Nigeria needs technology, monitoring, and accountability to boost its oil and gas production, according to Tony Elumelu

Nigeria needs technology innovation, monitoring, and accountability, according to billionaire industrialist Tony Elumelu, in order to expand the capacity of the oil and gas sector.

His involvement in the 2023 Annual Value Assurance Review (AVAR) session, which was hosted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited Upstream Investments Management Services (NUIMS), was recounted in a series of tweets he sent out on May 11 from his official Twitter account.

During the event, Elumelu highlighted the roles that the private sector can play in the development of local capacity for Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. Elumelu acknowledged the fact that Nigeria’s oil and gas sector’s performance can be improved. He said:

• “We know the current contribution of oil and gas to Nigeria’s economy today; however, I believe this can be improved upon by deliberate development and enhancement of local capacities at all streams of the hydrocarbon value chain.
• “I can attest to the fact that we are ready to contribute towards developing local capacities and driving investment in the sector once the right enabling environment for Nigerian businesses is put in place.

Current realities

Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), show that Nigeria’s crude oil production for April 2023 was 999,000 barrels per day, the lowest recorded since the beginning of the year.

Getting past the slowdown

During the NUIMS event earlier cited, Elumelu highlighted the need for Nigeria’s oil and gas sector to incorporate certain governance structures to enable higher private sector investments. He also spoke about technological advancements that could enable more growth in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. Elumelu said:

• “Governance is extremely important in the development of capacity. The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) objective is to ensure that the indigenous private sector succeeds. There must be clear governance structures that institutionalizes monitoring, feedback, and accountability of operators in the oil and gas sector.
• “Technology is key, we are in the fourth industrial revolution, advances in Data analytics and Artificial Intelligence are revolutionizing industries across the world and we must adopt them in our industry to build local capacity in the oil and gas sector.”

Meanwhile, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said the issues hampering the growth of Nigeria’s upstream sector, range from security to the reluctance of financial institutions to fund projects. Kyari said:

• “The crux of the industry is to make sure that the upstream works. We are facing a cash crunch in the country because the upstream has not been able to support the other sectors of the economy.”