Yemisi Izuora
The Offshore West Africa (OWA), an international oil and gas conference and exhibition which holding in Lagos is seeking ways of improving the sector in the West African country, which is the top oil producer in the continent, organizers said.
The three-day meeting drew participants from local and international key players of the oil sector, is in its 19th edition.
This year’s conference in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, takes place at a time when global oil prices have fallen sharply over the past seven months.
In his welcome address during the opening ceremony George Oguachuba, chairman of the advisory board, said the oil and gas landscape in Africa is changing rapidly as demonstrated by the many emerging oil and gas nations in the region.
He told the participants that the conference provides the technical forum for sharing of experience and discussions of the challenges and advancement of the Oil and gas exploration and production activities in West Africa sub-region.
Ernest Nwapa, the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) said the event is important for all the segment of the industries to continue to focus on the issue that threatens the economies of oil producing countries, just as he urged investors in the oil and gas sector not to panic.
“One thing I know we should not do is ‘panic.’ I think we should pay attention to things that we need to do to recover the benefits that our business would bring to us,” he said.
The conference is an annual event held under the auspices of the state-run Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and it has continued to be one of the industry’s most attended event since inception. It brings together major stakeholders to encourage dialogue and collaboration in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
As years roll by, the conference has, among other achievements, continued the promotion of Nigeria’s indigenous oil firms and also enhanced international partnerships and collaboration.
Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa, has been a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) since 1971.