financial Solutions, Policy & Regulation

he highlighted that Africa basically have three

sources of energy which are fossil fuel,

renewables and nuclear energy.

"Africa's energy transition is going to be slightly

different from the other part of the world

because in Africa, land use, agriculture and

forestry actually constitute about 57% of the

emission. While energy is only 35%.

“Also, There had been significant discoveries of

gas in Africa. Between 2011 and 2018, about

40% of the world's new discoveries for gas were

in six African countries.


“Gas will play a very critical role in Africa's

energy transition because a lot of African

countries have very weak grids and as a result of

that, it will be very difficult to put renewables in

those grids. It needs gas as a transition fuel to

anchor the renewables.

"Gas is so good because it is flexible and you can

ramp it up and down even when the wind isn't

blowing and when the sun isn't shining.

"We need to use Africa's endownment on gas.

Gas represent that bridge and may become the

destination fuel.

"We now have examples where gas plants are

been retrofited to use hydrogen. You can have a

combination of hydrogen, green hydrogen, and

gas.

"Africa's transition may involve more emissions

before it start to ramp down. Africa will pick up

later than the developed countries.

'We need to look at new technologies that

hasn't been invented and allow the private

sector to innovate," he concluded.

20


SPECIAL FEATURES

Osinbajo Calls on ECOWAS Community to Develop More Trade

Initiatives, Explore Intra-African Trade Opportunities Under AFCFTA

Nigeria's Vice President, Prof. Yemi

Osinbajo, has called on the

ECOWAS community to develop

more trade initiatives and explore the

Intra-African trade opportunities under


(AFCFTA).

The Vice President made this statement at

the inaugural gala night of the Economic

Community of West African States

(ECOWAS) Trade Promotion Organizations

(TPO) Network.

He added that the AFCFTA presents an

opportunity for the ECOWAS community

to drive more trade initiatives and expand

intra-regional trade in the ECOWAS subregion.

According to the Vice President, the TPO

Network, which was established with the

support of the International Trade Centre

(ITC), “is a farsighted and insightful

initiative of the ECOWAS, trade promotion

organizations in the ECOWAS community.

He stressed that the Network must present

a trustworthy platform for cross learning

and the sharing of knowledge and

information assets.

“The vision of our Heads of State and

Governments in resolving to establish this

network (TPO) is to build a more robust

and broader economic space for trade and

investment.

“A major part of that effort is that the

network serves as a platform for

businesses and trade promotion agencies

in our sub-region to share knowledge and

business opportunities, and develop trade

capacity in our sub-region.”

Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

of trade prosperity for the people of the West

Africa region and, indeed, the continent,” he

added.

Commending the ECOWAS and the TPO

network for the success of the launch and its

First Annual General Assembly, the Vice

President noted that “there is the imminent

task of enabling our region benefit maximally

from the AfCFTA and other intra and extra

regional export opportunities.”

The President of ECOWAS TPO Network is the

Executive Director/CEO, Nigerian Export

Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Segun Awolowo;

and the Vice President is the CEO of Cote

By Tobi Owoyimika

d’Ivoire Export Promotion Organisation, Mr. Guy

M'Bengue.

Dignitaries present at the event include the wife of

the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; Ministers

of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Industry,

Trade and Investment; Otunba Niyi Adebayo; his

colleague Minister of State, Ambassador Mariam

Katagum; Executive Director/CEO, NEPC, Segun

Awolowo; the CEO of Cote d’Ivoire Export

Promotion Organisation, Mr. Guy M'Bengue; the

Vice President, ECOWAS Commission, Finda

Koroma; among other senior government officials

and development partners.

PHOTO STORY: OPEC Sec-Gen Meets President Buhari

According to the ECOWAS, the TPO

Network is a public-sector led entity and

will work in partnership with the ECOWAS

commission to drive inclusive trade

development initiatives within West Africa

and beyond.

Prof. Osinbajo further said the Network

has world class human resource capacity

to succeed in achieving its set objectives.

“The combined experience of the TPOs

that form the network is mind boggling.

Second is our confidence in your resilience

and commitment, which assures us that

beyond the tunnel of those obvious

challenges lies the bright light of a new era

OPEC Secretary General, Sanusi Barkindo and President Muhammadu Buhari

22 21


SPECIAL FEATURES

EFCC, NEITI Sign MOU to Check Corruption in Extractive Industry

T

he Executive Chairman, Economic

and Financial Crimes Commission,

EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa has reiterated the

Commission’s resolve to sanitize and deal

with fraud-related issues in the extractive

industries.

The EFCC boss stated this during the signing

of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU,

between the EFCC and the Nigeria Extractive

Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI led

by its Executive Secretary, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya

Orji at the Commission’s Headquarters, Jabi,

Abuja.

The EFCC boss promised to use the

Commission’s Extractive Industry Fraud

Section to deal with issues relating to the

extractive industries, and to sanitize the

sector. “I want to assure you that all the

issues that your report will raise and all the

issues that we are also seeing on our own

relating to extractive industries, in oil and gas

as well as in solid mineral, we will deal head

on with them.”

He promised to work with NEITI in meeting

the expectation of both parties for the

b etterment o f t h e country. “ T h e

Memorandum of Understanding is very clear

regarding your expectation and our

expectation and I want to assure you in

addition to other issues of training and all of

that, we will do our best and ensure that the

industry is sanitized for the betterment of

this country.

“The EFCC so much believe that if we can

block the leakages, this country will not need

to borrow a single cent from any other

country to come and finance our budget and

that is why we are interested in this MoU and

that is why we are keen to see that the

extractive industries are sanitized for the

betterment of this country.”

In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of

NEITI, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji noted that

with the MoU, NEITI, which has no

enforcement powers, will be able to leverage

on the powers of the EFCC, to “bark and bite”.

“We are here because the EFCC and NEITI are

in this together, to rescue our country from

indiscipline, malfeasance, mismanagement

of public resources; to work together with

the EFCC to seek avenues to channel our

peoples mind to living legitimate lives and

adding content and public value to whatever

assignment they have been given for the

benefit of our citizens,” he said.

The NEITI boss also promised to work with

the EFCC to strengthen their position and

In an effort to avert petroleum explosion

in filling stations, Department of

Petroleum Resource in collaboration

with a Zaria based non-Governmental

organisation, Raudha Technology have trained

petroleum pump attendants on Minimum

Industrial Safety Training for Downstream

Operations (MISTDO).

Flagging off training which lasted 2 days held

Zaria Institute of Information and Educational

Technology Zaria, Kaduna state Controller,

Department of Petroleum Resource, Engineer

Suleiman Yusuf charged downstream operators

to prevent frequent fire outbreak in filling

stations by financing their workers for the

training.

The controller represented by a Senior

Chemical Researcher in the Department,

Engineer Aliyu Shehu lamentered that a lot of

lives and property were being lost to petroleum

explosion at filling stations in the country.

Engineer Yusuf noted that it was mandatory for

all the Down Stream operators to undergo the

training. He said his department would go

rounds petroleum stations assess the Down

Chief Timipre Sylva

Execu ve Chairman, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa and Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, NEITI's

Execu ve Secretary signing the MOU

rescue the extractive industries resources.

“We are very grateful that you have offered us

the support and we will relate with mutual

respect as two sister agencies and timely

exchange of information and data will be very

useful in this relationship.

“As an agency we believe in the work the EFCC is

doing and we are very proud of the courage and

excellence that this institution has exhibited in the

face of all kinds of challenges, and we will continue

to encourage men and women of goodwill, fellow

Nigerians that are working here that you are on the

right track and you have an ally in NEITI.”

DPR, NGO Train Downstream On MISTDO

Stream operators especially the pump

attendants.

“We will go round petrol station to assess the

workers if we find out they did not acquire

knowledge through MISTDO we new renew the

licensee of that Petro station or revoke it”. The

controller warned.

Engineer Yusuf called on the marketers to take

advantage of the policy to secure their property

and other’s as well as lives of citizens.

In his presentation on safety and impact to

Downstream Sector Engineer Jamilu Doguwa

said that the objective of the Policy was to

increase awareness in safety and risk associated

with operations in the Downstream, improve

knowledge and General competence level in

the Downstream among other benefits.

Also in his remarks the chairman Raudha

Technology called on the participants to make

use of training secure their lives, property of

their employers and lives other citizens by

applying the knowledge the received in the

discharge of their legitimate duties.

23 26 21


SPECIAL FEATURES

GECF Sec-Gen participates in Inauguration Ceremony of

HE Ebrahim Raisi, the new Iranian President

H

E Yury Sentyurin, the Gas Exporting

Countries Forum (GECF) Secretary

General participated in the

inauguration ceremony of HE Seyed

Ebrahim Raisi, the President of Islamic

Republic Iran and held high-level bilateral

meetings during his mission to Tehran,

Islamic Republic of Iran.

The invitation to the swearing-in ceremony

extended to the Forum’s Secretary General

added a new dimension to the historic ties

between the coalition, comprising of 18

countries today, and one of its founding

Member Countries, Iran.

“Diplomacy must strengthen the bonds

among nations of the region and

strengthen their common grounds in the

fields of economy, culture, science and

technology. The world is changing and the

interests o f n ations d epend o n

understanding the new world and strategic

interaction with emerging powers, and a

successful foreign policy will be a balanced

foreign policy,” HE Ayatollah Raisi asserted

in his statement.

The new President takes office at a time

when Iran is moving toward a resuscitation

of the economy using domestic capacities

as a solution for existing problems. Using

domestic capacities was one of the pieces

of advice given by HE Grand Ayatollah

Sayyed Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader

of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the

incoming President Raisi during the

Inauguration Ceremony.

“There are myriad capacities in the

country. We have extraordinary capacities

in the area of water, oil, mining, extensive

domestic markets, relations with neighbors,

and the astonishing talents and enthusiasm of

our youth. Undoubtedly, these our capacities

can overcome the problems provided that they

are identified correctly, worked on and utilised

efficiently. This requires round-the-clock and

untiring diligence,” HE Ayatollah Khamenei.

“We use all the tools of national power,

including diplomacy and intelligent interaction

with the world, to ensure the national interests

of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” HE President

Raisi underlined his willingness to work with

foreign countries and boost Iran’s relations with

the world.

Iran, which boasts one of the largest proven

natural gas reserves in the world, enjoys a

prominent position in the energy world and

stood at the very foundation of OPEC and the

International Energy Forum (IEF) and the GECF.

At the GECF, echoing the success of the 3rd

GECF Summit held in Tehran in 2015,

throughout 2014-2018 the Islamic Republic

played the stewardship role in our association

with a national representative serving as the

GECF Secretary General. Furthermore,

operating at all levels of the Secretariat staff

ranking – from leadership to junior positions –

Iranians form the largest national group at the

GECF’s headquarters in Doha, Qatar,

symbolising the positive contribution of Iran in

the GECF community.

“The seeds of the GECF were planted in Iran in

2001. Since then, the Founder Member Country

has contributed substantially to the

advancement and worldwide influence of the

Forum,” wrote HE Sentyurin in his Goodwill

Letter, addressed to the new President and

delivered at the swearing-in ceremony.

“I attach sincere hope that the GECF will

continue to receive steadfast support from Iran

with the hallmark Iranian poise, diligence, and

wisdom that have always served as a source of

inspiration for us,” the Secretary General

added.

The ceremony was attended by a number of

world leaders, top-ranking dignitaries, senior

officials, as well as heads of international

organisations.

On the sidleines of the swearing-in ceremony

the GECF Secretary General held a working

meeting with his counterpart HE Mohammad

Sanusi Barkindo, OPEC Secretary General, who

was invited to participate in the proceedings.

The heads of the energy associations revised

the ongoing cooperation and matters of mutual

concern.

24


OIL MARKET REPORT

World Oil Demand to Increase in 2022; US, China and

India Takes the Lead - OPEC

The global oil demand to increase in

2022 to reach a level similar to before

the pandemic, which the United

States, China and India will lead the growth

in terms of oil demand, according to

Organiszation of Petroleum Exporting

Countries (OPEC) oil market report.

The Secretary General of OPEC, Barkindo

Sanusi noted that the global oil demand next

year would increase up to 3.4% which is

approxiately 99.86 million barrels per day

(bpd), and would even increase to over 100

million bpd in the second half of 2022.

According to him, this increase would be

coming from the improved containment of

COVID-19, particularly in emerging and

developing countries, which are forecast to

increase oil demand to reach pre-pandemic

levels in 2022.

He added, "OPEC forecast oil demand in

China and India would exceed pre-pandemic

levels next year. The United States would

make the biggest contribution to 2022

demand growth, although U.S. oil use would

stay just below 2019 levels.

"World economic growth was expected to

slow to 4.1% next year from 5.5% in 2021, still

supported by government stimulus and with the

outlook “depending primarily on COVID-19-

related developments.

“Oil was trading below $74 a barrel after the OPEC

report was released. The price has climbed more

than 40% this year with the help of supply cuts by

OPEC and its allies, a group known as OPEC+."

Barkindo said that OPEC is optimistic that

demand will recover robustly from the pandemic,

allowing the group and its allies to further ease

record supply curbs made in 2020.

The report showed higher output from OPEC and

forecast more supplies from rivals in 2022,

including U.S. shale producers.

The report also forecast a wider supply deficit in

the fourth quarter of 2021, assuming OPEC+ does

not agree a further increase and based on Iran,

Libya and Venezuela, which are exempt from

OPEC+ cuts, sticking to their June production

levels.

The OPEC report forecast a 2.1 million bpd rise in

supply from OPEC’s rivals in 2022 as higher prices

spur investment. OPEC sees output of U.S. shale

oil, another term for shale, rising by 500,000 bpd

in 2022, after a contraction this year.

The extra barrels will limit growth in demand for

OPEC crude next year but OPEC still sees the

world needing 28.7 million bpd from its

members, up 1.1 million bpd from 2021 and, in

theory, allowing higher OPEC production.

OPEC has pumped 26.72 million barrels per day

(bpd), according to report. Output has risen every

month since June 2020 apart from February.

OPEC and allies, known as OPEC+, have been

unwinding record output cuts agreed in April

2020, as demand and the world economies

recovers.

“More forecasts are still predicting robust growth

in demand in the second half of the year,” said

Carsten Fritsch of Commerzbank. “It is easy to

believe that the oil market has learnt to live with

the virus.”

The oil market report reflects OPEC’s confidence

that demand will recover robustly from the

pandemic, allowing the group and its allies to

further ease record supply curbs made in 2020.

25


NIGERIA OIL AND GAS

Nigeria will Utilise its Abundant Gas Resources and

it’s Derivatives, says Sylva, MSPR

to the use of low carbon energy solutions, is an

assumption that all national economies are

driven by the same parameters and does not

take into account the different socioeconomic,

political and developmental

peculiarities of individual nations.

He stated categorically that Nigeria’s

approach towards the climate-change-netzero-emission

debate is to optimize the use of

its abundant gas resource domestically as a

transition fuel option towards meeting

nationally determined contributions on

climate change. As a government, the country

is determined to encourage more penetration

of natural gas and its derivatives for domestic

utilization, power generation, gas-based

industries and propulsion in all aspects of the

national economy. This would in a

fundamental manner address the great

challenge posed by volatile oil market, the

environmental issues and public health

concerns.

Chief Timpre Silva, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources

Th e N i g e r i a n F e d e r a l

Government is determined to

utilise its abundant gas

resources and its derivatives for

domestic utilization, power generation,

gas-based industries and all aspects of

the economy.

Speaking at the 2021 SPE NAICE, with

the theme: “the Future of Energy – A

Trilogy of Determinants: Climate

Change, Public Health and the Global

Oil Market”, The Minister of State for

Petroleum Resources, Chief Timiprye

Sylva, said that the petroleum industry

i n 2 0 2 0 w a s c h a l l e n g e d b y

unprecedented crisis as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic.

He continued, “It is also true that the

c r i s i s h e r a l d e d u n p re d i c t a b l e

challenges, uncertainties and low crude

oil price that led to global economic

shutdown; thanks to the timely

development of vaccines, we are now on the

pathway to recovery.”

“The questions facing us then become:

Should we wait for another unwanted crisis

before we act on securing sustainable

energy for the future? Can we deliberately

influence public health, climate change and

ultimately global oil markets? That is why

the trilogy of determinants which form the

crux of this year’s theme is key” he said.

The Minister pointed out that the scenario

being projected by some energy experts is

that energy transition to low carbon energy

sources would make the world a better

living place with a cleaner climate. The

government of Nigeria aligns with this

thought.

However, that this process of change has to

happen by way of a simultaneous global

effort of transitioning national economies

Regarding the global oil market in the

foreseeable years, it is becoming obvious that

a global migration from a fossil fuel-based

economy to renewable would engender a

corresponding decline in hydrocarbon

including possible divestiture in the sector as

deliberate frameworks are being championed

to discourage extraction of carbon-laden

resources. The COVID-19 Pandemic has

further exacerbated the investment decline.

Sylva posited that the government of Nigeria

in collaboration with global partners is

exploring policies, technologies and

investments to address the current global

challenge that will support migration from its

reliance on carbon dependent fuels to

meeting its commitment to the Paris

Agreement.

He encouraged SPE to be in forefront of quest

to achieve desired balance of clean

environment, safe public health and a

renewed global oil market. The SPE NAICE will

be an appropriate platform to bring to the

front-burner the critical discussions that

would forge a robust and implementable

clean energy solutions pathway for Nigeria.

26


NIGERIA OIL & GAS

AKK Gas Project Will Be Delivered on Schedule, Create

Massive Jobs, Prosperity, and Guarantee Peace - Kyari

The Group Managing Director of the

N i g e r i a n N a t i o n a l P e t r o l e u m

Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari,

has assured that the ongoing 614 kilometres

Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline

project would be delivered on schedule, create

prosperity through massive job opportunities

and guarantee peace for the country.

A statement by the Group General Manager,

Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr.

Kennie Obateru, disclosed that the GMD stated

this at Gas Sector Stakeholders’ Forum which

was held in Kano State, with the theme:

“Optimizing the Economic Development

Capacity of Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas

Pipeline Project”.

In a paper titled: “The AKK as an Economic

Development Game-Changer – NNPC’s Vision,

Contributions, & Plan Forward,” Mallam Kyari,

stated that the AKK gas project would help

revamp about 232 industries creating massive

employment opportunities and prosperity for

the people.

He said it would also serve as gas supply link to

other African countries and Europe upon

completion.

“This project has been on the drawing board for

30 years and the dream was to have gas

delivered to Europe across the Trans-Sahara

route. What we are seeing today would deliver

at least 2 billion standard cubic feet of gas to the

domestic market at the first instance with the

potential to increase it. What this means is that

it will debottleneck the gas supply network in

the entire country,” Mallam Kyari informed.

He said the AKK gas project would also lead to

the development of three Independent Power

Plants (IPP) in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano, adding

that the IPPs would boost electricity supply and

promote the growth of small and medium scale

enterprises in Nigeria.

“I want to state clearly that this gathering would

not have been possible if we don’t have a line of

sight to the completion of the AKK gas pipeline

project. This is possible because of the clear

direction that Mr. President has shown on the

need to deepen domestic gas consumption with

a view to creating prosperity out of the

enormous gas resources we have as a nation. He

has given us all the necessary support and

incentives to deliver on this project,” he stated.

Kyari said the AKK gas project would also boost

the Agricultural, Industrial, Manufacturing and

Power Sectors for the overall growth of the

nation’s economy.

Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director (GMD) Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)

He said that the AKK gas pipeline project

was in sync with the aspiration of the

Federal Government to reduce the

nation’s carbon footprint in line with the

global quest to mitigate global warming

and climate change and in furtherance of

the Decade of Gas programme.

According to him, gas is a key driver of

prosperity all over the world and it cannot

be different in Nigeria, stressing that the

extensive industrial layout in the Otta

area of Ogun and Lagos States is

anchored on the gas supply by the NNPC

and its partners which is creating jobs and

other opportunities for people.

In his keynote address, the Minister of

State for Petroleum Resources, Chief

Timipre Sylva, said the Gas Sector

Stakeholders Forum would ensure

collaboration amongst stakeholders

geared towards kick-starting the required

activities that would guarantee full usage

of the gas to be delivered through the

AKK pipeline when completed.

“ To d ay ’s e v e n t r e i n fo r c e s o u r

commitment to realizing the inherent

potentials of gas usage as a national

catalyst for achieving economic

diversification from crude oil and as a

transition fuel from fossil of today to the

renewable energy of tomorrow,” Chief

Sylva submitted.

The AKK pipeline would be the biggest gas

pipeline infrastructure development in

the country’s recent history.

Harnessing and commercializing the Nigeria’s

vast gas reserves was an enabler for rapid

economic development and diversification of

the economy, and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano

(AKK) Gas Pipeline project is part of President

Buhari Administration’s efforts to ensure

sustainable development and growth of the

nation’s Economy.

The project, when completed, would provide

gas for generation of power and feedstock for

gas-based industries, and also facilitate the

revival of moribund industries and the

development of new ones along transit

towns in Kogi State, Abuja (FCT), Niger State,

Kaduna State and Kano State.

AKK project will generate employment

opportunities and facilitating Balanced

Economic Growth.

The AKK project is also a celebration of the

successes of the Nigerian Content Policy

goals. The project would be turning to reality

some of Nigeria’s long term economic

aspirations of boosting domestic energy

infrastructure, deepening the local gas

market, creating industrial corridors with

cleaner fuel, and commercializing the

country’s abundant gas resources.

The event had in attendance major

stakeholders in the oil and gas value chain

and the Governor of Kano, Alhaji Abdullahi

Ganduje, while the Governors of Nasarawa,

Niger, Kaduna, the Hon Minister of Finance

and Alhaji Aliko Dangote joined virtually. The

Governor of Kogi State sent a representative.

27


NIGERIA OIL AND GAS

NNPC to Develop Comprehensive Divestment Policy

for IOCs Operating in Nigeria

IOCs diversify their portfolios to low-carbon

investments.

Kyari however, said that energy consumption

would increase beyond what renewable energy

sources can meet by 2050 especially with the

anticipated economic growth and rising

population of Asia and Africa.

“Building on this convergence, Nigeria as a key

player in global energy security is addressing its

challenges mainly, Fiscal, Security and Cost

Competitiveness to stimulate investments in

the oil and gas industry.

The Nigerian National Petroleum

Corporation (NNPC) has said that it

will soon develop a Comprehensive

Divestment Policy for International Oil

Companies ( IOCs) operating in the country

to protect strategic national interest.

Mr Mele Kyari, the Group Managing

Director, NNPC disclosed this in Lagos

recently at the 2021 Society of Petroleum

E n g i n e e rs ( S P E ) N i g e r i a A n n u a l

International Conference and Exhibition

(NAICE).

The conference, with the theme: “The

Future of Energy – A Trilogy of

Determinants: Climate Change, Public

Health, and the Global Oil Market.”

Kyari said the divestment policy would

ensure that only investors with technical,

financial and operational capabilities take

position of the IOCs assets thereby adding

value to the industry.

“We have seen a whole wave of

divestments by major IOCs operating in

our country.

“NNPC as their major partner cannot stop

partners from divesting their interests. We

can’t do this because we all have the right

to migrate our portfolios depending on the

circumstances.

Omar Farouk

Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director (GMD) Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)

“The divestments create challenges for us in

ensuring that we get right and competent

investors to take position and add value to the

industry.

“We have engaged all our partners to ensure

that while they have the right of divestments,

that there should be no situation where this will

become a waterloo of our industry.

“Therefore, NNPC will ensure Nigeria’s strategic

national interest is safeguarded by developing a

comprehensive Divestment Policy that will

provide clear guidelines and criteria for

divestment of partner’s interest.”

Kyari said going forward, that the NNPC would

make clear distinctions between Divestment of

Shares and Operatorship Agreements under

various Joint Operating Agreements.

According to Kyari, it will also leverage its rights

of pre-emption as well as evaluating the

operational competency and track records of

new partners.

He said attention would be paid to

abandonment and relinquishment costs,

severance of operator staff as well as third party

contract liabilities.

He said that the divestment was being driven by

global energy transition which was making the

“This include the recent passage of the

Petroleum Industry Bill, the National Gas

Expansion Programme and development of gas

infrastructure such as the Ajaokuta- Kaduna-

Kano (AKK) and the Obiafu-Obrikon-Oben (OB3)

pipelines.’’

Kyari reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to

energy transition in the near future, adding that

its huge gas resources would serve as a vehicle

for the country’s transition to cleaner sources of

energy.

Earlier, Mr Olatunji Akinwunmi, the Chairman,

SPE, Nigeria Council, said it was in the interest of

the country’s oil and gas industry to be in phase

with the rest of the world regarding energy

transition.

“Reduction of carbon emissions could be

achieved by more efficient operations, focusing

on transition to gas exploration and

development to replace coal in electricity

generation.

“In addition, novel technologies as well as

digital transformation initiatives should help in

the direction of reducing both emissions and

cost, which would render our products more

accessible, more competitive, and more

acceptable.’’

NNPC is leveraging technology to achieve better

systems and processes optimization to support

performance, accountability and value creation

that exceeds the simple fulfilment of our

business mandates.

NNPC remain committed to working with

stakeholders to maintain firm position in

today’s and future energy industry.

28 22


NIGERIA AND GAS

DPR Formulates MER Strategy, Assures Investors of

Enabling Business Environment in Oil, Gas Industry

The Department of Petroleum Resources

(DPR) says it is formulating a Maximum

Economic Recovery (MER) strategy for

Nigeria to attain maximum value delivery from

its oil and gas resources.

Mr Sarki Auwalu, Director, DPR, made the

announcement during a keynote address at the

2021 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)

Nigeria Annual International Conference and

Exhibition (NAICE) on Tuesday in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that

the conference has as its theme: “The Future of

Energy – A Trilogy of Determinants: Climate

Change, Public Health, and the Global Oil

Market.”

Auwalu said the industry initiative was one of

the outcomes of the work of the National Oil

and Gas Excellence Centre (NOGEC), Lagos

inaugurated in January by President

Muhammadu Buhari.

He said: “Following an in-depth assessment of

the status of the industry, the department

identified the need to formulate the “Maximum

Economic Recovery strategy for Nigeria.

“This is to guarantee the actualisation of

sustainable resource optimisation and the

economic benefits arising therefrom.

“The framework for this industry action plan,

outlines six pillars or building blocks.”

Auwalu said the pillars were: Reserves

Maturation and Production Optimisation,

Exploration and Resources Maturation,

Improved Oil Recovery and Enhanced Oil

Recovery, Implementation Asset Stewardship,

Performance Evaluation and Rewards Risk

Management.

According to him, the draft framework has been

shared with the industry, including professional

associations like the SPE and the National

Association of Petroleum Explorationists.

He said this was in preparation for an industry

collaborative workshop to co-develop and

enunciate this strategy for immediate

execution.

“We count on the contributions and buy-in of all

stakeholders on this crucial national assignment

for our overall benefit and industry

sustainability, “he said.

Auwalu said Nigeria was rising to the occasion as

the ‘trigger’ for continental growth and

economic transformation using its oil and gas

resources to drive value for national

development.

Sarki Auwalu, Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)

He said the DPR would continue to foster

i n n o v a t i v e i d e a s a n d c r e a t e

opportunities for investments and

sustainability in the industry.

Auwalu said: “As always, we are

enthusiastic to collaborate with all

relevant stakeholders, including the SPE,

toward the realisation of governments

aspirations for the oil and gas sector.

“In our role as business enablers and

opportunity providers, DPR will continue

to promote efficiency to meet the needs

of the industry, creating value, enhancing

transparency, reducing barriers and

transaction costs.”

In another development, DPR has

outlined five key strategies to fortify the

Nigerian oil and gas sector for economic

stability and growth.

Auwalu said the DPR would remain

committed to the development of oil and

gas sector for economic growth and

development.

“For us in the DPR, we contemplate five

broad areas in which the industry needs to

support the nation for economic growth and

stability.

”The areas are legal, institutional, financial,

in-sector diversification and indigenous

capacity.

“And I have to say that with the focused

leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari

and the Minister of State for Petroleum

Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, the key

fundamental issues on growth are being

addressed, “he said.

According to him, under the legal front, the

long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)

that has been passed will enhance clarity in

legislative, regulatory, fiscal, and

administrative frameworks.

He said that evolving commercial institutions

would be strengthened for efficiency,

prudent management, financial stewardship,

and operational management.

“At the same vein, the regulatory institutions

will be strengthened to streamline roles,

prevent duplication and promote ambition

that will promote regulatory clarity in rules of

doing business.

29


NIGERIA AND GAS

A P P O I N T M E N T

Dr. Philip Mshelbila

Managing Director/CEO,

Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG)

Mshelbila Appointed

as NLNG’s CEO,

Managing Director

The Board of Directors of NLNG has approved the

appointment of Dr. Philip Mshelbila as the new

Managing Director/CEO of NLNG.

He succeeds Mr. Tony A ah.

The Board of Directors of Nigeria

LNG Limited (NLNG) has approved

the appointment of Dr. Philip

Mshelbila as the new Managing

Director/Chief Executive Officer. He

succeeds Mr. Tony Attah.

According to the Company’s General

Manager, External Relations and

Sustainable Development, Eyono Fatayi-

Williams, Engr. Attah returned to his parent

company, Shell, on 30th August 2021 at the

expiration of his five-year tenure at the

helm of affairs. Engr. Attah was appointed

Chief Executive Officer by the NLNG Board

in July 2016.

Dr Philip Mshelbila resumes office at the

company on August 31, 2021.

On March 2021, Nigeria’s President,

Muhammadu Buhari formerly unveiled

“The Decade of Gas”, an initiative designed

to ensure Nigeria takes advantage of the

global energy transition, adding that the

“Decade of Gas” initiative was a bold step

to demonstrate its Administration’s

commitment towards gas development

and utilization.

Mshelbila, who comes with an extensive

experience in Gas Resource Management,

having served as Managing Director of

Shell Nigeria Gas Ltd; Commercial

Manager and Project Development

Manager in Shell Gas & Power, and

currently Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic

LNG Company of Trinidad and Tobago,

would contribute his part to the country’s gas

ambition.

On the other hand, with an indepth background

in Communications, Community Relations and

Sustainable Development, Mshelbila’s arrival is

anticipated to help close the gaps in host

community relations, for which agitations have

been on the rise in recent times with the

company gasping for ideas on how to respond

adequately.

Dr. Philip Mshelbila has served as Shell’s

General Manager for Communications in West

Africa; General Manager, Sustainable

Development and Community Relations for

Shell Companies in Nigeria; and Private

Assistant to the Chief Executive of Royal Dutch

Shell; Regional (Business) Adviser, Shell

International, The Netherlands, and Regional

Health Manager, Africa; roles that entailed

managing sustainable development and social

investment as well as relations with

communities, local and state governments in

the Niger Delta.

His goal in NLNG remains to sustain the

company’s historical excellent performance

while working to raise the company to the next

level and continuing to make NLNG an

inspiration to Nigeria as part of NLNG’s vision of

helping to build a better Nigeria.

NLNG is an incorporated Joint-Venture owned

by four Shareholders, namely, the Federal

Government of Nigeria, represented by

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (49%),

Shell Gas B.V. (25.6%), Total Gaz Electricite

Holdings France (15%), and Eni International N.A.

N.V. S.àr.l (10.4%).

Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) is a major player in the

global LNG business. Today, NLNG has a total

production capacity of 22 Million Tons Per Annum

(mtpa) of LNG and 5mtpa of Natural Gas Liquids

(NGLs) from its six-train plant complex.

The company has 16 long-term Sale and Purchase

Agreements (SPAs) with 10 buyers and controls

about 6 per cent of global LNG trade.

NLNG began its intervention in the supply of

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), otherwise known

as cooking gas, to the domestic market in 2007

under the NLNG DLPG Scheme. The supply has

stimulated growth in the industry, guaranteeing

LPG supply, availability and affordability. This has

also inspired the development of different parts of

the DLPG value chain.

In 2019, NLNG shareholders took the Final

Investment Decision (FID) on its 7th train and

awarded the Engineering, Procurement and

Construction (EPC) contracts for the plant

expansion in 2020. The long-awaited expansion

will increase production capacity by 35 per cent

from 22mtpa to 30mtpa and enhance NLNG’s

competitiveness in the global market.

The company has a proven track record of resilient

performance (Operational Excellence, HSE, etc.)

and unswerving profitability.

30 22


NIGERIA OIL & GAS

ND Western Calls for More Private Investment in

Nigeria's Frontier Basin Exploration

The Managing Director/Chief Executive

Officer of ND Western, Eberechukwu

Oji, has called for more private

investment participation in the Nigerian

frontier basin exploration.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with

PUNCH, Oji said it is high time Nigeria maximise

the abundant oil and gas reserves, whilst

making further investments in exploration.

He further explained that some section of the

recently passed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB),

mandates a percentage for frontier basin

exploration. He added, “is a mistake and should

be corrected.”

According to Oji, the country’s focus should be

on diversifying its economy by building a strong

and well-funded sovereign wealth fund to

drive the diversification agenda.

The PIB as passed by the National Assembly

mandates that the new Nigerian National

Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) should be

spending 30 per cent of its profits on oil

exploration in the frontier basins.

Eberechukwu Oji, Managing Director/Chief Executive Ofcer, ND Western

“In my view, capital allocation is best handled

by competent managers of any corporate

organisation of the size of the new NNPC.

Mandating a percentage for frontier basin

exploration is a mistake and should be

corrected,” Oji said.

“If anything, we should be seeking to diversify

the Nigerian economy by building a strong and

well-funded sovereign wealth fund to drive the

diversification agenda. We need to invest more

in gas as a transition fuel, invest in renewables

to future-proof our economy and channel our

available funds to the most important resource

that Nigeria has which is her people.

“Aggressive human capacity development in

the frontier basin is guaranteed to pay more

long-term dividend than a certain per cent

profit allocation for exploration in the same

basin.”

Oji has an extensive experience in the oil and

gas industry, and had worked in several

jurisdictions including the Netherlands, UK and

much of Europe, Singapore and far East Asia up

to Australia, Kazakhstan, India, the United

States, and so on.

On how the country can attract investments to

achieve the Decade of Gas plan, Oji said that

with the right investment friendly policies and

securitisation of investments, about $40 billion

needed to achieve the potential of the plan can

be achieved.

“Look at the NLNG Train 7 example. Over $10bn

was needed but this was massively

oversubscribed even during the lock-down,” he

said.

“In simple terms, it is possible to attract this

level of investment if our policy trust as a nation

is specifically aimed at attracting these

investments.

“The investment dollars are there but it will go

where the most enabling environment has been

created for it. That’s the challenge for our policy

makers.

“As you can understand, Nigeria is in a global

competition for investment dollars. New

investors will be taking a hard look at the

experience of existing investors before they

come in.

“These things are not so complicated. You can

look at NLNG case and replicate the conditions

that attracted such massive oversubscription

for Train 7, and you will attract the needed

investment. The same is applicable in deep

offshore. Look at the Production Sharing

Contract terms that enabled Bonga investment,

you replicate the same, of course benchmarking

with new deep offshore basins like Guyana,

Suriname etc and you will attract the needed

investment dollars.

“My advocacy is, treat your existing investors

well so that new ones will come in and we need

to replicate what we have done in the past that

worked very well as in the examples I have

given.”

Speaking on the ND Western aim to double its

current gas production capacity to 600 million

standard cubic feet per day by 2022, he

disclosed that the company is working to

achieve a production capacity of 400mmscfd by

the end of this year.

He said, “Our development of gas resources is

driven by market gas demand. We have drilling

campaigns which are undertaken within the

timeframe to take our production capacity to

600mmscfd by 2022 and our aim currently is to

achieve production capacity of 400mmscfd by

end 2021.

“The gas market in Nigeria must mature enough

to absorb all that we can produce. We are

aligned with the conventional wisdom of

developing gas supply to match demand. This is

because you cannot store gas unless you liquefy

it. You want to sell the gas to a paying customer

before you make the investment to drill a nonassociated

gas well.

“We are in the process of finalising gas purchase

agreements for these extra volumes of gas

before we commence the drilling campaign.

“With the completion of the AAK pipeline which

opens more opportunities for our gas demand,

600mmscfd is not far from our reach.”

31


NIGERIA OIL & GAS

PIC Group Awarded O&M Support Services Contract

for Azikel Refinery in Bayelsa State

Having operated and maintained

assets, deployed and trained

workforces in remote locations

around the world, and building on years of

experience in Nigeria, PIC Group has

entered into a 5-year service agreement

with Azikel Petroleum Limited for the new

Azikel Refinery to be located in Yenagoa,

Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

Under the terms of the agreement, PIC

Group will provide Operations and

Maintenance (O&M) support services

including site-specific integrated operation

& maintenance procedures, a systematic

approach to training as well as operational

support in the form of oversight and

mentoring of refinery personnel by PIC

Group’s specialists.

PIC Group’s thorough and sustainable

qualification programs combined with a

comprehensive approach to organizational

development will enable the new Azikel

Refinery to efficiently transition from

commissioning and startup through to full

operation as well as facilitate staff

localization for the new 12,000 bpd

hydroskimming refinery.

“PIC Group’s O&M experience, approach

to site-specific qualification programs and

p re c i s e s i t e - s p e c i f i c p ro c e d u ra l

documentation, creates a consistent base

of knowledge for the Azikel Refinery to

improve efficiency, and ensure reliable,

consistent, safe operation,” said Ian

Anderson, Executive Director and VP

Refinery at Azikel Petroleum.

“PIC Group’s systematic methodology for

knowledge transfer embraces Azikel’s

vision of self-performance and will

Ian Anderson, Executive Director and VP

Refinery at Azikel Petroleum

empower the local community to lead the longterm

operation of the facility while maintaining

operational readiness and regulatory

compliance across the lifecycle of the refinery,”

said Frank Avery, President and CEO at PIC

Group.

Dr. Eruani, Group President said, “Training of

our staff was of paramount importance to Azikel

in our selection of the O&M services contractor,

and we are very pleased with the

comprehensive program proposed by the PIC

Group.”

Azikel Petroleum Ltd. is part of the Azikel Group,

a privately owned company involved in

dredging, aviation, power generation and

petroleum businesses supporting the

infrastructure development of Nigeria.

Established in 2008, the company’s focus is in

the industrialization, employment, and the

development of human capital with a

geographic focus in the Niger Delta region of the

country.

Founded in 1988, PIC Group, Inc. is dedicated to

delivering value by providing global energy

services to facilities across four continents –

North America, South America, Asia and Africa.

PIC Group provides O&M Services (Care,

Custody and Control), Commissioning and

Startup, Documentation & Training and Staffing

services and serves the power generation, oil

and gas, petrochemical, pulp and paper and

manufacturing industries.

PIC Group, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of

Marubeni Corporation, a Fortune Global 500

Company. Marubeni is a major Japanese sogo

shosha (international trading company) and the

third largest global independent power

producer (IPP).

Founded in 1988, PIC Group, Inc. is dedicated to

delivering value by providing Operation &

Maintenance, Commissioning and Startup,

Documentation & Training and Staffing services

to the power generation, oil and gas,

petrochemical, pulp and paper and

manufacturing industries globally.

Having the organizational expertise, processes,

and procedures to perform effectively

anywhere in the world, PIC Group is a global

services provider capable of meeting a

customers’ diverse needs.

The scalability of PIC Group’s offerings ranges

from providing a single resource to full care,

custody and control O&M service model or

extend to full knowledge transfer allowing

owners to self-perform O&M utilizing PIC Group

tools and standards of performance. PIC Group

is committed to providing results through a

systematic process-oriented approach to

ensure greater customer confidence and

satisfaction.

32


NIGERIA OIL AND GAS

Aiteo Group Equips Navy with High-Tech Marine Assets to

Fight Pipeline Vandalism, Piracy in Nigerian Waters

The Aiteo Group, one of Africa’s

fastest-growing energy leaders has

delivered some High-Tech Marine

assts to the Nigerian Navy to equip them in

the fight against pipeline vandalisation, oil

theft, piracy in the Nigerian waterways.

Aiteo said the Nigerian Navy has just taken

inventory of an assortment of 50 assault

gunboats, high-speed interceptor boats,

patrol boats, houseboats, HD cameras and

surveillance drones to tackle economic

crimes and sabotage in the nation’s marine

territory.

The assets, which were donated by Aiteo at

NNS Pathfinder, Rivers State, include 21

gunboats, 14 operational/patrol boats,

seven houseboats and four airboats.

Others are four high-speed interception

inshore patrol boats, long-range

surveillance drones and six high-definition

cameras.

Receiving the items on behalf of the

Buhari-led Federal Government of Nigeria,

the Navy Chief, Vice Admiral Awwal Z

Gambo, said the resources would be

deployed to the creeks to fight oil theft,

piracy and sea robbery specifically along

the NCTL right of way.

He opined that the donation was the

manifestation of months of collaboration

with critical maritime stakeholders to

support naval operations.

“The delivery of these platforms and assets

align with the provisions of the Nigerian

Navy’s 2021-2030 strategic plans on interagency

and sub-regional cooperation. This

is a milestone in our collaborative

engagement with corporate maritime

stakeholders to rid the nation’s maritime

environment of criminal elements and

economic saboteurs. To this end, these

platforms will enhance the navy maritime

security architecture and enhance our

maritime security operations effort,” he

said.

Gambo commended Aiteo for the highly

patriotic donation at a crucial interval in

the war on insecurity and sought the

support of other corporate organisations

to enable the navy deploy more security

properties and halt the growing criminal

activities in Nembe Creek Trunk Line, NCTL

which traverses Nembe, Bayelsa to Bonny,

Rivers State.

Also in attendance was the Chief of Defence

Staff, General Lucky Irabor, said the new

resources would be deployed to complement

other internal security operations across the

country. The defence chief gave assurances that

the marine vessels would be used for their set

objectives of securing lives and property,

including the nation’s oil and gas installations.

In his remarks at the event, Governor of Rivers

State, Barrister Nyesom Wike, represented by

the Secretary to the Government of Rivers

State, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, expressed

appreciation to Aiteo for the donation.

In his address, the Executive Vice Chairman and

founder of Aiteo, Mr. Benedict Peters, said the

company decided to donate the equipment to

the Navy, owing to frequent attacks on critical

oil and gas facilities by vandals.

Mr. Peters, who was represented by Aiteo

Global Group Director and Co-Ordinator, Asset

Protection, Security Services and Community

Matters, Chief Andrew Oru, expressed

enthusiasm that the donated resources would

further complement the Federal Government’s

efforts at mitigating the risks earlier

highlighted.

“Aiteo Global Group believes that the Nigerian

Navy stands in the best position to address this

menace if adequately equipped and supported .

Consequently, it is our expectation that the

contribution of these hardware would be a

source of further motivation to our gallant

Nigeria Navy leadership and personnel as they

secure our waterways and restore National

pride, security and cohesion,” he added.

Significant stakeholders who witnessed this grand

commissioning include, the deputy governor of

Bayelsa State, Mr. Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the GMD

NNPC was represented by the General Manager,

Joint Ventures, NAPIMS, Madam Martina Atuchie,

and Director of NOSDRA, Mr. Idris O. Musa. The

commander of the Joint Task Force, OPDS, Rear

Admiral Aminu Hassan as well as other heads of

security agencies made the August gathering.

Aiteo is one of Africa's fastest-growing energy

company with a clear vision to provide oil and gas

on a regional and global scale. The company

discover, produce, store and deliver energy

resources to marketplaces worldwide.

Aiteo is developing energy resources in some of the

world's most significant basins, including the huge

potential of the Niger Delta basin in West Africa's

offshore fields, and Benue Trough.

Aiteo Group is strategically focused on these

business areas, with major prospects for

immediate revenue growth and market

penetration:

3Exploration and production

3Bulk petroleum storage

3Refining of petroleum products

3Trading, marketing and supply

3Power generation and distribution

33 21


LOCAL CONTENT

NCDMB, TotalEnergies Celebrate Load Out of Ikike

...project creates 30,000 jobs, first oil in 2022

AMD 2 Module

Senior officials of the Nigerian

C o n t e n t D e v e l o p m e n t a n d

Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Total

Energies Nigeria and the Department of

Petroleum Resources on Saturday in Port

Harcourt, Rivers State celebrated the load

out of the AMD 2 Module of the Ikike

Development Project, describing it as

another remarkable Nigerian Content

accomplishment by Total Energies Nigeria

Ltd.

The AMD 2 Module is a component of the

Brownfield package of the Ikike project, and

the contractor is Sudelettra Nigeria Ltd. The

project is being developed as a satellite tieback

to the Amenam-Kpono field, also

owned and operated by the Total/NNPC JV.

Delivering his address at the load out

ceremony held at Sudelettra Fabrication

Yard, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB,

Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote lauded Total

Energies for being a worthy partner in Local

Content development since the enactment

of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content

Development (NOGICD) Act in 2010. He

hinted that Total’s local content milestones

on the Egina FPSO project remains a

reference point for major project promoters

to date.

The Executive Secretary who was

represented by the General Manager,

Projects Certification and Authorization

Division, NCDMB, Engr. Paul Zuhumben

noted that the Board and Total collaborated

at the beginning of the Ikike project to

earmark high local content commitments

and targets which had now yielded fruits.

He listed some of the pace-setting statistics

of the AMD-2 Module to include all

engineering design works domiciled in

Nigeria with 93 percent or 89,003 man-hours by

Nigerian personnel and entire fabrication scope

executed at Sudelettra Fabrication Yard, with

Nigerians performing 98 percent of the 298,158

fabrication man-hours.

Other third-party services executed by Nigerian

companies with requisite facilities included NDT,

GRP Piping, Laboratory Testing, among others.

Wabote assured that other work scopes on the

Ikike platform would be domiciled in accordance

with the agreed local content targets, to sustain

the job creation drive of the Federal Government.

He said: “in line with the commitment of Total

Energies in the signed Nigerian Content

Compliance Certificate (NCCC), hook-up

engineering and tie-in services, inspections and

integrity works, pre-commissioning and

commissioning, marine activities would be

executed with over 95 percent Nigerian

personnel with locally owned equipment and

assets.

“This is in keeping with the Board’s initiatives

geared towards utilization of Nigerian owned

marine assets and investments.”

The Executive Secretary further noted that the

AMD-2 Module provided an opportunity to carry

out refresher oil and gas trainings for 57

personnel as well as trainings for 30 new

personnel. He requested the contractor and Total

to retain the trainees in the remaining part of the

Ikike project.

In his comments, the Executive Director, Total

Energies, Port Harcourt District, Mr. Obi Imemba

indicated that the entire Ikike project has

recorded 77 percent overall progress and the

construction of the modules-topsides, platforms,

risers, jackets and all other packages were

executed in various Nigerian yards by different

vendors as approved by NCDMB. He added that

“Our offshore campaigns are also being executed

with vessels that are domiciled in Nigeria and the

drilling is with Nigerian companies.”

He confirmed that the company had used the

project to enable more than 30,000 jobs directly

and indirectly, highlighting that all the aspects of

the job were done with the spirit of promoting

Nigerian Content and in collaboration with

industry stakeholders.

The Executive Director also underscored the

company’s commitment to developing a pipeline

of oil and gas projects and supporting additional

production potentials of Nigeria, adding that the

company was keen to capitalize on all the lessons

learnt from previous projects to develop the Ikike

project in a simple, cost effective and efficient

manner.

He recalled that the Final investment Decision

(FID) for the Ikike project was taken in 2019, with

support of the partners and the AMD-2 Module

started in 2020 and on completion it weighed 250

tons.

He commended the contractor for delivering on

the project despite the scourge of the COVID-19

and economic challenges and for recording more

than 500,000 manhours without any Loss Time

Injury (LTI).

Imemba assured that the offshore components of

the project were already in progress, including

the installation of topsides, adding that that

commissioning and celebration of first oil were

expected early 2022.

The Project Manager of Ikike Project, Total

Energies, Mr. Modestus Nwosu confirmed that

over 44 Nigerian vendors were engaged on

various scopes of the Ikike project. He added that

the project had also followed the instruction of

the Board to undertake the renovation of a hostel

and workshops in Government Technical College

in Port Harcourt, River State.

35


LOCAL CONTENT

TotalEnergies Committed to Nigerian Content, Share

Best Practises for Intra-African Trade

T

otalEnergies is proudly committed to

local content development in Nigeria

and has been operating in the country

for almost 60 years.

At the 20th Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and

Exhibition (NOG), the Deputy Managing

Director, Deep Water District of TotalEnergies,

Mr. Victor Bandele made a keynote

presentation on “Expanding the Nigerian

Content Frontier through Intra-African Trade”.

Bandele was represented by the Executive

General Manager, Government Relations,

TotalEnergies, Nigeria, Olalere Babasola, said

that the NOG event provides opportunities for

operators to share best practices and industry

experiences which enables operator to learn

from one another, adapt and quickly take

actions that will sustain the industry.

Babasola revealed that TotalEnergies, as it is

presently called, has been present in Africa for

more than 80 years and has been involved in

exploration activities in Nigeria for almost 60

years now.

In the Upstream sector, the company has a

broad and diversified portfolio in Nigeria, with

activities spanning onshore, conventional

offshore, deep water and LNG. TotalEnergies is

proud of its strong partnership with the

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation

(NNPC) including various partners, over the

years.

The upstream branch plays a significant

economic and social role in Nigeria, operating

nearly 15% of the country’s production.

Nigeria, as one of the company’s core areas of

activities, is also crucial to the TotalEnergies

Group, accounting for 12 % of its equity

production.

In the last few years alone, TotalEnergies has

invested approximately 10 billion US dollars in

Nigeria. Through decades of executing

development projects, the company’s

activities have contributed to creating jobs and

developing human capacity in Nigeria.

Babasola explained that despite the

challenging environment that the company

operate in as an industry, TotalEnergies

remains committed to investing in the country

because it strongly believe in the potential of

Nigeria and Nigerians. This is why it has been

quite active in recent years even in the face of

understandable uncertainties. The company

completed Egina at the end of 2018 and has

been progressing well with the development of

Ikike project.

TotalEnergies Outstanding Projects:

3Egina Project

In 2013, three years after the Nigerian Oil & Gas

Industry Content Development Act became law,

TotalEnergies took the Final Investment

Decision to develop Egina.

The Egina field is located in Oil Mining Lease

OML 130 and is approximately 200km offshore

Nigeria. The offshore development comprises a

new build spread moored FPSO (330 x 61x

33.5m dimensions with 240 POB and 2.3MBBLs

storage capacity) connected through a sub-sea

production system to 44 wells (21 oil producers

and 23 water injectors) via Umbilicals, flowlines

and risers.

Egina is TotalEnergies’ third deep offshore FPSO

project in Nigeria after the successful delivery

of AKPO project (2009) and USAN project

(2012). These projects have brought

progressive increase in levels of Nigerian

Content, and Egina, being the first major project

launched after the enactment of the Nigerian

Oil & Gas Industry Content Development

(NOGICD) Act of 2010, has so far the highest

level of local content of any FPSO project in

Nigeria:

Employment in Nigeria during life of project: 47

million man-hours (77% of total project

workload).

3Fabrication: approximately 60,000 tons of

equipment fabricated in Nigeria.

600,000+ man-hours of human capacity

development training across Egina contracts.

Construction of new fabrication facilities and

quayside; Upgrade of existing fabrication

facilities.

On December 29, 2018, Egina first oil was

achieved with the opening of the first

production well on the South Loop. With a

capacity of 200,000 barrels of oil per day, Egina

has increased Nigeria’s oil production by 10%.

3Ikike Project

Ikike field development lies within Nigeria

offshore block OML 99 (Amenam-Kpono),

situated 20 km offshore, in 20m water depth

and approximately 15 km north of the Amenam

complex. It is outside the AMENAM unitized

area in joint venture partnership with NNPC

(NNPC-60% /TEPNG-40%).

The Ikike field is being developed as a satellite

tieback to Amenam. Despite its size and scope,

TotalEnergies Nigerian Content objectives for

Ikike are not any less ambitious.

The overall target is to achieve 90% Nigerian

Content on Ikike with 100% of project

management based in-country; 100% of

detailed & basic engineering in Nigeria; 100% of

procurement by local firms; 3,000 direct jobs;

Refresher/On-the-job training for 53 NCDMB

trainees; entry level training of 80 Geoscience

36


LOCAL CONTENT

students as well as infrastructure development

support to some schools.

Taking Nigerian Content to the rest of Africa

through Intra-African Trade

There are 18 oil-producing countries in Africa.

The African continent is also home to five of the

top 30 oil-producing countries in the world.

The combined daily oil production of Africa was

more than 7.9 million barrels per day in 2019,

which is about 9.6% of world output.

However, the coronavirus pandemic and

recent OPEC production cuts have dramatically

reduced daily outcome from the Continent.

There is no debating the fact that oil-rich

African countries have not benefited

satisfactorily from the exploitation of their

hydrocarbons.

Though they receive significant fiscal benefits

from the export of oil and gas, the

development linkages to other economic

sectors remain marginal in terms of domestic

value added and job creation. This is why there

is a renewed zeal among these countries to try

and extract as much value as they can from the

Oil and Gas Industry. This is also why many of

these oil-producing African nations have

adopted local content policies as a

development strategy aimed at increasing the

benefits from the Industry.

In most cases, the objective of local content

policy or regulation, as the case may be, is to

transform the short-term benefits of oil

production into long-term local economic

development outcomes through capacity

strengthening, institutional building and

strategic policy tools that promote domestic

economic linkages, job creation and the

participation of indigenous companies in the

sector’s value chain through the supply of

goods and services.

Governments of these oil-producing African

countries often require foreign investors to

develop ‘local content’ by creating jobs,

opening equity to local partners and investing

in local supply chains with the objective of

transferring knowledge and value to the local

economy.

All of Africa’s 18 oil-producing countries have

enacted one form of local content regulatory

framework or the other. Even in the mining

sector, we have seen an enthusiasm for

developing legal frameworks to ensure greater

local participation across the continent.

Therefore, in most of the continent, local

content regulations and institutional controls

are now entrenched.

But what has been the impact on the various

economies of the countries where these

frameworks exist? Are we seeing any significant

change in the economic fortunes of these

countries beyond the collection of royalties and

fees? Are we seeing increased capacity in the

key technical areas?

In the last decade, for instance, Ghana has

joined the league of oil and gas producers. With

its Tilenga Project, Uganda will soon become

another oil producer.

For its FPSO needs, Ghana had to turn to the

Malaysia-based Yinson Holdings. And the

experience appears set to repeat itself in the

case of Uganda’s Tilenga. More than 65 years

after the discovery of petroleum in Africa, the

Continent has yet to develop local technical

capacity to meet some of the Industry’s basic

needs.

However, if the example from Nigeria is a good

indicator of the state of affairs on the continent,

then we can say, we are not yet there, but we

are well on our way.

For it was after the passage of the NOGICD Act

that Nigeria built Africa’s first FPSO integration

quay as well as built and installed six entire

FPSO topside modules on Egina. What African

countries need to do, as a matter of urgency, is

to open the continent to freer exchange of

capacity and trade among one another.

The Opportunities

There will be a great opportunity for intracontinental

collaboration when the Nigerian

Content and Development Monitoring Board

(NCDMB) collaborates with sister local content

authorities in the continent to share ideas,

capacities, and competencies. Nigeria has a lot

to export to other African countries in the area

of local content.

It will be recalled that in March 2018, the 55-

member nations of the Africa Union (AU) signed


(AfCFTA) to create the largest free trade area in

the world – measured by the number of

participating countries.

The AfCFTA was intended to connect 1.3 billion

people across 55 countries with a combined

gross domestic product (GDP) valued at US$3.4

trillion. The agreement was also intended to

promote the movement of capital and natural

persons.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) describes

AfCFTA as a “global game changer” for the

following reasons:

Poverty reduction: The World Bank estimates

that AfCFTA will boost regional income by 7% or

$450 billion, speed up wage growth for women,

and lift 30 million people out of extreme

poverty by 2035.

Many and varied economic outcomes: It is

estimated that the AfCFTA will increase Africa’s

ex p o r t s by $ 5 6 0 b i l l i o n , m o st l y i n

manufacturing. Intra-continental exports

would also increase by 81%, while the increase

to non-African countries would be 19%.

3Promote trade integrity: an opportunity to

promote good governance both globally and

across Africa, through the concept of “Trade

Integrity” to ensure the legitimacy of the global

trading system.

Expected Economic Boost and Trade Diversity.

The United Nations Economic Commission for

Africa (UNECA) estimates that AfCFTA will boost

intra-African trade by 52.3% once import duties

and non-tariff barriers are eliminated.

It will diversify intra-African trade as it would

encourage more industrial goods as opposed to

extractive goods and natural resources.

Historically, more than 75% of African exports

outside of the continent consisted of extractive

commodities whereas only 40% of intra-African

trade were extractive.

Growing Small and Medium-Sized Businesses:

The elimination of import duties will open up

trading activities to small businesses in the

regional markets.

3Encouraging Industrialization: The AfCFTA is

expected to foster competitive manufacturing,

which means Africa’s manufacturing sector will

have the potential to double in size from $500

billion in 2015 to $1 trillion in 2025, creating 14

million stable jobs.

Babasola opined that the oil industry should

take advantage of AfCFTA to foster intra-African

trade and expand the frontiers of Nigerian

content. Operators need to explore the

possibilities through collaboration with

relevant government agencies of which the

NCDMB has a critical role.

The TotalEnergies Executive General Manager

pointed out clearly that the company remains

proudly committed to Nigeria and Nigerian

content and will continue to act in ways that

promote these ideals.

“But it is now time to venture beyond Nigeria

and foster intra-Africa business relations to

consolidate on the gains of Nigerian Content.

Nigeria can earn foreign exchange through the

exportation of local content capacities,

infrastructure and competencies within the

continent of Africa."

37


PETAN Advocates for Extensive Investment in R&D to

Enhance Indigenous Capacity

Petroleum Technology Association

of Nigeria, PETAN, has advocated

for an extensive investment in

research and development to address

capacity barriers that prevent indigenous

companies from meeting the technical

requirements and knowledge to compete

favourably in the Nigerian oil and gas

industry.

PETAN Chairman, Mr. Nicolas Odinuwe,

who was represented by the association's

Conference Chairman, Mr. Chinedu

Maduakoh, said that PETAN is the initiator

of Local Content in Nigeria, and has been

championing the quest for increased local

participation in the Nigerian Oil and Gas

Industry.

He said, "The adoption of the Local

Content Policy as enshrined in the Nigerian

Oil and Gas Industry Content Development

(NOGICD) Act by the Nigerian Content

Development and Monitoring Board

(NCDMB) was commendable, though

more still needs to be done.

LOCAL CONTENT

"Even though some progress has been

recorded in achieving the provisions of the

Local Content Act towards human capital

development and knowledge transfer in

the country, a lot still needs to be done in

areas of aggressive monitoring and

implementation/enforcement by relevant

authorities".

Maduakoh stressed that areas where

Nigerians are to understudy expatriate

personnel in oil and gas service operations

need to be strictly implemented by the

NCDMB to ensure it is carried out as

stipulated in the Local Content Act.

He added that there was also the need to

address capacity barriers that prevent

Chinedu Maduakoh, PETAN's Conference Chairman

Nigerian entities from meeting the technical

requirements and knowledge to compete

favourably in the oil and gas industry.

"There is need for an extensive investment in

Research and Development (R&D) to make the

objective of technology transfer a reality as well

as addressing the gender gaps in the industry.

"PETAN companies and their contractors

employ over 20,000 Nigerians of which over

60% are graduates. This has special domino

effect on the economy through the use of local

inputs, growth of local enterprise and knowhow

which reduce cost and help maintain

standards".

He added that PETAN's massive impact in Nigeria's

Local Content development is evidenced by its over

90 oil and gas service companies offering over

80,000 collateral employment with over 250

technical services including capabilities in Drilling

and Completion, Health, Safety, Security,

Environment and Social Responsibility,

M a n a gement a n d I nfo r m ation, P ro j e c t

Management, Facilities & Construction, Pipeline,

Flowliness & Facilities Production & Operations,

Reservoir Description & Dynamics, Training, Project

Management across the value chain, while not

leaving out linkage sectors such as Catering,

Medical services amongst others.

Oil Accounts for 10 Percent GDP, 86 Percent Export Earnings, says Sylva

Minister of State for Petroleum

Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, says the

oil and gas sector accounts for about 10

per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product

(GDP).

Sylva added that crude oil exports represented

about 86 per cent of total export earnings,

while the actual government revenue from the

sector is 40 per cent.

The minister stated this while delivering the

Graduation Lecture of the National Defense

College Course 29, entitled, “Enhancing Digital

Technology in the Oil and Gas Sector of Nigeria

for National Development” in Abuja.

He said Nigeria, with more than 200 million

inhabitants, remained the most populous

country within the Organisation of Petroleum

Exporting Countries (OPEC).

According to him, the country has proven crude

oil reserves of 37 billion barrels; production

capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day; and

actual crude oil production of about 1.5 million

barrels daily.

“It is the largest crude oil producer in Africa and

holds the largest natural gas reserves on the

continent.

“The country has proven natural gas reserves of

206.53 trillion cubic feet; and average

production of about 7, 575 million standard

cubic feet per day (mmscfd).

Sylva said oil and gas occupied a central place in

Nigeria’s development equation, being a big

producer and marketer of the products.

He said Nigeria, like other oil producing

countries, must continually device imaginative

and sustainable ways of deriving the greatest

value from its oil and gas resources, given the

declining global appetite for fossil fuels, and

price volatility.

38 21


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AMERICAN PETROLEUM INTERVIEW

"API is focusing on using Data to clearly show the

positive role that natural gas plays in reducing GHG

emissions" - Dustin Meyer

Interview by:


The coal-to-gas fuel-switching that has resulted

from this increased demand has been the

leading driver of emissions reductions in the

country. Over those same 12 years, coal-to-gas

switching in the power sector led to a more than

30% reduction in GHG emissions.

What motivates me and my Natural Gas Market

team are finding ways to export this recipe for

reducing emissions to other countries around

the world, and we believe one of the best ways

to do that now is through LNG.

OGR: What's API strategies to boost LNG

growing role in the transition to a lowercarbon

future?

Meyer: API is focusing on using data to clearly

show the positive role that natural gas plays in

reducing GHG emissions.

Oil and Gas Republic talks to Dustin

Meyer, Vice President for Natural Gas

Market, at American Petroleum Institute

(API), about the growing role of Gas &

LNG in the United States of America.

Dustin Meyer, who previously served as

API's policy advisor on Liquefied Natural

Gas (LNG) and other global issues. He

began his career working with the

National Resources Defense Council

(NRDC) after completing his Bachelor's

degree at Princeton University. He

received his Master's of Environmental

Management from Yale University and

continued his career with IHS Energy as a

senior analyst. He then went to work with

Energy Ventures Analysis as a lead analyst

of global LNG and renewable energy

before joining API.

American Petroleum Institute (API) was

formed in 1919 as a standards-setting

organization. In its first 100 years, API has

developed more than 700 standards to

enhance operational and environmental

safety, efficiency and sustainability.

API represents all segments of America's

oil and natural gas industry. More than

600 members produce, process and

distribute most of the nation's energy. The

industry supports more than ten million

U.S. jobs and is backed by a growing grassroots

movement of millions of Americans. Excerpts:

OGR: What has been your motivation for Gas

& LNG development in the United States?

Meyer: As I’m sure your audience knows, the

shale revolution in the United States is what has

enabled such a significant increase in natural

gas and oil production over the last 15 years.

It allowed a significant amount of dry gas

production in the Marcellus, Permian, and

other areas, but the sharp increase in oil

production led to a lot of associated gas

production, as well.

Over the 12 years between 2006 and 2018,

associated gas production in the United States

went from about 8% of total natural gas

production to 16%, and in the crude oil regions

a s s o c i a t e d g a s s a w e v e n s t r o n g e r

growth—going from 8% to 37% of natural gas

production in these regions.

In the United States, electricity generation has

been the largest source of demand growth for

domestically produced natural gas for the past

decade.

Demand for natural gas in the power sector

increased more than 110% between 2007-

2019, allowing gas to make up about 36% of

total consumption in 2019.

Countries all around the world are thinking

about what their energy futures will look like,

and a lot of the current conversation on the

transition is being driven by aspirations. While

aspirations can give you a sense of what the end

goal may look like, they can’t give you a

roadmap of how to reach it. For something as

complex as the energy transition, a transition

that will touch so many facets of people’s

everyday lives, you need data to help guide you.

Here in the United States, we already have more

than a decade’s worth of evidence showing that

displacing coal in the power sector with a

combination of low-cost natural gas and

increasingly affordable renewable energy is a

winning recipe for rapid and significant

emissions reductions.

It is this trend that has helped the United States

lead the world in emissions reductions over

roughly the last 10 years and it represents

exactly the sort of ‘quick win’ the world needs to

get on a lower emissions trajectory and reduce

the risks of climate change.

Going forward, accelerated deployment of both

wind and solar will certainly play a major role in

driving additional emissions reductions, but

even here, it’s important to emphasize the

essential role natural gas plays in balancing

generation from these variable renewable

energy sources.

40


AMERICAN PETROLEUM INTERVIEW

Similarly, for LNG importing countries, we’re

looking at how coal-to-gas switching in their

power generation and industrial sectors can

reduce their GHG emissions. For example, we

are working on completing life-cycle analyses

(LCA) that take into account emissions across

the whole value chain—from wellhead to

burner tip. We released our GHG emissions LCA

for LNG exports in the power generation sector

last July.

One of the main findings was that using U.S.

LNG rather than coal for electricity generation

produces on average 50.5% fewer GHG

emissions in importing countries ranging from

China, Germany, and India.

We just completed a soon-to-be-released

follow-up report covering the LCA for LNG use

in the industrial sector, and the findings

indicate that coal-to-gas switching in China,

India, and Vietnam could reduce GHG

emissions by 26.5% on average.

This is an important finding given that the

International Energy Agency and many other

entities project that a very sizable percentage

of total global gas demand growth over the

next decade or so will be driven by industrial

demand in India and other Asian markets.

OGR: As an industry expert, what is the

pathway for a successful energy transition?

Meyer: I think there are two important points

to keep in mind. First, there will not be a onesize-fits-all

path for countries to take. Every

country has different considerations to take

into account. For example, what are their

natural resource endowments? Are they

energy importers or exporters? How rapidly is

their economy growing? What’s the state of

energy infrastructure in the country? These

questions and others will influence which

strategy any given country selects in pursuing a

lower-carbon energy future.

Second, while there is no single pathway, it

seems clear that an open-minded, all-of-theabove

approach is going to be particularly

helpful, especially in developing future

technologies that can help drive even deeper

emissions reductions.

One example is carbon capture, utilization, and

storage (CCUS). We see CCUS as a critical

technology that ensures the energy transition

will benefit from the reliability and flexibility of

natural gas, especially as an enabler and

complement to rising variable renewable

energy generation.

Dustin Meyer, Vice President for Natural Gas

Market, at American Petroleum Institute (API)

Hydrogen is another example--including

hydrogen made using natural gas in

combination with CCUS technology.

There’s so much good work and investment

going into these technologies, but we’re just

getting started and it’d be particularly

misguided to sideline any technology that will

help reduce emissions.

But to be clear, a lot of countries don’t

necessarily have the luxury to wait 5-10 years

for new carbon-free technologies to reach a

commercial scale. They need to meet rapidly

rising energy demand today.

So, I believe countries should look at all

available technologies and fuel sources that can

help them meet their emissions reductions

goals while also meeting demand, and I think in

a lot of instances, natural gas is going to be a

great choice to do so.

OGR: What are your opinions for developing

countries to unlocking their natural gas

resources as a viable source of clean energy?

Meyer: One of the biggest benefits that U.S.

LNG exports afford is increased energy security

for our trading partners, but certainly, energy

security can also come from countries

developing their resources.

Either way, in emerging economies, the future

role of natural gas goes far beyond the power

sector. It can play a major role in building out

industrial and manufacturing capacity, which of

course has tremendous economic and

employment benefits.

Increased access to natural gas can also help

reduce mortality from indoor air pollution,

which is estimated to cause 1.6 million

premature deaths worldwide each year

according to the WHO.

Already, the transition from cooking with

traditional biomass to natural gas has

significantly reduced air pollution in China,

India, Indonesia and several other countries. So,

whether the gas is imported or produced

domestically, the opportunity is significant.

OGR: What's your projections for the LNG

industry in 2021 going forward?

Meyer: The top trend to watch in 2021 will be

what happens with natural gas prices. Last

summer saw historically low prices and the

convergence of the major price indices for Asia,

Europe, and the U.S.

Then, at the very end of last year and in the first

weeks of this year, prices spiked to historically

high levels, the result of many factors including

a cold snap in large parts of Northeast Asia.

Since then, prices have of course moderated,

but they are still fairly robust.

This recovery in natural gas prices is significant

because, just a few months ago, those sceptical

of the long-term viability of the U.S. LNG

industry pointed to very low summer prices as

validation of their doubts—not just about LNG,

but about future demand for natural gas more

generally. But the tightening market has quickly

quieted that argument.

Going forward, robust prices could very well

lead to a re-emergence of contracting to

underpin the new export capacity that will

surely be required to meet rising long-term

demand and in fact, this coincides with a lot of

countries building out their gas import, storage,

and distribution infrastructure.

The combination of these two developments,

the recovery in gas prices and a re-emergence

of interest in contracting, could help push some

U.S. exporters that had delayed FID from 2020

over the line and in a position to make FID this

year, which would be great to see.

41


WOMEN IN ENERGY INTERVIEW

Dolapo Kukoyi

"With the Proper

Contractual, Supportive

Regulatory Framework,

Project like EGINA can

be Replicated" - Dolapo

Kukoyi, Partner, Detail

Solicitors

Oil and Gas Republic talks to Dolapo Kukoyi, Partner

at Detail Solicitors, regarding her exper se and legal

services in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. In this

interview, she outlined the key pillars of developing a

business model for energy infrastructure projects just

like the EGINA project where her company was the

legal adviser in nego a ng the $350 million Joint

Venture between LADOL FZE and Samsung.

OGR: Please briefly tell us about your

career background and work at Detail

Solicitors?

Dolapo: My name is Dolapo Kukoyi and my

background is in law specifically corporate

commercial law.

I also serve as the Legal Adviser of the

Nigerian Gas Association.

I am essentially a transactions lawyer who

does work in the Energy, Infrastructure and

Power sectors providing advisory on day to

day corporate commercial and regulatory

issues to mergers and acquisitions, project

development and project finance. I have

done this for over 16 years and have been a

Partner for over 9 years all at DETAIL.

DETAIL is distinct as Nigeria’s first

commercial solicitor firm to specialize

exclusively in non-court room practice.

DETAIL’s Energy, Infrastructure & Power

practice covers Oil & Gas, Infrastructure,

Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Power

and Gas to Power.

DETAIL has a vibrant Oil & Gas practice and

has developed in-depth and practical

knowledge of the sector, a full

understanding of the legal and regulatory

framework, as well as the rudiments of

optimal risk allocation in the sector. The

firm has advised on various leading and

innovative Oil & Gas transactions in

Nigeria. Awarded best PPP Law Firm,

Nigeria, 2013 by World Finance and highly

ranked for its Infrastructure practice in

IFLR1000, the firm has developed in-depth and

practical knowledge of PPPs and has a full

understanding of the legal and regulatory

framework for PPPs at the federal and state

government levels as well as the rudiments of

optimal risk allocation.

OGR: What's DETAIL recent progress to

increasing its business portfolio in the Nigerian

energy, oil, gas industry?

Dolapo: We advice a variety of clients across

the oil, gas and power space and it cuts across

clients in exploration and production, clients

exploring investing in existing oil and gas

exploration and producing entities and assests,

existing operational companies in the gas

supply and distribution space, oil and gas

logistics and oil and gas services space including

advising on investments in such entities as well

as advising financial institutions and lenders.

DETAIL as a firm is also keenly interested in

thought leadership in the sectors that we

function in and lending our voices as part of the

business and investment community to

ensuring reforms in the respective sectors. We

do this through publications, articles,

participating in industry events and

conferences and also playing relevant roles in

industry associations.

We are the Bidder’s Counsel for acquisition of

participating interest in OML 29 and Nembe

Creek Trunkline: We advised Aiteo Eastern E&P

Company Ltd in its successful bid process for

Shell’s OML 29.

Interview by: Ifeoma Ofole,


Crestar’s $453 million successful bid for

acquisition of Shell’s OML 25: We acted for

James Bay Energy Resources (a Canadian

quoted company) as majority consortium

participant in its bid for acquisition of OML 25.

We also acted for James Bay Energy Resources

in relation to African Finance Corporation’s bid

to acquire a participating interest in Shell’s OML

25.

Marginal Field Acquisition: We are the legal

adviser for Oryx Petroleum Limited, Geneva, in

its proposed acquisition of an interest in a

marginal field.

Development of a Liquified Petroleum Gas

(LPG) Storage Facility: We are advising Falcon

Corporation on the development of a 4,000MT

LPG storage facility and a jetty in Port Harcourt,

Rivers State.

Pre-Bid Support for Oil & Gas Asset Acquisition

and Financing: DETAIL advised RussellSmith, an

indigenous integrated oilfield services, on prebid

support services for the bid, financing,

development and operation of a marginal field.

We advised West African Gas Pipeline Company

on the Pipeline Right of Way Co-location

Agreement with a Telecoms Company.

Natural Gas Procurement: We advised

Honeywell Group Ltd on the procurement of

44


WOMEN IN ENERGY INTERVIEW

natural gas for its facilities in Cross River State.

Liquefied Natural Gas Sale and Purchase

Agreement: We advised LADOL FZE on

Liquefied Natural Gas Sale and Purchase

Agreement for its Gas to Power Plant under

development.

DETAILS is the Transaction Legal Advisers to the

Central Bank of Nigeria for the Nigeria

Electricity Market Stabilization Facility of $1.3

billion aimed at settling outstanding payments

due to market participants and service

providers and legacy gas debts owed to gas

suppliers.

We advising Lagos State Government on the

Light Up Lagos project to facilitate the delivery

of 3000MW to Lagos State through embedded

power generation and advised in drafting the

Lagos State Electric Power Sector Reform Law

(2018) as part of the Light Up Lagos project.

We advising LADOL Integrated Logistics on its

development of a 24-48MW Gas to Power

Plant for the distribution of power within the

LADOL Free Zone through an isolated urban

Off-Grid Independent Electricity Distribution

Network.

We advising Waltersmith Gas Company Ltd in

developing a 40-30MW Gas to Power Plant.

A d v i s i n g o n t h e p ro j e c t st r u c t u re ,

development and financing, preparing project

documents and liaising with relevant

government agencies.

EGINA Project Equity & Joint Venture

Structuring: We acted for LADOL FZE in

negotiating a $350 million JV with Samsung in

relation to Total’s first in-country fabrication

and integration of an FPSO for EGINA.

OGR: Do you see the success of DETAIL in

negotiating the EGINA FPSO's $350 million JV

between LADOL FZE and Samsung as a model

to be replicated elsewhere?

Dolapo: Most definitely. I think it shows that

with the proper contractual framework and

supportive regulatory framework in place,

projects like Egina can be replicated.

OGR: Regarding Detail's expertise in

Infrastructure & Public-Private Partnerships

(PPP) in Nigeria's major industries; What's

your perspective on developing a business

model to attract investment in energy

infrastructure projects in the country?

Dolapo: Energy Infrastructure Projects by their

nature are capital intensive and require long

term funding. They would therefore require

certain key pillars for business models to work

in the context of PPPs and they include:

3Having well structured projects and project

developers with a track record and proper

corporate structure.

Dolapo Kukoyi, Partner Detail Solicitors

3Credible off takers or buyers of the product or

service

3Cost reflective tarriffs or pricing framework

that ensure a reasonable return on investment

3Contractual framework that is resilient,

ensures proper risk allocation and mitigation

3On the part of government a clear and an

enabling legal and regulatory environment that

provides some ease and support for doing

business for investors.

OGR: What's the key factors hindering the

signing of Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) on

projects in Nigeria's energy sector?

Dolapo: I would say the opposite of some of the

issues raised above and a few more as listed

below:

3A lack of well structured projects and project

developers with a track record and proper

corporate structure

3Lack of credible offtakers or buyers of the

product or service

3A lack of cost reflective tarriffs or pricing

framework that ensure a reasonable return on

investment.

3A lack of a contractual framework that is

resilient, ensures proper risk allocation and

mitigation

3An unclear and an uncertain legal and

regulatory environment that provides some

ease and support for doing business for

investors.

3Inability to repatriate and convert foreign

capital (foreign exchange risk)

3Country risk which include more recently and

more apparent security risks .

Whilst some of the risks mentioned could be

within the control of investors. Investors would

be hesitant to reach final investment decisions

when they are risks that are out of their control.

Key principle for risk allocation is that parties

should be allocated risks that they are best able

to bear otherwise it affects the viability and

economics of the project.

OGR: What's your opinion on providing a one

time solution to the issues?

Dolapo: I don’t think there are actually one

time solutions to these issues. Whilst some

need to be resolved on the private side, some

need to be resolved by government. Both sides

need to make concerted efforts to do what they

need to do to ensure that the issues are

resolved, the regulatory and legal environment

is more investor friendly, project developers

need to pay more attention to developing

better structured projects so they can attract

the funding required. Advisers on the legal,

technical and financial aspects also need to do

their part to improve on deal flow, innovation

and risk mitigation on these projects. Funders

and Investors also need to be more flexible and

innovative. Most importantly all stakeholders

must continue to engage.

OGR: How has been your recent engagement

in renewable energy development across

Nigeria?

Dolapo: Its been very interesting. We have

worked with different players in the renewable

energy space from project developers like Cross

Boundary, Renewvia, Empower, Daystar who

are doing a lot in the Renewable Off grid and

mini grid space, to development financial

instituitions like the GIZ under their Nigeria

Energy Support Program who we have done a

lot with in the renewables space for mini grids,

to embedded generation to franchising.

We also work with FCDO under its Africa Clean

Energy Technical Assistance Facility supporting

states on Off grid solar.

Personally, I have served on the board of the

Renewable Energy Access Network (REAN)

Advisory Board and currently serve on the

Advisory Board of Kowry Energy a subsidiary of

Rolls Royce providing services to project

developers across Africa.

A lot of these engagements are impactful for us

and our clients as they help with increasing

access to energy across the country (Nigeria),

states and communities. The challenges still

remain some of the issues around having

sustainable business models in the energy

sector as discussed above.

OGR: Are you involved in any project on Energy

Transition?

Dolapo: I serve on the Sustainability

Commission of the Nigeria Economic Summit

Group where i lead the Thematic Group on

Climate Change, NDCs and Green Economy.

A lot of our engagements described above are

in the journey to energy transition. We are also

advising on gas projects which we think is the

fuel of the future in this part of the world.

45


PHOTO STORIES

Managing Director, Ansett Nigeria Ltd, Mrs Edith Akwaeke receiving her Women

in Energy, Oil and Gas (WEOG) Shero Award of Excellence

DPR Visits Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) member companies

at the SPE NAICE 2021 held in Eko Hotel, Lagos - Nigeria

WOMEN IN ENERGY

Team SIMO Emerged Winner of ‘Big Idea Energy Challenge’

at SPE NAICE 2021

Team SIMO emerged

winner of "Big Idea Energy

Challenge" during the

Young Professionals

Workshop at the SPE NAICE

2021.

The theme of the challenge

was 'Energy and the

Challenge of

Sustainability".

Participants of the

challenge were required to

send in video entries

explaining its sustainability

ideas.

Team SIMO's innovative

idea was titled:

"Empowering Host

Communities by Reducing

Gas Flaring".

The top 3 ideas were

selected to make

presentation at the SPE's

Young Professionals event.

Team SIMO was shortlisted

among the top 3.

Based on the votes count

from the particpants, Team

SIMO got the highest votes

and was emerged as the

winner at SPE NAICE 2021.

Congrats Team SIMO!

Team SIMO and SPE Nigeria Council Chairman at the SPE NAICE 2021 - Eko Hotel, Lagos

47


WOMEN IN ENERGY

Shell Boost Support for Women in Energy, Appoints Elohor

Aiboni as First Female MD for SNEPCO

Shell, a British-Dutch multinational

oil and gas, has announced the

appointment of Mrs Elohor Aiboni,

as its first Managing Director (MD) of its

Nigeria deep-water business, Shell Nigeria

Exploration and Production Company

Limited (SNEPCO).

By Genevieve Aningo

Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, the Media

Relations Manager, Shell Petroleum

Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC),

made this known in a statement, made

known to Oil and Gas Republic.

The development is coming on the heels of

t h e o i l a n d g a s f i r m ’s r e c e n t

announcement that it was divesting from

its onshore and shallow waters operations

to concentrate on deep offshore business.

Odugbesan said that Elohor was the first

female to lead the Shell exploration

company in the more than six decades of

Shell’s operations in Nigeria.

She succeeds Bayo Ojulari, who retired on

July 31, after five years as SNEPCo’s MD,

having served the Shell group for more

than 30 years.

Until her new appointment, Aiboni was the

Bonga Asset Manager responsible for

overseeing end-to-end production

delivery for Nigeria’s pioneer deep-water

Floating Production, Storage and

Offloading (FPSO) vessel, Bonga, which

had produced over 900 million barrels of

oil since the beginning of its operations in

2005.

in production operations; project and asset

management; operations readiness and

assurance.

“She was at a time the Business Adviser to the

Executive Vice President for Shell Sub-Saharan

Africa, and had also managed third-party

interface across several Shell assets in Nigeria

and Kazakhstan.

“Prior to her role as Bonga Asset Manager,

Elohor led production delivery for shallow

offshore as Asset Manager for Sea Eagle FPSO in

Nigeria’s Niger Delta.

“Elohor holds a master’s degree in Integrated

Environmental Management from the

MANAGING DIRECTOR

SHELL NIGERIA EXPLORATION

AND PRODUCTION

COMPANY (SNEPCO)

University of Bath, UK, and a bachelor’s degree in

Chemical Engineering from the University of Benin,

Nigeria.

“She is passionate about developing talent and

leads a diverse team that strives to simplify work

processes and pursue continuous improvements.

“Her leadership of the Bonga team had seen the

asset receive numerous awards, including the CEO

HSSE Awards, Upstream Impact Award, and the

Asset of the Year Runner up in 2019, in the Shell

Group,” Odugbesan said.

Her interests include watching football, lawn tennis,

listening to soothing music and travelling.

“Elohor’s appointment is a product of

diligence, competence and commitment

to the Shell ideals and core values, amidst

our strong focus on diversity and inclusion.

“We take pride in our intention of being

one of the most diverse and inclusive

organisations in the world, and focus on

further improving inclusion and

representation in critical areas, including

gender,” the statement quoted Marno de

Jong, Shell’s Senior Vice President for

Nigeria as saying.

Odugbesan also said that Elohor now joins

over 300 women in senior leadership

positions in the Shell Group, representing

more than 31 per cent of the company’s

executive positions.

“Her 19-year career in Shell has seen her

move from a field engineer to several roles

SAIPEC Women in Energy Programme Drives

Africa's Gender Equality

T

he Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum

Exhibition and Conference, SAIPEC, Women in

Energy Programme are pushing for gender

equality in the African energy, oil, gas industry.

SAIPEC is the region's largest oil and gas event, hosted

by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria.

The event features over 80 industry leaders and global

experts on an insightful programme which was held

alongside the sold-out exhibition with over 111

companies showcasing their products and services and

generating meetings with thousands of invested

industry professionals.

According to the report, women in energy represents a

minimal role in the African energy, oil, gas industry,

accounting for just 21% of the overall workforce in the

sector.

In a report, World Economic Forum (WEF)

highlighted that women continue to remain

underrepresented among STEM graduates, where

the global gender gap stands at 47% with 30% of

male students graduating from STEM subjects in

contrast to only 16% of female students.

SAIPEC 2022 aims to harness these challenges and

position women at the forefront of the Sub-Saharan

Africa energy development agenda. SAIPEC will be

bringing together industry speakers from both the

government and private sector and will drive

discussion on increasing women’s participation by

pointing out the major issues surrounding gender

equality.

SAIPEC’s Women in Industry provides a unique

platform for some of the finest minds of the oil and

gas industry to convene and connect and put

forward solutions towards building a diverse and

inclusive oil and gas industry.

48 21


SNEPCO’s ‘DIGITAL TWIN’: A Structural

Model For FPSO Digitalisation, Local Cotent

Opportunities in Nigeria’s Deepwater Operation

A

digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical object, assets,

process or service. The digital twin technology can be used to replicate

processes to collect data to predict how they will perform. This concept

was originated from NASA in an attempt to improve the physical model

simulation of spacecraft in 2010.

According to Wikipedia analysis, Digital twins were anticipated by David

Gelernter's 1991 book known as 'Mirror Worlds'. It is widely acknowledged in

both industry and academic publications that Michael Grieves of the Florida

Institute of Technology first applied the digital twin concept in manufacturing.

The concept and model of the digital twin were publicly introduced in 2002 by

Grieves, then of the University of Michigan, at a Society of Manufacturing

Engineers conference in Troy, Michigan. Grieves proposed the digital twin as

the conceptual model underlying product lifecycle management (PLM).


Facts about SNEPCO’s Bonga FPSO

Ø Bonga is Nigeria’s first deep-water project.

Ø It created the first generation of Nigerian oil

and gas engineers

Ø It increased Nigeria’s oil capacity by 10%.

Going forward, the offshore energy industry has embraced the digital twin

technology to enhance efficiency and safety, reduce maintenance and

operating costs, and support asset life extension. Industry experts have said

that the 'Digital Twin' allows operators to obtain greater insights to improve

inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR).

This article focuses on the deployment of digital twin technology at the Shell

Nigeria Exploration and Production Company’s (SNEPCO) Bonga floating,

production, storage, offloading (FPSO) vessel which is leading the way to

digitalising Nigeria's deepwater operation; highlighting the local content

opportunities this could provide to indigenous service companies who are

offering engineering and technological solutions in the Nigerian oil and gas

industry.

The Bonga project, which began producing oil and gas in 2005, was Nigeria’s

first deep-water development project. The Bonga project helped create the

first generation of Nigerian oil and gas engineers with deep water experience

and stimulated the growth of major industries.

The project increased Nigeria’s oil capacity by 10% when output began in 2005.

Oil from the Bonga North West sub-sea facilities is transported by a new

undersea pipeline to the existing Bonga floating production, storage and

offloading (FPSO) export facility.

49

Ø Bonga FPSO can produce 225,000 barrels of

oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas

per day.

Ø During the COVID-19 pandemic, Akselos

deployed a structural digital twin on the Bonga

FPSO to enhance production.

Ø SNEPCO’s digital twin is leading the way to

digitalising Nigeria’s deepwater operation.

Ø Akselos digital twin for SNEPCO has been

selected as one of the most promising World

Economic Forum Technology Pioneers 2020.

Ø SNEPCO is keen to support indigenous

companies to develop a ‘Made in Nigeria

Digital Twin’


TOP STORY

SNEPCO expanded the project with further

drilling of wells in Bonga Phases 2 and 3 and

through a subsea tie-back that unlocked the

nearby Bonga North West field in August 2014.

Bonga Phase 3 achieved its first oil in October

2015. The Bonga FPSO can produce 225,000

barrels of oil and 150 million standard cubic

feet of gas per day.

In March 2017, SNEPCO commenced the 4th

turnaround maintenance on the Bonga FPSO.

Production from the field was shut down and

resumed the following month.

The company explained that the maintenance

exercise help ensure sustained production and

reduced unscheduled production deferments.

The maintenance involves inspections,

recertification, testing and repair of equipment

as well as engineering upgrades with Nigerian

companies and subsea professionals playing

key roles.

Interestingly, some of the features of an FPSO

digital twin technology includes inspection

capabilities, digital analytics and modelling to

enable monitoring of the asset’s hull structure

during operation without having to rely on

costly routine inspections. DIGITAL TWIN

SAVES COST!

Based on our findings, a digital twin for FPSO is

a virtual replica of the physical FPSO that detect

technical problems, provides and analyze

fatigue in the hull of the FPSO to optimize the

vessel’s structural safety and support riskbased

inspection (RBI).

In a report, DNV GL, a Norwegian company

specialised in assurance and risk management,

has affirmed that the digital twin can be used in

real-time to monitor the FPSO’s condition,

identify and monitor high-risk locations, and

plan cost-efficient maintenance and inspection

accordingly.

A new report shows that the digital twin

technology uses numerical design models and

data from actively recorded strain gauge

sensors onboard the vessel that is said to

provide a full understanding of the

accumulative loading and current state of the

physical FPSO structure.

Francois-Xavier Sireta, technical lead for naval

architecture and principal engineer, DNV GL –

Oil & Gas, said:

“Digital twin can potentially

save millions by avoiding

the costly and possibly

catastrophic repercussions

of ill-informed integrity

management by preempting

and preventing

detrimental damage.

50

SNEPCO’s Digital Twin FPSO

Francois-Xavier

Sireta

“For an asset operating in a harsh environment,

where the loads play an important part in the

possible degradations…, using data from the

site as a basis for optimized inspection

planning, alarms for extreme events, and asset

suitability for life extension is crucial.”

While some experts have said that digital twin

technology can cut offshore decommissioning

costs by 9 - 15%. They noted that it could save

operators millions of dollars on project costs for

platforms ranging from topsides and jacket

removal to subsea infrastructure, facilities ‘deenergizing,

operator costs, onshore recycling

and site remediation and monitoring among

others.

Another report shows that offshore facilities

with topsides of 10,000 - 40,000 metric tons can

benefit from the digital twin to cut

decommissioning costs, and FPSO operations

through to decommissioning phases.

As part of SNEPCO's commitment to enhance

production in the Bonga oil field, the company

deployed a structural digital twin on the Bonga

FPSO in September 2020, during the COVID-19

pandemic.

The digital twin was designed and developed by

Akselos, a Swiss company and creator of the

world’s most advanced engineering simulation

technology, who also provides an engineering

simulation platform based on reduced-basis

finite-element analysis.

The platform is used to create digital twins of

energy infrastructures to improve their design,

maintenance, reliability and lifetime.

Akselos had successfully deployed the Digital

Twin for Shell’s Bonga Main FPSO, located

120km Southwest of the Niger Delta in Nigeria.

The Digital Twin is a physics-based model of the

asset, which represents its entire physical

counterpart in absolute detail and accuracy.

The model is updated with loading conditions

and inspection data regularly, providing the

ability to carry out structural assessments

based on the ‘as is’ condition, from anywhere

and at any time.

The structural Digital Twin, which is based on

Akselos’ patented RB-FEA technology, was

selected by Shell Nigeria Exploration and

Production Company (SNEPCo), Shell’s

deepwater company in Nigeria, because of its

unique ability to realise several operational

objectives. These include the identification of

critical areas for prioritised inspection,

maintenance and repair; a reduction in

personnel onboard the asset; reduced

necessity for physical inspections in hard-toreach

areas such as cargo tanks; and to support

scenario planning for extreme weather events

and asset modification.

The deployment of the breakthrough

simulation technology will also enable safe

asset life extension by replacing the overconservative

estimates made with conventional

s i m u l ation s o f t wa re , w i t h a c c u rate

assessments that reflect actual remaining

fatigue life.

Osagie Okunbor, Country Chair of Shell

Companies in Nigeria commented, "It was a

year when COVID-19 ravaged the global

economy and changed all our lives. I’m proud of

the contribution Shell Companies in Nigeria


DEVELOPED BY:

TOP STORY

were able to make. I am immensely proud of

the Shell Companies in Nigeria. The

contribution we make to this country is

outstanding. Not only in terms of the tax

revenue we generate for the nation but also in

terms of what we are achieving when it comes

to developing gas and increasing access to

energy for Nigerians.

Elohor Aiboni, Managing Director for SNEPCO,

said,

“The Bonga Main FPSO

heralded several innovative

‘firsts’ when it was built

back in 2004, so it’s fitting

that it’s the first asset of its

kind to deploy something

as advanced as a structural

Digital Twin.

We are very excited about the new capabilities

that Akselos brings and believe it will create a

positive impact on the way we manage

structural integrity. It is also a great example of

digitalisation coming to life.

“Our operational availability is on track. Our

safety record is good and we’re in control of

costs. We’ve got to ensure that our operational

availability remains high and that we stay

efficient and safe.

“The magic starts when you empower people.

My teams know the asset better than anyone,

so we ask them to speak up. We train across

multiple disciplines and use digital tools to

improve productivity. We keep safe by creating

‘family units’ that look after each other and

celebrate success.

“The Bonga field is prolific and we see a future.

It’s professionally satisfying to know that we

have the technology to get through our drilling

campaigns and our cost journey. With the right

investment climate, there could be more oil

and gas discoveries and the potential to expand

and create jobs and opportunities for people.

“We are very excited about the new

capabilities that akselos brings and believe it

will create a positive impact on the way we

manage structural integrity. akselos is a great

example of digitalisation coming to life".

Dr David Knezevic, CTO and Co-Founder of

Akselos said: “We are very proud to have

reached this important milestone, which

represents many months of complex

engineering work between SNEPCo and

Akselos.

“To have the opportunity to deploy our

breakthrough technology on a 300,000-tonne

asset is the kind of technical challenge that

“

Akselos was founded to solve.

Dr David Knezevic

I’d like to thank the

SNEPCo team and the

wider team within Shell

for sharing our vision and

for their commitment to

digital transformation.”

The Bonga Main FPSO, which became

operational in 2004, has a capacity of 225,000

barrels per day and weighs over 300,000

tonnes, making it the largest asset in the world

to be protected by a structural Digital Twin.

Shell has been working with Akselos since its

technology scouts were introduced to the

company as a start-up, as part of the MIT

Industrial Liaison programme in 2015. Since

then, the integrated energy company has

supported Akselos’ technology deployment on

many of its assets and become a minority

shareholder through its venture capital arm

Shell Ventures. The partnership has played an

important role in Akselos’ development to

become an international scale-up operating

across the energy sector.

SNEPCO's Bonga FPSO is becoming the largest

asset in the world to be protected by a

structural Digital Twin.

Elohor Aiboni, Managing Director

for SNEPCO

The SNEPCO's digital twin, developed by

Akselos, has gained recognition at the World

Economic Forum following Akselos innovative

approach to developing such technology that is

shaping the global energy industry. Akselos has

been listed among hundreds of companies as

one of the World Economic Forum’s

“Technology Pioneers”.

The World Economic Forum selected Akselos as

one of the most promising Technology Pioneers

of 2020, who are shaping major industries

including the energy sector among others.

Akselos, the creator of the world’s most

advanced engineering simulation technology,

the Digital Twin, made it to the selection for its

contributions to the energy industry.

Akselos’ Thomas Leurent said, “It’s very

humbling to be acknowledged as a technology

pioneer by the World Economic Forum. It’s an

accolade that confirms our technology is a

gamechanger, and that it can be used with great

purpose – to accelerate the energy transition.

Using breakthrough algorithms licenced from

MIT, our software will help make sure the next

generation of renewable energy assets are

designed and deployed at the speed and scale

required for the energy transition, as well as

being economically sustainable. We look

forward to working with fellow pioneers and

contributing to the Forum’s critical

conversations.”

Local Content Opportunities:

The SNEPCO digital twin stands as an

opportunity for indigenous companies to come

up with an innovative concept to develop a

replica of 'Made in Nigeria Digital Twin'

technology that will enhance deepwater

operation more efficiently - which is already

making a positive impact in the global offshore

energy industry.

At the fifth edition of the Sub-Saharan African


Conference (SAIPEC) 2021, SNEPCO showcased

the digital twin technology at the event, which

is now enhancing the company's operation on

51


TOP STORY

the Bonga Floating production storage and

offloading (FPSO) vessel, offshore Nigeria.

In an exclusive interview at the sideline of

SAIPEC 2021, Bayo Ojulari, SNEPCO’s former

Managing Director, said the Digital Twin is a

new technology that can be used to virtually

identify critical areas for prioritised inspection,

maintenance and repair, reducing the need

and frequency on safety exposures associated

with physical inspections.

In his words, “SNEPCO's 'Digital Twin' is the

headline at SAIPEC.

Bayo Ojulari

“

There is a quick win to get

a Nigerian company to do

another digital twin for

SNEPCo, to open

opportunities. It is key if

we support a company to

build capabilities around

digital twin".

Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN) has been a

pioneer to SAIPEC since the inception of the

event in 2017. SCiN has been contributing to

the development of the Nigerian business

sector by contracting local companies.

So far, SNEPCO has awarded major engineering

and construction contracts to indigenous

companies, have local staff, or possess

domestic capabilities in the country. These

companies were involved in the installation of

new production manifolds, subsea umbilical

systems, oil production and water injection

flowlines.

Take the Bonga FPSO, for example. During the

COVID-19 lockdown, it wasn’t possible to send

equipment overseas for maintenance and yet a

crucial compressor required an overhaul.

SNEPCO said, “We identified a local company

and we worked with them. We got it done and

we will continue to build local capacity as much

as possible.”

Adam Bradley, Bonga South West Aparo

Manager noted, “There is a much stronger

ambition now to build Nigerian capability.

“

Shell Photostory at SAIPEC

Adam Bradley

Creating investment

stability with enabling

terms and lease

extension will spark a

renaissance for the

Nigerian deep-water

oil and gas industry.

“We need to continue having rational,

professional discussions with the government,

stakeholders about developing local

businesses. The more projects we get, the

better it is for developing capability. It’s like with

anything, the more you practice the better you

get. Contracting transparency and ethics is

essential.

“I’m optimistic. The talent, understanding and

eagerness to deliver a project like Bonga South

West Aparo are here. If we collectively get the

enablers right, it will bring back the activity and

growth beyond what we’ve previously seen in

Nigeria".

Engr Simbi Wabote

Taking an overview of the Nigerian oil and gas

industry milestones, the country is wellpositioned

to become West Africa FPSO Yard

due to the vast numbers of indeginous

capabilities and capacities such as engineering

and technology service providers, quay lengths

& capacity, draft, heavy load platform, concrete

yard for topsides and hull apportionment

laydown to handle FPSO construction among

others.

Till date, Shell Companies in Nigeria is creating

massive jobs by investing in large energy

projects, awarding contracts to Nigerian

businesses and employing, training and

empowering Nigerians across its businesses.

Shell is building talent, across all its business

port folio, especially, in natural gas and deepwater

exploration. The company strongly

believe that its investments will enrich many

areas of the country for the future.

SNEPCO is keen to support indigenous

companies to develop a digital twin technology

for its deepwater operation among others.

The Bonga project is operated by SNEPCo,

which holds a 55% stake. The other project

partners are Esso Exploration & Production

Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited (20%), Total E&P

Nigeria Limited (12.5%) and Nigerian Agip

Exploration Limited (12.5%) under a Production

Sharing Contract with the Nigerian National

Petroleum Corporation.

Today, nearly one-third of Nigeria’s deep-water

production comes from the Bonga and Erha

fields.

52


TRANSFORMATIONAL DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLOGY

FOR BEST-IN-CLASS STRUCTURAL

INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT THROUGHOUT

ALL PHASES OF FPSO LIFECYCLE

www.akselos.com

CPV INTERVIEW

"We are Working on New Business Model for the Recovery

of Venezuela's Economic Activities" - Reinaldo Quintero,

CPV's President

Oil and Gas Republic talks to Reinaldo

Quintero, President of the Venezuela

Chamber of Petroleum (CPV), on the

Chamber's action plan to Harnessing

Venezuela Hydrocarbon Resources for

Economic Transformation.

Quintero: No doubt we can move forward. We are

not starting from zero. After 105 years of

experience and the largest reserves on the planet, it

needed a social consensus towards the economy. It

is clear that politics are holding the development of

this new start, but I’m sure we will solve it if we

include the stakeholders and the best interests of

our society.

Interview by: Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme

OGR: Please tell us about yourself?

Quintero: I am a materials engineer with a

master's degree in mechanical engineering

and more than 37 years of experience in

the oil and gas industry. I started my

professional career in Ferrum, where I

worked in several managing positions. In

1993, I funded Argos, dedicated to

technical services in physical assets

m a n a g e m e n t , g e o m a t i c s ,

telecommunications and process

automation.

I have developed projects for PDVSA Gas,

PDVSA E&P, and several Joint Ventures. I

have also worked in the petrochemical

complex Ana Maria Campos and Morón,

and in Edelca Guri. As well as in all the local

refineries in Venezuela and the ones

located in Aruba and Curazao.

Through my company, I have developed

projects financed by multilateral

organizations.

In the gremial area, in 2010, I became

President of the Chapter Carabobo of the

Cámara Petrolera de Venezuela. Later I

joined the National Board of Directors,

where I practised as Director and Vice

President.

Since 2018, I am the President of the

organization. In 2020, I was re-elected for a

second period.

OGR: Following years of crisis in

Venezuela, what steps should be taken to

improve the country's business

environment?

Quintero: The first steps to improve the

business environment in the country

would include rebuilding confidence and

credibility. It is also important to think out

of the political box, so the economy can be

the priority. This can be achieved if we

reach a consensus towards the priorities of

the economic needs of the country.

Reinaldo Quintero, President of the Venezuelan

Chamber of Petroleum

OGR: Over the years, Venezuela has had the

largest oil reserves in the world of about 304

billion barrels - accounting for 17.5% of global

hydrocarbon resources. What role is the

Venezuelan Chamber of Petroleum playing

towards harnessing these resources for

economic transformation?

Quintero: For the last 3 years, we have been

presenting proposals to the public sector and

the nation, through a portfolio with projects

and alternative business models, to work along

the whole hydrocarbons value chain, under a

competitive approach and in a transparent

environment.

Those projects have been prioritized according

to the need of increasing the oil output to our

historical average of 1.5 million barrels per day.

Aiming the 3 million goals in the close future (3

to 5 years).

Our proposal also included midstream and

downstream projects, such as the recovery of

the refining capacity to its 40% and some of the

petrochemical processes, like the production of

fertilizers, and plastics raw materials.

To develop this plan, it is necessary to recover

the gas supply. Therefore, we will need to stop

flaring the gas, mainly in North Monagas and

Maracaibo Lake, and enforce the existing gas

licenses with the key players.

Our role is to promote and develop the

conditions to activate the huge base of

resources we have as a nation and move

forward with the implementation of the

existing projects.

OGR: Are you optimistic about the future of

the Venezuelan energy sector despite recent

declines in oil production?

The latest opportunities are focused on the opening

to new business models with the private sector as

key players.

OGR: What's the strength and capacities of the

CPV in the international market?

Quintero: We have a strong experience and

accumulated substantial capabilities developed

during the 105 years of the industry in Venezuela

and the 43 years as a Chamber.

Most of our associates have developed careers and

projects around the world, including not only the

region but North America, Asia, Africa, Middle East

and Europe.

OGR: What has the CPV achieved over the past

years?

Quintero: From the beginning of the industry, we

have played a key role as national content along

with the public sector (PDVSA), working and

building the infrastructure and creating through our

products and services the local resources to sustain

all the processes of the industry, not only as physical

assets but also with human resources.

We have 383 companies affiliated with the

Venezuelan Chamber of Petroleum that work in the

following sub-sectors: manufacturers, suppliers,

construction, engineering and integrated services,

technical and technological services, operators,

well services and associated services.

As the organization that groups the private

companies of the oil sector in Venezuela, We have

been working on new business models to achieve

the recovery of our main economic activity and the

progress of our country.

54


Africa Oil Corp

SPE NAICE 2021:

TotalEnergies

Announces New

Investment Focus

for its Energy

Transition

Strategies

Mike Sangster, Managing Director

TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria Ltd

TotalEnergies, a broad energy

company, has announced a new

investment focus for its Energy

Transition action plan to lead the global

energy sector towards affordable and clean

energy.

The Managing Director TotalEnergies

Exploration and Production, Nigeria Limited,

Mike Sangster, made this known while

speaking at the 2021 SPE NAICE, in Lagos.

Sangster’s speech which was delivered by

the TotalEnergies, Deputy Managing

Director, Deepwater, Mr Victor Bandele, said

that the company’s production, marketing

and sales will be evolving, and by 2030 gas

will take 50 per cent in the production

process with oil, biofuels accounting for 35

per cent, 15 per cent of electricity, mostly

renewable energy.

He said the decade (2020-2030) will be a

decade of change for TotalEnergies as it

transforms into a broad energy company.

"By 2050, the mix will be 40 per cent

renewable power, 40 per cent gas and 20 per

cent liquid products, said Sangster.

“We have a broad and diversified portfolio in

Nigeria, with operations in the upstream,

midstream, and downstream sectors of the


“Our activities span onshore, conventional

offshore, deep water, LNG and in the

downstream, we operate over 577 service

stations across the nation. We are, indeed,

committed to a lasting partnership with

Nigeria.” Sangster added.

He described the SPE conference as an

annual event for the oil and gas industry in

N i g e r i a , a tt ra c t i n g i n d u stry l e a d e rs ,

policymakers, researchers, investors, and many

others.

He added, "One of the key benefits of the

conference is the opportunity it gives us to come

together as professionals and actors in our

industry to network, share experiences,

perspectives and concerns about the oil and gas

sector.

"It is also a forum to share and learn from

stakeholders in our industry. It is, therefore, an

honour for us to be one of the sponsors of this

very important conference and exhibition.

"The COVID-19 pandemic which hit the world in

2020 has redefined a lot of parameters as we have

always known them.

"The pandemic has proved that our people could

work remotely and still achieve set targets and

has also exposed the fragility of the public health

infrastructure of countries all over the world, he

added

Sangster spoke on the need for the industry to

address environmental issues as the relationship

between climate change and public health is clear

enough. “That is why our industry must address

the concerns over our contribution to climate

change.

“The production and use of energy contribute to

greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, meeting

the climate challenge will mean embarking on

energy transition, i.e. transforming the way we

produce and use energy.

"TotalEnergies believes that climate change is a

reality and requires the collective mobilisation of

society.

He said the 2015 Paris Agreement generated a


groundswell of awareness of the climate

emergency and the target recommended by the

experts is a carbon-neutral society by 2050. “This

is a demanding goal that we must all, collectively,

commit to,” he said.

Since 2015, Sangster said that TotalEnergies has

steered a determined course to new energies, in

line with its ambition to provide energy that is

reliable, affordable, and clean.

“This means that the future of energy is changing

and, if we must remain relevant in the energy

market of the future, then we must continue to

adapt. Together with society, we are adapting to a

world-class player in the energy transition with a

target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” he

said.

He also noted that TotalEnergies is committed to

aligning with the National aspirations for

maximising existing energies and evolutions that

are necessary for the coming years.

He also spoke about global oil market innovation

which he said is anticipated to fuel the engine of

the energy transition. “We are a service industry

which must adopt the principles of strategic

customer relationship management in meeting

the energy needs of our world sustainably.

“There is no other industry better positioned than

ours to lead the crusade to clean energy and

carbon neutrality. We have the technology; we

have the capability; we have the people. We must

use all these to achieve the market innovation

which strikes a balance between meeting the

energy needs of a growing world population and

meeting same in a sustainable, carbon-neutral

manner without degrading the public health

situation of our people.” Sangster stated.

56


INDUSTRY NEWS

TotalEnergies Acquires the Largest Electric Vehicle

Charge Points Network in Singapore

transition. We will do our intended best to make

it a showcase of our expertise in this field.”

TotalEnergies has signed with

Bolloré Group for the acquisition of

‘Blue Charge’. Upon the approval of

the relevant authorities, TotalEnergies will

manage and operate the largest electric

vehicle charging network in Singapore,

with more than 1,500 charge points

installed in the city-state.

This urban charging network represents

around 85% of the charge points currently

under operation in Singapore, accessible

to electric vehicles’ owners as well as to the

carsharing solution BlueSG.

This network has been developed with the

Land Transport Authority of Singapore

(LTA) and with other partners from both

public and private sectors. Local growth

perspectives for electric mobility are

powered by the ambition of Singapore to

massively develop the charging infrastructure

as part of its Green Plan 2030, which includes a

target to reach 60,000 charge points by the end

of the decade.

“With this acquisition, TotalEnergies is pursuing

its transformation and adds a new name on the

list of global cities, such as Paris, Amsterdam,

London and Brussels, where the Company is

already developing its EV charge points

installing and operating activities. We are

committed to provide the customer experience

and services in line with our future users’

expectations.” declared Alexis Vovk, President

Marketing & Services at TotalEnergies. “This

urban charging network is also a key initiative

for TotalEnergies in Asia-Pacific, a region where

the development of electric mobility is a major

challenge, deeply linked to the energy

Commenting on the announcement, Ting Wee

Liang, President of TotalEnergies Asia Pacific &

Middle East - Marketing & Services, based in

Singapore, added: “TotalEnergies is excited to

enter the Singapore market to contribute

towards the development of cleaner and

reliable mobility solutions in the country.

Today’s announcement also signals our

ambition to actively participate in the

Singapore Green Plan, to forge key partnerships

and to accelerate developments in the region,

using Singapore as a strategic launchpad.”

Present in Singapore for almost 40 years with

around 600 staff, TotalEnergies has activities

ranging from regional headquarters,

manufacturing, and research & development.

Business divisions represented include

Exploration & Production, Gas Renewables &

Power, Marketing & Services (including the

Company’s largest lubricants plant and the

global headquarters of TotalEnergies Marine

Fuels, located in Singapore) and Trading &

Shipping. Singapore also houses a Research &

Development centre of Hutchinson and Saft

batteries’ activities.

TotalEnergies is a broad energy company that

produces and markets energies on a global

scale: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green

gases, renewables and electricity.

TotalEnergies Takes FID For Phase 4 of Mero Project Offshore Brazil

TotalEnergies and its partners have

taken the investment decision for the

fourth phase of the Mero project (Libra

block), located deep offshore, 180 kilometers

off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, in the prolific

pre-salt area of the Santos Basin.

The Mero 4 Floating Production Storage and

Offloading (FPSO) unit will have a liquid

treatment capacity of 180,000 barrels per day

and is expected to start up by 2025. It follows

investment decisions for Mero 1 (startup

expected in 2022), Mero 2 (startup expected in

2023) and Mero 3 (startup expected in 2024)

FPSOs. All of them have a liquid processing

capacity of 180,000 barrels per day.

"The decision to launch Mero 4 marks the last

milestone in the large-scale development of the

Mero oil resources. This giant project is in line

with TotalEnergies' growth strategy in Brazil

which is to produce oil at a competitive cost out

of world class fields while limiting CO₂

emissions to a strict minimum", said Arnaud

Breuillac, President Exploration & Production at

TotalEnergies.

The Mero field has been in pre-production since

2017 with the 50,000-barrel-per-day Pioneiro

de Libra FPSO. The Libra Consortium is operated

by Petrobras (40%) as part of an international

partnership including TotalEnergies (20%), Shell

Brasil (20%), CNOOC Limited (10%) and CNPC

(10%). Pre-Sal Petróleo (PPSA) manages the

Libra Production Sharing Contract.

TotalEnergies has been present in Brazil for over

40 years and has more than 3,000 employees in

the country. The Company operates in all

segments at the country: exploration and

production, gas, renewable energies,

lubricants, chemicals, and distribution.

TotalEnergies Exploration and Production’s

portfolio currently includes 12 blocks. In 2020,

the Group’s production in the country averaged

35,000 barrels of oil per day. In October 2019, a

consortium led by TotalEnergies was awarded

Block C-M-541, located in the Campos Basin, in

the 16th Bidding Round held by Brazil’s National

Petroleum Agency (ANP) and the first

exploration drilling is expected to begin in late

2021.

57 22

OIL AND OIL AND GAS GAS REPUBLIC REPUBLIC I SPECIAL I SPECIAL EDITION EDITION

INDUSTRY NEWS

Equinor Develops Three Pillars Towards Clean Energy

and Carbon Neutrality


Equinor, a Norwegian broad energy

company, has developed three

pillars as part of its strategies

towards clean energy and carbon

neutrality. The company disclosed that its

main objectives is utilising natural

resources to become energy for people

and progress of the society.

Speaking at the virtual Energy Advance -

Africa Energy Series, organised by Global

Event Partners, Christel Kvalvik, Managing

Director of Equinor Nigeria Limited, said

that the company is currently operating

more than 40 assets in the Norwegian

Continental Shelf with partner operated

assets in 20 countries.

As Energy Transition has become more

prominent over the years, she affirmed

that Equinor's ambition is to take the

leading position moving from fossil fuel

towards new forms of energy sources.

In her words, "Our goal is to achieve carbon

neutrality in our global operations by 2030

and become a net zero company by 2050.

"By 2030, we expect to direct more than

50% of our investment towards

renewables and low carbon solutions.

"By 2025, we expect this to be more than

30%. We believe that Energy Transition

might look different in Africa compared to

EU and US.

"We are focusing on three priorities which

are optimising our oil and gas port folio,

reducing emissions from current

operations. C02 emissions per barrel is

around 8 kilos and by 2030, we plan to

reduce it to 6 kilos of C02 per barrel.

"We will achieve this by upgrading our

portfolio focusing on abasement

measures.

Christel Kvalvik, Managing Director,

Equinor Nigeria Limited

These range from electrification of some of our

assets mostly on the Norwegian continental

shelf and it will be done by power cables from

land, offshore wind turbines.

"We are also looking at integrated onshore base

support centres that will be guarding

production and emissions. And, we will be

developing various digital tools to acheive this.

"We are working very closely with government,

suppliers and industry to achieve this goal.

"In logistics, we have a very close collaboration

with the maritime and green shipping. We are

working closely to developing new fuel system

such as hydrogen, anmonia and biofuels.

"The second pillar is high value growth in

renewables which also reflected on our

investment plan.

"Equinor aims to be among the top global

leader in offshore wind. Our ambitions is

installing 12-16 GW renewable energy capacity

by 2030.

“We will build a profitable business within

renewables and wind as we are looking to

increase returns of offshore wind through

regional sysnergies, project financing, strategic

farm down.

"We will upscale our project and improve our

technical capabilities as well as our energy

trading.

"The final pillar in our strategy is new market

opportunities in low carbon solutions. Low

carbon value chains are critical if you want to

decarbonise the global economy and we will

actively contribute to make sure this market

gains leadership position in the European

carbon capture storage. Our goal is to have a

market share of 25%".

Internationally, Equinor is recognised by

universal access to affordable energy and clean

energy. In Africa, Equinor has been operating in

Angola, Nigeria and Tanzania for many decades

with the ambition to continue developing and

explore new technologies for safety, creating

value and reduce emissions from its

productions.

For gas development in Africa, Christel said that

there is need for a strong collaboration

between the industry and government.

She explained, "Gas could play a significant role

in energy transition in Africa but we need to

take into consideration that Gas is more

complicated than oil.

"Additionally, gas is used differently in the

different part of the world which means we

need to communicate clearly on how we can

utilise natural gas.

"To ensure that natural gas is part of Africa's

energy transition, Equinor will bring all our

knowledge and expertise in deepwater gas

development to the continent.

"Gas flaring is also an area where we want to

tackle and eventually eliminate it. This is an

ambition that we share with all of our partners".

58


INDUSTRY NEWS

Huawei’s LTE Technology Takes Centre Stage in

Global Oilfield Operation By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme

LTE integrates technology, information, people,

process, and organisation, enabling real-time

video, voice, and data across production

departments.

Huawei 4G LTE, a revolutionary solution,

enables transmission that features wider

coverage and higher bandwidth.

Now, the physical world is integrated and

connected to the LTE network for real-time

monitoring, control, and analysis.

The oil and gas industry is facing

great changes and challenges.

Innovative ICT plays a vital role in

digital transformation in the oil and gas

industry.

Huawei is committed to becoming the best

partner and one-stop ICT solutions

provider for digital transformation for the


In the energy industry, Huawei is serving

the first 14 top global oil and gas

companies. Huawei works on projects in 45

countries and participates in constructing

digital pipelines of over 38,000 km.

In central Asia, Huawei is the only industry

digital solution pipeline provider with

c o m m u n i c a t i o n a n d S C A DA E P C

capabilities.

Huawei delivered the Kazakhstan - China

natural gas pipeline project with a total

length of over 13,000 kilometers. The

Kazakhstan - China natural gas pipeline is

one of the longest natural gas transmission

pipeline in the world.

In Norway, Huawei's offshore platform LTE

wireless coverage solution enables voice

communication, production data backhaul

in wireless services covering 37 kilometers

sea area around the offshore platform.

In Saudi Arabia, Huawei utilizes the espace

UC system to help Saudi Aramco to

smoothly evolve from the TDM system to

the all - IP multimedia communication

system.

In China, Huawei customises three data

centers in two cities core network

solutions for CNPC, deploys a total of 322

data centre core switches

CE 12800 and constructs the largest enterprise

cloud data center in Asia pacific.

Jaquin Reyes, Vallejo, Ompania Espanola de

Petroleos S.A.U, CIO said: "Huawei was able to

deliver immediately all the infrastructure we

were needing and to cope with all difficulties in

this project.

"Apart from that of course, Technical excellence

and being able to support high solidification for

SAP was an important issue”

Huawei becomes the top IT product provider for

Sinopec. The company's high-end storage

devices and servers are bulk applied in multiple

Sinopec core systems such as X86 cloud, ERP,

MES, and mail systems.

Secure and clean energy has always been the

appeal of human civilisation optimized

production resources configuration and

efficient energy supply will be the direction we

need to concentrate our efforts.

Huawei Digital Oilfield IOT Solution

The world heavily relies on oil and gas. Oil

companies will continue to explore more oil and

gas for more years. Oil companies worldwide

are continously expanding oil wells for more

yields.

Yet production, operations and management

are challenging in desert oil fields. The priority is

to improve remote connectivitity, which also

helps reduce costs with more efficient

operations.

Long Term Evolution (LTE), an emerging wireless

technology, that helps oil fields enhance safety,

efficiency, and collaboration. SCADA, security

monitoring, leak and hazardous gas detection,

and other key services are centrally carried on

LTE.

Huawei LTE solution best suits multiple

scenarios and helps manage oil field production

systems in the control center, which provides

survelliance, remote control, and optimisation.

Once the camera detects suspicious activities in

the restricted area, appropriate actions will be

taken promptly. If there is an Hydrogen leak in a

well during routine inspection, both the

installed and portable hazardous gas detectors

detect H2S concentration. The portable

detector vibrates with an audible alert.

Simultaneously, monitors the remote control

centre, display abnormal production

parameters and locations of the intrusion

including leak and inspection workers.

Then, the supervisor will ask the inspection

worker to leave immediately. The inspection

worker replies and leaves quickly.

Meanwhile, security and asset managers

coordinate nearby personnel to investigate the

leak and intrusion and perform maintenance

and troubleshooting accordingly.

Real time information about production

parameters and intruder's location are

displayed. The security personnel take actions

immediately to stop the intruder. In the control

center, the supervisor keeps tracking progress

and coordinating resources to make better

decisions. The maintenance personnel fix the

leak which is recorded in real time.

The recorded video is transmitted back to the

control center for obtaining efficient support

and therefore reducing the downtime.

Huawei LTE helps oil companies step into a new

era. The whole oil fields assets are managed,

coordinated and streamlined in new ways

based on LTE.

Huawei helps drive production by minimizing

losses and maximizing production in a more

efficient and secure way all possible on an

integrated LTE network platform.

59


INDUSTRY NEWS

Natural Gas a Vector of Energy Transition - GECF

T

he Gas Exporting Countries Forum

(GECF) supports the intention of

the EU to consider gas as a

sustainable source of energy under the

new green labelling system, the Secretary-

General of the association of 19 leading

gas-exporting countries has said.

Speaking as a keynote at the 8th Session of

the Group of Experts on Gas of UNECE

(United Nations Economic Commission for

Europe), HE Yury Sentyurin said the Forum

hopes that the European Parliament and

the EU Member States will support the

sustainability rating of natural gas when

they are due to discuss this next month.

“GECF believes that all UNECE member

States should recognise the use of gas,

especially in cases where the gas

technology replaces higher-emitting

power sources and can cut emissions,” said

HE Sentyurin.

The UNECE’s Group of Experts on Gas is a

high-level policy consultation body to

empower and inform the work of UNECE

Committee on Sustainable Energy. At

present, UNECE boasts 56 member States

in Europe, North America and Asia,

including Russia and the U.S. – two

members that are expected to provide it

with up to 70% of gas production by 2050.

Citing the latest available figures available

from the GECF Global Gas Outlook 2050,

the Secretary General noted that natural

gas supply in the UNECE region will

increase at an annual average growth rate

of 0.8%, representing an overall increase of

29%, climbing from 2,320 billion cubic

metres (bcm) in 2019 to around 3,000 bcm

in 2050.

“The UNECE region will be responsible for

18% of the total gas demand growth

through to 2050. Despite ambitious

decarbonisation targets in many UNECE

members, natural gas will retain a critical

role in region’s energy mix, being the most

resilient hydrocarbon resource,” added HE

Sentyurin.

Whilst the 8th edition of the Group of

Experts on Gas was held in the backdrop of

COVID-19, the session noted that the

UNECE region is falling short of its

commitments and objectives on

sustainable energy. The Group of Experts

concluded that its key contribution to

achieving these objectives could be in two

areas: (a) deep transformation of the

energy system; and (b) reducing the

environmental impact of energy.

Natural gas, it was asserted, should begin to be

seen as beyond a fuel, and as a vector of energy

transition including, notably, hydrogen and biogas.

This catalytic potential of gas was highlighted by

other distinguished global gas executives who

had gathered to tackle the gas-powered post-

COVID-19 recovery as a step towards a

decarbonised world. The UNECE’s focus of

attention this year in the context of Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) is air quality and

health.

Francisco de la Flor Garcia, Chair of the Group of

Experts on Gas thanked GECF and International

Gas Union (IGU) for sharing case studies and

best practices on the role of gas in improving

urban air quality.

“A (UN) General Assembly resolution adopted

on 21 Dec 2020 recognised the key role that

natural gas plays in many countries and calls

upon governments to enhance energy security

through sharing of best practices in security of

gas supply and demand. I interpret this

resolution as a clear mandate for our continued

work,” said Mr Garcia.

Delivering the statement, the IGU President Joe

M. Kang noted: “Continued calls for only

electrical pathways to Paris (Agreement)

targets is a setup for failure on both Paris and

the Sustainable Development Goals. The

International Gas Union believes an achievable

transition is one that delivers clean, secure and

affordable energy, using electrons and natural

gas and hydrogen molecules.”

The Group’s mandate is a long-term, holistic

exploration of the role of gas in attaining SDGs.

Evy Maffini

In addition to its central theme – SDG7 (Access to

affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy

for all), in every two-year cycle the Group focuses

on a subset of SDGs. In 2022-2023 the Group of

Experts will take a deeper look at SDG3 (health),

SDG 9 (Industry and Innovation) and SDG 11

(sustainable cities).

Other areas that came under discussion were best

practices in methane management in the gas

sector, decarbonisation through synergies between

gas and electricity, hydrogen, sustainable

production and consumption of gas and liquefied

natural gas, and gas in transport.

At the end of the session, the Group recommended

that reducing pollution levels and improving air

quality will be tied to factors such as:

3Improved access to natural gas supply

3Improved monitoring and remediation of

methane losses

3Upgrade of bus fleets with natural gas-powered

buses

3Cleaning marine transport by developing LNG

bunkering in city harbours

The GECF is a regular contributor to the discussions

of the UNECE Group of Experts on Gas. Most

recently, it also took part in the 1st Steering

Committee of a UNECE project “Improving

capacities of UNECE member States to decarbonise

the transport sector by increasing the use of natural

gas as a motor fuel”.

60


INDUSTRY NEWS

European Investment Bank Signs Advisory Agreement

with Hydrogen Europe

The European Investment Bank (EIB)

and Hydrogen Europe, an umbrella

association representing European

industry, research, and national and

regional associations in the hydrogen and

fuel cell sector, has signed an agreement

for consultancy services.

Under the agreement, the EU bank will

provide financing advisory support for

hydrogen projects introduced by Hydrogen

Europe. Furthermore, it will cooperate on

market development initiatives and

conduct joint market outreach. Finally, the

agreement will help to develop dedicated

EIB financing products for green hydrogen.

Hydrogen technology can play a crucial

role in achieving a carbon neutral EU

economy by 2050. The current share of

hydrogen in Europe’s energy mix is less

than 2%, but it could rise to 14% by midcentury.

The European Hydrogen Strategy,

which is part of the European Green Deal,

aims to enable widespread use of

hydrogen by 2050.

According to the strategy, green hydrogen

will be produced on a systemically relevant

s c a l e b e t w e e n 2 0 3 0 a n d 2 0 5 0 .

Consequently, investments in renewable

or low-carbon hydrogen will need to

increase. The strategy anticipates that

between €180 and €470 billion will be

required for production capacities in the

European Union by 2050.

Alongside the European Commission,

Hydrogen Europe is one of the three

participants of the European Joint

Undertaking on Hydrogen, a public-private

partnership working to facilitate the

market introduction of clean hydrogen

technologies in Europe.

“Green hydrogen presents an opportunity

to decarbonise industrial processes,

particularly in sectors where emission

reduction is urgent but difficult to

achieve,” said EIB President Werner Hoyer.

“Many European countries are actively

supporting the development of hydrogen

technologies. One of the main strengths of

the European Investment Bank is that it

combines advisory and technical support

in the initial phases of a project with

attractive forms of financing later on. This

model is perfect for the development and

deployment of new breakthrough

technologies, including those based on the use

of hydrogen.”

Obtaining green, zero-emission hydrogen is

very costly. In the EU context, the European

Investment Bank is a key funding partner. Over

the past eight years, the EU bank has provided

over €2 billion in advisory and financial support

to projects that use hydrogen technologies.

Projects that focus on scaling up deployment in

the transport sector by supporting new

hydrogen fleets and related infrastructure have

also received funding.

With its expertise and track record in financing

innovative technologies and infrastructure —

notably offshore wind and batteries — the EIB is

well placed to support the development of the

hydrogen ecosystem in Europe.

Currently, the Bank supports technologies such

as electrolysers, catalysts and fuel cells. It also

finances large-scale hydrogen production,

including electrolysis, carbon capture and

storage and hydrogen stations.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the longterm

lending institution of the European Union

owned by its Member States. The Bank provides

long-term financial support for sound

investments, thus contributing to the

achievement of EU policy goals.

Hydrogen

There are various types of hydrogen,

categorised by production process and the

resulting greenhouse gas emissions. Clean

hydrogen (“renewable hydrogen” or “green

hydrogen”) is produced by the electrolysis of

water using electricity from renewable sources

and does not emit any greenhouse gases during

its production. It is distinct from grey hydrogen,

which is produced from methane and releases

greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and blue

hydrogen, which captures those emissions and

stores them underground to prevent them from

causing climate change.

In 2019 the EIB Board of Directors approved a new

set of ambitious targets for climate action and

environmental sustainability. The EIB Group

Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 will guide our

ambition. It is the result of various rounds of

engagement with civil society and other

stakeholders.

The Roadmap outlines our bold ambitions for

climate finance to back the European Green Deal

and make Europe carbon-neutral. It maps the next

stages in the journey to sustainable investment and

provides a framework to counter climate change

and protect the environment during the critical

decade ahead.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the lending

arm of the European Union. It is the biggest

multilateral financial institution in the world and

one of the largest providers of climate finance. EIB

lend to clients of all sizes to support sustainable

growth and job creation.

EIB provide guarantees covering the risks of large

and small projects. We also provide loan portfolios

to make your projects more attractive to other

investors.

61 21


INDUSTRY NEWS

Shell LiveWIRE Beneficiaries Receive N48 million Grant to

Set up Business

Social Performance and Social

Investment Manager, The Shell

Petroleum Development Company

of Nigeria Limited, Dr. Gloria Udoh

(middle), presents a N48 million cheque to

representatives of the 117 beneficiaries of

the Shell Nigeria LiveWIRE programme at a

graduation ceremony in Port Harcourt… on

Friday

Social Performance and Social Investment

M a n a g e r, T h e S h e l l P e t r o l e u m

Development Company of Nigeria Limited,

Dr. Gloria Udoh presented a N48 million

cheque to representatives of the 117

beneficiaries of the Shell Nigeria LiveWIRE

programme at a graduation ceremony held

in Port Harcourt over the weekend

117 young entrepreneurs from the Niger

Delta have graduated from the Shell

Nigeria LiveWIRE programme and have

been awarded this money as a grant to

either establish or expand their

businesses.

This brings to 7,913 the total number of

beneficiaries of the youth enterprise

development programme since inception

in 2003.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony,

Shell’s Country Head of Corporate

Relations, Igo Weli, restated the

commitment of SPDC to the development

of Niger Delta youths and providing them

alternative livelihood opportunities

t h r o u g h L i v e W I R E a n d o t h e r

empowerment programmes in the wider

social investment portfolio of the

company.

Weli said, “This is one opportunity to set

you on the path of self-reliance and to be

employers of labour as we have seen with

previous beneficiaries of the programme

many of whom are now employers with

several others having also taken up the

opportunity to play in SPDC’s supply chain

as vendors.”

Explaining the criteria for the selection of

the beneficiaries from across the Niger

Delta, Dr. Udoh, said the selection was

from a pool of graduates from university or

its equivalent who have credible business

ideas and were able to produce a business

plan.

“The 117 beneficiaries were selected from

a large pool of participants who went

through the entrepreneurship training; wrote

their business plans and successfully pitched

their business ideas. The expectation is that

they will be able to successfully establish or

expand their businesses and also enjoy the

many linkage opportunities offered by SPDC,”

Udoh said.

Previous beneficiaries, who now run successful

businesses, also inspired the graduates with

their own stories towards success. Yolo

Bakumor Smith, the Chief Executive Officer of

De-Rabacon Plastics, described the training as

priceless. “It was instrumental to using the

limited resources to improvise and

implementing a plan that has led me to still

making profit.”

Executive Director, Centre for Information and

Development, Mrs. Belema Ogbuigwe,

inducted the new graduates into the Shell

LiveWire Alumni group, which further enables

the young entrepreneurs to enjoy mentorship

from previous beneficiaries.

In the last 10 years, five Shell Nigeria LiveWIRE

beneficiaries have won the LiveWIRE

International “Go and Trade Enterprise Linkage

Award” which enabled them to make

international trade visits to the United

Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Ghana.

LiveWIRE beneficiaries are also able to join

thousands of young entrepreneurs from all over

the world who compete for the Global Shell

LiveWIRE Top Ten Innovators Award which

comes with huge benefits and rewards.

Shell LiveWIRE Nigeria is the flagship of our

youth enterprise development programmes.

The initiative was launched in Nigeria on March

27, 2003, to provide access to entrepreneurship

training, business development services as well as

business start-up capital for youth-owned

businesses. The programme also provides

opportunity for beneficiaries to access fund from

financial institutions. To date, 6,580 youths have

been trained and 3373 have received business

start-up grants. Most of whom are now employers

of labour.

The objectives for the LiveWIRE Programme in

Nigeria are to;

3Provide intensive entrepreneurship training

3Raise business awareness amongst final year

university students to encourage them to see

starting a business as a valid career option.

3Support youths to discover and develop business

'ideas' through Bright Ideas workshops.

3Make available to youths, business planning and

management guidelines and skills through the

‘Become A Successful Owner Manager Course’

(BSOM).

3Provide business start-up grant for candidates

with the best business plan

3Run awards for best business plans, of which the

prize gives access to micro-credit facilities, through

third parties like banks, NGOs and allied financial

institutions.

3Support young entrepreneurs to formalise their

businesses

3Run an award for young people who have

sustained a business for 1 to 3 years and continue

the award on an annual basis.

3Provide a volunteer mentoring programme for

those who have completed the training course and

decide to pursue starting their own business.

3Mentors can be drawn from oil and gas, banking,

social voluntary sectors, etc.

3Provide opportunity for young people to

participate in global award programmes

3Provides automatic membership of LiveWIRE

alumni

62 21


INDUSTRY NEWS

Investors Proposes $500m for Gas Pipeline in Nigeria - DPR

Investors have proposed to spend

over $500m in building gas pipelines

and other facilities in Nigeria

following the implementation of the

Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code

that was launched last year, the Department

of Petroleum Resources has said.

The Director and Chief Executive Officer,

DPR, Mr Sarki Auwalu, said this on Tuesday

at a media briefing on the occasion of the

first anniversary of operationalising the

network code in the country.

He said through the implementation of the

network code, the DPR was able to improve

the much-needed market alignment

between critical demand points for gas and

available supply opportunities.

Auwalu said, “To grow the Nigerian

economy with the Nigerian Gas Master Plan,

there is a need to stimulate the multiplier

effects of gas in the domestic market.”

He said the agency had so far issued 12

shipper (off-taker) licences, with three

licences under processing; one transporter

licence; and three agent licences.

Hon. Tom Alweendo, Namibia’s Minister of Mines and Energy

Nigeria Targets 50 Billion-Barrel Oil

Reserves, says DPR

According to him, the NGTNC ensures nondiscriminatory

access to the pipeline

system, and guarantees secure, available,

reliable and safe gas transmission system.

He said the network code had improved

investors’ confidence in the evolving

domestic gas market.

He said, “Confidence of investors across the

domestic gas value chain has shown a

positive trend through specific requests for

regulator’s support for gas supply to the

tune of over 500 mmscf/d and for

investments of over $500m.

“NC investment areas that the DPR has

received proposals on include power

generation, ammonia for fertiliser,

methanol plant, domestic LNG, virtual

pipeline systems, new gas hubs, and

establishment of a Nigerian Gas Trading

Exchange.”

Auwalu said the agency would in this second

year revise the network code with all

relevant stakeholders’ feedback, adding

that it would extend the code to cover

distribution systems.

The target of the Federal

Government i s to i n c re a s e

Nigeria’s oil reserves from 36.91

billion barrels to 50 billion barrels in the

short to medium term, the Department

of Petroleum Resources announced.

Director/Chief Executive, DPR, Sarki

Auwalu, announced this during a

workshop with industry partners

recently.

He also disclosed that the regulator

would inaugurate annual awards for

companies, projects or individuals who

add value to the Nigerian oil sector

through enhanced recovery of the

country’s oil and gas resources.

Auwalu in a statement issued by the Head

of Public Affairs, DPR, Paul OSU, said the

Improved Oil Recovery/Enhanced Oil

Recovery Awards were part of deliberate

engagements with industry partners to

achieve maximum economic recovery

strategies for Nigeria.

Auwalu noted that the Federal Government,

through the MER strategies, was also

targeting to increase Nigeria’s proven gas

reserves from 206.53 trillion cubic feet to

250TCF.

According to him, companies, individuals,

fields, research institutions and technologies

were eligible for the IOR/EOR awards.

He said the industry initiative was one of the

outcomes of the work of the National Oil and

Gas Excellence Centre, Lagos inaugurated in

January by the President Muhammadu

Buhari.

63


INDUSTRY NEWS

Chevron Reposition its Top Management Executives

Chevron Corporation has strengthened

its business prospect on hydrogen,

carbon capture, biofuels among others.

As part of the company's effort to reposition its

business portfolio towards clean energy,

Chevron has appointed Jeff Gustavson as

President, Chevron New Energies, effective

August 2, 2021. Gustavson will serve as a

corporate officer and report to Chevron

Chairman and CEO Michael Wirth.

Gustavson, 49, will lead a new, dedicated

organization focused on low carbon business

prospects that have the potential to scale.

Chevron New Energies’ initial focus will include

commercialization opportunities in hydrogen,

carbon capture, and offsets and support of

ongoing growth in biofuels. Additional detail

about these efforts will be provided on

September 14th during the company’s Energy

Transition Spotlight investor presentation.

“Chevron New Energies reflects our higher

returns, lower carbon strategy,” said Wirth.

“We believe the dedication of resources in a

new organization will accelerate growth in

multiple business lines that we expect to be

part of a lower carbon energy system.”

Gustavson is currently vice president of

Chevron North America Exploration &

Production Company and oversees its Mid-

Continent Business Unit. He previously served

as president of Chevron Canada Limited, and

has held positions in Investor Relations,

Corporate Strategic Planning, Finance,

Mergers & Acquisitions, and Supply & Trading.

Michael Wirth, Chief Executive Officer,

Chevron Corporation

Jeff Gustavson, President, Chevron New Energies

Ryder Booth, Vice President, Chevron North

America Exploration & Production Company

In a separate appointment, Ryder Booth, 52,

has been named Vice president of Chevron

North America Exploration & Production

Company, leading the Mid-Continent Business

Unit and succeeding Gustavson.

Both, currently Vice President, Capital Projects,

will be responsible for a large resource base of

oil and liquids-rich assets in the mid-continent

United States, including Chevron’s significant

Permian assets in Texas and New Mexico. His

appointment is effective August 2, 2021.

Chevron is one of the world’s leading integrated

energy companies. We believe affordable,

reliable and ever-cleaner energy is essential to

achieving a more prosperous and sustainable

world.

Chevron produces crude oil and natural gas;

manufactures transportation fuels, lubricants,

petrochemicals and additives; and develops

technologies that enhance our business and the

industry.

To advance a lower-carbon future, we are

focused on cost efficiently lowering our carbon

intensity, increasing renewables and offsets in

support of our business, and investing in lowcarbon

technologies that enable commercial

solutions.

64


INDUSTRY NEWS

Forth Develops World-First Oil Pipeline Robotics, Seeks

Investor to Bring Prototype into Commercial Stage

AN EXCITING opportunity has become

available to help bring to market

world pioneering robotics to repair

oil pipelines from a safe, remote distance

without the need to stop production.

A team led by engineering firm Forth has

worked for the past two-and-a-half years on

the creation of FSWBot, an innovative

friction stir welding robotic crawler devised

for internal repair and refurbishment of

pipelines, and they are now looking for

assistance to help bring the working

prototype to the commercial stage.

The FSWBot is being developed to travel

hundreds of miles down an oil pipeline to

scan for any defects in the structure, and

carry out subsequent repairs - all while oil

continues to flow. The robot is controlled

remotely by engineers at a safe distance

from the pipeline.

This process will remove the need for divers

to work on pipelines and for oil production

to be halted, therefore saving significant

time, money and, by removing humans from

hazardous environments, potentially saving

lives.

The FSWBot has innovative technology

which allows the robot to ‘walk’ to the exact

point of defect, place a milling patch in place

and then weld the problem area.

Forth has produced a concept model of the

FSWBot and successfully demonstrated the

prototype to a consortium of partners at its

headquarters in Cumbria in July. The

Innovate UK-backed project has also been

supported by partners TWI, Joining 4.0

Innovation Centre (J4IC, a partnership

between TWI and Lancaster University),

Innvotek and London South Bank University

(LSBU).

Now that the pilot system has been

demonstrated successfully, Forth is seeking

further partners for full commercial deployment

of the equipment.

Chris Downham, programme manager at Forth,

said: “An exciting opportunity to bring such a

pioneering piece of kit to the commercial stage

now exists, and we’re keen to hear from anyone

who may be interested in helping us get to the

final stage.

“Our team has worked tirelessly to design and

construct the prototype, and we are extremely

proud of how well the new technology works.

“In order to improve on the working prototype

and assist with the commissioning process, we

would like to work with partners who would be

interested in helping develop such innovative

technology.

“This technology is a world-first piece of

equipment and it will have a major, positive

impact on the oil and gas industry, ensuring oil

pipeline repairs are carried out more safely,

quicker and without restricting production.

“It is a great opportunity for partners to be

involved in something which will change the way

the industry works across the world.”

The FSWBot integrates several state-of-the-art

technologies, including friction stir welding,

milling, patch deployment and ultrasonic NDT,

onto a robotic system which can be deployed to

conduct repairs on pipelines without the need for

the pipeline to be closed down for the duration of

the repair.

Friction stir welding is a solid state welding

process which generates enough frictional heat

to soften or plasticise the metal without melting

it, allowing metal components to be forged at the

joint line.

The FSWBot will be a five or six-segment PIG type

which will be inserted at the production end of

the pipeline and will flow with the oil to a predesignated

area, where it will stop and perform

the repair work.

One segment will carry the FSW machine and a

steel patch dispenser, with other segments

carrying the navigation, control system,

c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , N D T a n d p o w e r

storage/generation payloads.

An FSWBot2 is also under consideration for

multipurpose repairs and inspections. This

innovation would be a very different robot but

would build on the learning from the initial

development. It would be able to inspect and

repair fatigue and corrosion in offshore assets as

well as other subsea infrastructure and

applications in other industries. It will be able to

climb and walk and will be deployed from a

system which has the ability to lock onto a

structure.

Founded more than 20 years ago, Forth

specialises in providing engineering solutions

across all sectors and provides management of oil

and gas and subsea industries to nuclear

standards.

The company is able to test its prototypes at its

main base in Cumbria which also boasts a

bespoke Deep Recovery Facility which, at 22.5

metres long and six metres deep allowing it to

hold 1.2 million litres of water, is one of the largest

wet test facilities in the UK. This facility allows the

company to test underwater technology and

innovations.

Forth can be contacted at:

01900 816000

Website: www.forth.uk.com

65


INDUSTRY NEWS

Schneider Electric, others Reiterate the Need for

Deployment of Technologies to Ensure Energy Security

Schneider Electric has reiterated the need

for deployment of technologies to

ensure energy security and sustainable

development in Nigeria.

General Manager Sub-Saharan Africa for

Schneider Electric Process Automation, Mr.

Ajibola Akindele, stated this at the 2021 Society

of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nigeria Annual

International Conference and Exhibition (NAICE),

with the theme: “The Future of Energy – A Trilogy

of Determinants: Climate Change, Public Health,

and the Global Oil Market", which held in Lagos.

Speaking on a panel on “Energy Security and

Sustainable Development in Nigeria”, Akindele

noted that energy security is about availability,

accessibility and affordability, adding that it is

also about meeting today's challenges without

negating the requirement for tomorrow.

According to him, energy security is the life-blood

of a country’s economy; but he bemoaned the

general lack of energy efficiency in Nigeria –

getting energy to the right place at the right time.

This, he said is where technologies come in.

He averred that technology is an enabler and not

an end itself, noting that the use of technology

helps in good decision-making, transparency,

increased production, and cost reduction.

Akindele also noted that there are several

technologies available today, which can help

players in the oil and gas industry to make better

decisions, ensure transparency, increase energy

production and reduce cost.

He listed predictive analytics, digital twins, IoT,

3D printing, robotics, machine learning,

blockchain, big data and drones deployment as

some of the technologies that will continue to

matter in the future with

respect to operations in the oil and gas industry.

“All of those technologies are coming upstream

and we are going to see more and more of those

technologies. What do they do? Essentially, when

you look at Internet of Things (IoT), Machine

Learning, blockchain and Big Data, they help you

with better decision-making, transparency – so

that ultimately you can out-produce more energy

at a cheaper price. You are making it more

affordable, hence it becomes more accessible and

more available,” he said.

He also listed some of the challenges that may

affect the Oil and Gas companies from adopting

these technologies as costs, lack of infrastructure

backbone and exposure to cyber-attacks.

However, he stated that all of these challenges

can be successfully mitigated and overcome.

Mr. Ajibola Akindele

On the challenge of upfront costs, he suggested

that these technology services can be provided on

a subscription model thereby reducing upfront

costs.

He also stated that cyber-attacks while becoming

increasingly common, can be mitigated by

applying the appropriate technology solutions

and constantly educating employees on the

threat of cyber-attacks and ensuring vigilance

within the organisation.

Akindele concluded by stating that “the use of

technology has a big role to play in ensuring

energy security and sustainable development in

Nigeria”. He urged organisations to embrace the

use of digital technologies where possible for

operational efficiency improvements.

Sonangol Extends Farm-down Bid Rounds to September 2021

Sonangol hereby informs the general public that, due to companies increased interest in

Sonangol’s farm-down bid process, the access to the virtual Data Showrooms sessions was

extended to August 20th, 2021.

The national oil company also informs that, as a result, the deadline for proposals

submission was extended until September 20th, 2021.

For any additional question inherent to the process, the interested parties should

contact the Evaluation Committee created for this purpose by e-mail,

alienacaoblocospp@sonangol.co.ao

66


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