Nigeria Set To Export Oil, Gas Manpower To African Countries
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu yesterday reiterated the prospects of Nigeria exporting human capacity in the oil and gas sector to other African countries.
Speaking at the ongoing Nigerian International Petroleum Summit, NIPS, in Abuja, Kachikwu said Nigeria has one of the best skill sets in the petroleum industry in the world and was looking at leveraging on this advantage to grow the African petroleum industry and promote collaboration.
“Our skill sets is unbelievable. Over 90 per cent of the oil majors’ workforce are Nigerians. This means that some of the best skill sets are here. One of the things I find going into the NNPC in 2015, was that every detail of capability that you need to run a global company sat in NNPC. They are well trained, very well exposed. We have issues in terms of policies, but in terms of skill sets, we are solid.
“Where better to begin to show skills than here. We are hoping that with the collaborative spirit we are beginning to build, we would be able to export some of these to Africa; sit down with some of those countries coming into oil production for the first time; get some of our local participants and investors to begin to get into those countries and begin to take opportunities of what their blocks offer.”
Also speaking, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board, NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, warned that if local content is not encouraged in the African petroleum industry, Europe and the rest of the world would in the next 20 years witnessed massive influx of people from Africa and its attendant crisis.
On his part, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, said an example of collaboration can be seen in Nigeria’s collaboration with Morocco to construct a gas pipeline that would traverse at least 15 West African countries and connect the existing Europe gas pipeline.
He said: “Nigeria is also targeting to take FID on LNG Train 7 this year. So African countries need to collaborate and trade among each other not only in terms of oil and gas but also in other key sectors so that the multiplier effect is seen across our various economies.”
In goodwill message, the country chair, Total in Nigeria/managing director, Total E&P Nigeria Limited, Nicolas Terraz, said NIPS, in its second year has shown considerable potential as a destination of choice for oil and gas policy articulation and evaluation.
Terraz who was represented by the Deputy Managing Director, (Deep Water), Engr” Ahmadu-Kida Musa, stated that the 2019 conference theme, Shaping the Future through Efficiency and Innovation- apposite. Our industry’s future is one which like other realities of life, is full of uncertainties.
SOURCE: oglinks.news
