The Oil & Gas Year Strategic Roundtable, Nigeria 2016

Nigeria

The Oil & Gas Year hosted its strategic roundtable discussion to engender solutions to Nigeria’s power deficit on July 22. The theme was Low Oil: Fuelling Change, as in these challenging economic times, Nigeria needs power solutions now more than ever before to stay in the position of Africa’s top economy.

Panellists discussed the challenges and opportunities related to the continued development of the gas to power value chain. With representatives from gas producers, power generation companies, power distribution companies, and the country’s national oil company, the event served as a unique platform for industry leaders to engage in dissecting infrastructural, funding, and policy issues and the way forward on one of the most relevant topics to Nigeria: power.

Country director for The Oil & Gas Year Nigeria 2016 Brindusa Negrea opened the event discussing the significance of the gathering, “Power is the heart and lifeblood of any economy. With the low oil price, we are here to discuss how we here in Nigeria can fuel change and bring uninterrupted power to Nigerians.”

The importance of the economic implications was emphasised by Dr. Lazarus Angbazo of GE Nigeria, “Our power problem in Nigeria is growing exponentially. We are hurting the Nigerian economy and will fall behind in our attempts to become a top 20 economy.”

Many solutions were proffered by the panellists on the issue. David Ige of GasInvest reckoned it is imperative to “focus on the projects we already have in the works, reach the pockets of stranded gas in country, and create liquidity in the market to bring in investment.”

Oando chief strategy officer Ayo Ajose-Adeogun mentioned the need for a top-down approach. “The CBN, financial institutions, the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources need to put together targeted fiscal and regulatory incentives for potential investors.”

The roundtable will be printed in The Oil & Gas Year Nigeria 2016 edition as well as posted on The Oil and Gas Year’s YouTube channel and will feature the comments and views shared by the participants throughout the event.

The event was held in partnership with the federal government of Nigeria, the Department of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board and indigenous upstream operator Oando, and was sponsored by Amni International and Weatherford Nigeria.