ABUJA – The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has emphasised the need for enhanced cooperation among upstream operators, particularly independent producers, to address the hurdles impeding the effective development of divested assets within the nation’s oil and gas industry.
Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, the Executive Vice President, Upstream at NNPC Ltd., conveyed this message on Wednesday during a panel session at the ongoing 2024 Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES 2024) in Abuja.
Under the theme “Innovation, Collaboration, and Resilience: Empowering Independent Producers in the Dynamic Energy Era,” Eyesan underscored the shortcomings observed in past divestment experiences, where many assets encountered production declines rather than growth.
“In the industry, if you want to measure success, there are some basic indicators that you use: production growth, reserve growth, and asset integrity. If I were to evaluate prior investment initiatives and scale the actors using these indices, I would be untrue to myself if I said everybody had done well. Yes, we acquired the assets, but today, we are worse off in terms of production than we were when we did the acquisition,” lamented the EVP.
However, she acknowledged the existence of success stories among independent producers but highlighted challenges such as insecurity, lack of finance, and technological capacity as significant barriers. Eyesan stressed that collaborative efforts among industry players could surmount these challenges.
“Collaboration cannot be overemphasised. Somebody said we should be in a state of emergency, and I totally agree with that. It’s not by sitting here and talking about the challenges; I think we should have a war room where we raise the issues and set out concrete plans to resolve them rather than wait for stakeholders individually to take them on. We need collaboration, collaboration, and collaboration,” she enthused.
The panel session featured key figures in the sector, including Adegbite Falade, Chief Executive Officer of Aradel Holdings; Elohor Aiboni, Managing Director of SNEPCo; Demola Adeyemi-Bero, Managing Director of First E & P Development Company; and Matthieu Bouyer, Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies.
Also present were Shane Harris, Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil Nigeria; Ainojie Alex Irune, Chief Operating Officer of Oando Energy Resources; and Cosmas Iwueze, Director of Joint Venture at Chevron Nigeria.
