With the global climate crisis driving action and investment towards energy transition initiatives, Nigerian government and energy stakeholders have been urged to evolve new technologies, strategies and an eco-friendly regulatory environment to stand a good chance of tapping into the avalanche of opportunities in more sustainable energy sources.
This much was said by the President of National Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Dr. James Edet, stating that the rising need for transition towards renewable energy; energy poverty and global geopolitics require strategic reappraisal of the energy industry in Nigeria.
Edet who spoke at a media parley in Lagos, Wednesday, ahead of NAPE’s 40th Annual International Conference and Exhibition, slated for 13-17 November, 2022, said experts will project new ideas and know-how expected to supercharge the petroleum sector at the event.
According to organizers, the Conference by NAPE which boasts of over 12,000 membership across Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, will host high level industry practitioners, key personnel in government and the academia who will deliver technical papers centered on the conference theme: ‘Global Energy Transition & the Future of the Oil and Gas Industry: Evolving Regulations, Emerging Concepts & Opportunities.’
Mr Mele Kyari, CEO of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Engr. Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and Mr. Roger Brown, CEO, Seplat Energy Plc. are among keynote speakers set to headline the conference.
Edet further stated that “The rising need for transition towards more sustainable energy sources, energy poverty and global geopolitics require strategic reappraisal of the energy industry in Nigeria. The nation has an Energy transition plan to get us to net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2060. However, there are many factors that need to be considered and appropriately addressed in the nation’s shift to its sustainable energy future.
“The reality of the climate change is facing Nigeria with desertification in the north and flooding in the south and some parts of the north. This change calls for a crucial need to significantly reduce carbon emissions while ensuring available and affordable electricity.
“The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) is now in place and the Climate Change Act signed into law. The oil and gas industry has a role to play towards the successful implementation of these regulations and ambitious plans.”
The NAPE President identified the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, global politics, in-country insecurity challenges and asset divestment as underpinning factors that have continued to impact the energy supply shortage and altered the energy landscape in no small way.
He added that “globally, significant consumers of the hydrocarbon industry are undergoing a massive technological shift towards low or zero carbon energy usage like electric vehicles.
“Furthermore, there are other contenting and increasingly relevant issues such as: energy security; the dynamics of gas development, commercialization and monetization; development of Nigeria’s under explored gas rich cretaceous basins; and how Nigeria will adapt her policies and diversify her energy portfolio in the energy transition era so as to achieve sustainable growth for her economy.
“It is against the backdrop of the foregoing that the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) will at its 40th Annual International Conference & Exhibition be deliberating on the petroleum business and the regulatory environment with a view to addressing the challenges of the global energy transition, evolving regulations, and geo- environmental strategies in the energy transition era.” Edet said.
