By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, has said that the Nigerian oil and gas industry is growing steadily across several fronts despite reduced investments as a result of the global quest for cleaner energy and divestments of some onshore and shallow assets by a few International Oil Companies (IOCs).
Wabote gave the assessment while delivering the keynote address at the 3rd Biennial International Conference on Hydrocarbon Science and Technology, which was organized by the Petroleum Training Institute, (PTI) in Abuja on Monday, with the theme “The Future of the Oil and Gas Industry: Opportunities, Challenges, and Development.”
The NCDMB Boss identified the industry’s positive trends to include the growth of oil reserves, gas production, gas utilization, local refining, and skills acquisition, noting that they “portend great opportunities for the future of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.”
He suggested that the manifestation of these trends and projections could lead to Nigeria achieving zero crude oil export and becoming a gas-powered economy, which translates to the socio-economic development of the nation.
According to him, achieving zero crude oil export would mean that Nigeria fully refines all the oil produced from its fields and exports excess refined products, noting that the impact on in-country value addition will be massive on the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Wabote expressed optimism that Nigeria would meet the target given the various refining investments, such as the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) Dangote refinery, the BUA group refinery project, Waltersmith modular refinery, Duport Midstream refinery, OPAC Refinery, Edo Refinery, Aradel Holdings refinery, as well as the existing 445,000 bpd capacity from the Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt refineries.
He added that the realization of these projects would culminate in Nigeria achieving a combined refining capacity of approximately 1.5 million barrels per day by 2025.