As 2022, declared by President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria Year of Gas fades away without any meaningful stride in gas industry, in their projections for the future, Nigerian energy experts believe that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has created opportunities for growth in oil and gas infrastructure development, if fully implemented.
According to Mr. Bala Wunti, Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), there is optimism that Final Investment Decisions would be taken on some critical projects by 2023.
Wunti said some of the projects, which were being executed by the IOCs and the NNPC were suspended for years due to uncertainty in the oil and gas sector. He said the enactment of the PIA had restored investors’ confidence in the industry and repositioned Nigeria to optimise its hydrocarbon resources.
But Mr. Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary, NCDMB, said the projects attracted by the PIA would create a lot of opportunities for local content in the sector this 2023 as his agency has covered a lot for sustainable growth.
Considering way forward for Nigeria’s energy sector, and reviewing the current state of energy, oil and gas sector in the country in 2022, stakeholders and energy experts have declared that the challenges confronting the sector would lead to its total collapse if left unattended to.
According to them, uncertainties over crude oil prices, recent global pandemic COVID-19, pipeline vandalism, scarcity of foreign exchange, change in leadership, power sector reforms challenges, issues around the regulatory environment, security as well as the appraisal of capital investment and how it impacts revenues and operational effectiveness have remained a big nut to crack in the sector.
The huge oil and gas resource base, which currently stands at about 38 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 197 trillion cubic feet of gas, has positioned the country as one of the key players in the global energy supply. Yet, Nigeria scores 42 of 100 points and ranks 55 among 89 assessments in the 2017 Resource Governance Index (RGI).
Unfortunately, Nigeria currently maintains an economically unstable negative net energy trade balance in which the nation exports virtually all the crude oil produced and imports a substantial part of its refined petroleum product needs while under-utilizing other energy sources such as bitumen, coal, lignite, and shale oil, thereby leading to a mono commodity economy that is largely dependent on crude oil export.
It is against the backdrop of low oil price, dwindling oil revenue that there have been strident calls for the nation to diversify her economy from the monolithic economy and absolute dependence on oil into other areas to sustain the nation in terms of revenue generation and associated incomes.
