From Segun Amure, (The New Diplomat’s Abuja Bureau)
The Nigerian government will on Thursday, 21 January inaugurate the National Oil and Gas Excellence Centre (NOGEC) in Lagos State.
In a statement released by the Head, Public Affairs, Department of Petroleum Resources, (DPR), Mr. Paul Osu affirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari will virtually inaugurate NOGEC in line with his administration objectives to boost the operations of the nation’s petroleum sector.
The Director of DPR, Mr Sarki Auwalu who gave the reason for the establishment of NOGEC said, “the centre will entrench Nigeria’s status as regional leader and position the nation for significant global impact in the provision value-added services and breakthrough solutions for the industry in years and decades to come,”
Furthermore, he asserted that the centre is positioned to drive the three-prong objectives of safety, value and cost efficiency which are critical for oil and gas industry stability, growth and sustainability.
Auwalu said the NOGEC complex was structured to house the various flagship centres in order to comprehensively cover key areas of the industry.
In addition, he said the flagship centres were Search, Rescue and Surveillance (SeRAS) Command and Control Centre and National improved Oil Recovery Centre (NIORC).
Others are Oil and Gas Dispute Resolution Centre (DRC) , Oil and Gas Competence Development Centre (CDC) and Integrated Data Mining and Analytics Centre (IDMAC).
On SeRAS, Auwalu stated that it is an industry-wide programme established to enhance safety management, emergency preparedness and response as well as bed space management and logistics services across the industry.
In his words, ”SeRAS will entrench safe practices, drive cost reduction and improve operational efficiency across the industry.”
“The SeRAS Command and Control Centre (CCC) established at the NOGEC Centre, Lagos while two other Rescue Coordination Centres (RCC) will be set up at Osubi and Brass, in the first instance, for effective coverage of areas of operations.” he said.
On NIORC, he said it is established to formulate and implement strategies for inproved and enhanced oil recovery methods in the oil and gas industry for the purpose of achieving maximum production at the lowest possible cost.
More so, Auwalu said the centre will serve as the innovation hub for oil and gas industry in Nigeria and beyond. It also collaborate with similar international oil and gas regulators in sharing lesson learnt and operational best practices.
