Oil and Gas Council Confer on Investment in Sector

The Oil and Gas Council has concluded a two-day discourse on how to draw investments to Nigeria’s Upstream, Oil & Gas Sector. The conference took place on the platform of the Nigeria Assembly, an assemblage of industry leaders for market insight and networking.

Since the 2014 market crash, the Nigerian oil and gas sector has been overwhelmed by challenges that elongated the negative impact of the crisis. The tides, however, are changing for good. With oil prices steadily rising, investors are revisiting and investing into the Nigerian upstream oil and gas sector.

The conference started with a welcome address Alex Bell, Africa Portfolio Manager, Oil & Gas Council at the Nigeria Assembly.

Some key subjects discussed at the Assembly, included; ‘The Current Climate for Investment, Exploration and Production in Nigeria’; ‘Appetite for International Investment into the Nigerian Oil and Gas Sector’; ‘Reactions from the Industry on PIGB, National Gas & Petroleum Policy; the New Price Normal, Collaboration to Ensure Efficiency and Profitability; Monetising Gas, Overcoming Current Challenges’ and ‘Prospects and Implications of Modular Refineries for the Upstream Sector and Investment.

Some panelists at the Nigeria Assembly included; Ademola Adeyemi – Nero, Managing Director, First E & P, Lekan Akinyanmi, CEO, Lekoil, Frank Edozie, CEO, Neconde Energy, Richard Turner, CFO, Jagal Group, Oliver Andrew’s, CIO, Africa Finance Corporation, Eme Essien Lore, Country Manager, IFC, Adebayo Kareem, Principal Partner, The Carlyle Group, Vincent Gueneau, Chairman Kappafrik, Dada Thomas, CEO Frontier Oil, Gbenga Olawepo, Chairman Transitional Energy and Sena Anthony Associates.

Media Personality, Wofai Samuel moderated the panel that focused on how oil & gas companies and local banks secure international investment. She directed the discourse to focus on corporate governance strategies that Nigeria needs to implement in order to attract foreign investors. She also asked about how local and international banks can corporate to establish financial institutions for the development of oil and gas infrastructure in Nigeria.
Finally, she probed how oil and gas companies can possibly utilise capital markets to secure international funding.

Paul Van Zijl, Executive Director, Natural Resources, JP Morgan revealed that so much monies want to come to Nigeria but there are too many bottle necks around policy approvals which scares investors. He said, “why should I wait for your policy trends which take a long period of time to be approved when I can as well invest in another African country without much delay in execution.”

“ Although, we have all the resources, Nigeria is perceived as a difficult place to work. The ease of doing business, should be worked upon,” he added.

Uche Olowu, Head of Upstream, Oil Services and Energy Union Bank Plc, stated that, transparency in the sector must be improved upon. “We must eliminate historical oil and gas, upstream sector short fall.” He further stated that, investor confidence must be restored with effective and honest strategic communication with local banks.

Other panelists were Valerio Coppini, Maire Tecnimont, Josh Egba, USTDA, Emeka Ene, Oil Data, Anthony Adebulugbe, Chairman Green Energy International, Olabode Sowunmi, Consultant to the Senate Committee on Gas and David Ige, CEO Gas Invest amongst others.

In its third edition, the Nigeria Assembly was jointly moderated by Chigozie Hilary, Partner, Stream Sowers & Kohn, International Media Personality, Wofai Samuel, Adeyemi Akisanya, Partner, Adeyemi Akinsanya & Associates and Ifunanya Nwokedi, Analyst US Government Accountability Office.

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