The President of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Ajibola Oyebamiji, has opened up on the dearth of critical operational data in the oil and gas industry, saying many International Oil Companies (IOCs) are sabotaging efficiency in the build up to National Data Repository (NDR).
He said with the rushing advent of new technologies now changing exploration and production activities, there is need to compel stakeholders into sending all their strategic operational data to the repository currently domiciled at the Department of Petroleum Resources, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
In an interview, Oyebamiji said “Many advanced oil and gas jurisdictions have what is called a National Data Repository (NDR). NDRs are typically set up by government and regulators as a long-term strategy to protect and optimize the value of a nation’s natural resources.
“National Data Repositories often represent significant collection of data over a long period of time. By Collecting, standardizing and making data available quickly and efficiently, they reduce barriers blocking investor entry thereby maximizing inward investment in exploration and production operations.
He explained that in Nigeria, the Federal Government, under the auspices of the Department of Petroleum Resources had set up an NDR with management board drawn from oil companies. According to him, “The intention was for it to run as a business entity. The need for NDR is compelling but it requires adoption and acceptance by stakeholders. Unfortunately, companies were reluctant to bring data and sometimes when these data is submitted, having easy access is a challenge.
“Efficient access to trusted data comes at a cost. I will encourage strong collaboration, such as joint projects, to quality control existing data for proper harmonization, amongst the stakeholders. Good and quality database is valuable to the digitalization and technology applications that are currently sweeping the industry.
On the efforts of NAPE to among other things, ensure that operators embrace innovation, he averred that “NAPE is the umbrella association for persons involved in the professional application of geosciences and related disciplines to the exploration and production of oil and gas in the country. We have over 12,000 members across the oil and gas industry, IOCs, NOCs, the academia and government agencies.”
“We are a professional body and we make sure we make knowledge available to our members and other critical stakeholders. In the past 37 years, we have hosted well-put-together conferences with brilliant technical paper presentations.
“In our Pre-Conference workshops, we select topical issue as it affects the O&G industry, discuss it rigorously and come up with a communiqué. Some of our communiqués have been implemented by government. Some key pieces of legislation like the Marginal Field and deepwater Acts were recommendations from our communiqués.
He added that NAPE has a robust industry-academia collaboration initiative where industry practitioners go back to tertiary institutions to share and exchange knowledge.
