Sylvester Idowu in Warri
The Principal and Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Effurun, Delta State, Dr. Henry Adimula has tasked African leaders not to hasten to abandon fossil fuel, but strive to deepen research and development of local technologies that enable exploitation and beneficiation of oil and gas in environmentally friendly manners.
He said the position of his institute was anchored on the fact that global demand for fossil fuel was expected to linger for the next 50 years even as the world grapples with energy transition from the exploitation and utilisation of fossil fuels to cleaner and friendly sources of energy.
Adimula, who said this at the weekend, during a press conference as part of activities marking PTI’s 50th anniversary at the school’s council chambers, disclosed that the Institute had taken a bold step in kick starting research and development effort that take cognisance of the peculiarity of the African situation.
“As the world grapples with energy transition from the exploitation and utilisation of fossil fuels to cleaner and more environmentally friendly sources of energy, the PTI has taken a bold stride in kick starting research and development effort that take cognisance of the peculiarity of the African situation.
“With estimated 125 billion barrels of crude reserves and over 600 tcf of gas reserves in Africa, it is our considered opinion that Africa should not hasten to abandon fossil fuel but should strive to deepen research and development of local technologies that enables the exploitation and beneficiation of our oil and gas endorsement in a more environmentally friendly manner as the reality of global demand for fossil fuel is expected to linger for the next 50 years.
“Today, we are confronted with grim reality that only few African countries have been able to master certain aspect of oil production technology but none can research, design and fabricate key machinery for the industry,” he said.
The Principal however assured that the PTI was poised to focus research in the key areas to develop local content capacity in oil technology to enable the country achieve some independence in the design and production of technology for the oil industry.
“This endeavour is more critical since the foreign expertise we solely rely on for our oil and gas potential have developed s sudden apathy for the exploitation of the hydrocarbons in the wake of the allurement of the energy transition.
“This serve as a wakeup call for our indigenous Institutes to engage in in order to develop local production technology in the oil and gas industry to address Africa’s perennial challenges of poverty and energy shortages,” he added.
