Ijeoma Agudosi/Hyacinth Chinweuba
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), has called on the federal government to push for investments in the oil and gas sector by boosting exploration and production.
Chairman, SPE Nigeria Council, Engineer Emeka Ene, who said this at a press conference to herald the 39 th Nigeria Annual International Conference & Exhibition (NAICE) in Lagos said the low oil price regime should be taken into account to move reserves up.
He said: “Oil industry is in a ten year cycle. It falls and it goes up. It is better to invest during the down cycle by drilling wells and increasing exploration so that in up cycle you reap the benefits.
“It is economic to invest when the price is very low. You don’t invest when the price is high only to experience a down cycle for your investments.”
According to Ene, one thing that the federal government should do is to “take interest in reform, restructuring and progress of the industry especially during this low oil price regime.
The UAE is planning to spend $36 billion to develop its industry and we can surpass this.
“The government has taken a key interest in the reforms, restructuring and remodelling for low-price regime we as a society encourage policies to help move the Nigeria oil and gas industry forward.
“We want to move our reserves forward, we want the best for Nigeria’s industry and this is one of the reasons we are organise our conference again this year.”
He continued: “The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), supports the development of technical manpower for the industry, provide catalyse and support indigenous participation in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, encourage best practices amongst the producing companies and has engaged and partnered with Government, Oil and Gas producing and service companies on initiatives geared towards addressing pertinent strategic issues.
“This is strategic focus is to increase Nigeria’s oil and gas reserves and production capacity, and support the sustainable growth of the industry, for the benefits of all stakeholders.”
The SPE in Nigeria has, according to Ene, been consistent through NAICE, as the leading oil and gas industry technical conference in Sub-Saharan Africa, in providing leadership in the technical and professional development of technicians, engineers and operators in our oil and gas industry even during the current downturn in activity.
The theme for this year’s conference is “Natural Gas Development and Exploitation in an Emerging Economy – Strategies, Infrastructure and Policy Framework”.
The main focus of the theme is “Sustainability, Infrastructure and Framework in an emerging economy” with a focus on natural gas development and exploitation.