Yemisi Izuora
The Middle East Energy, the leading energy industry event in the MEA region, will be making its anticipated return to Dubai World Trade Centre on 7 – 9 March 2023 to guide energy transition conversations across the globe.
Enjoying a 45-year legacy, this year’s edition is focused on guiding energy transition across Africa and the Middle East.
It is set to bring together buyers and sellers from across different countries to explore the latest advancements in energy products and solutions and will also feature strategic conferences and content arenas to uncover solutions to some of the most pressing challenges posed by the energy transition.
One of this year’s panel sessions is titled: Perspectives from Nigeria on the Energy Transition during which there will be discussions on the unique opportunity to merge economic development and climate action priorities in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, one of the world’s first true just transitions.
The Federal Government has been pushing to attract investment into the gas sector, which is key to its energy transition plan.
But spend on new projects has been limited in recent years, then only big-ticket project to get the greenlight is the Anoh project, operated by Shell and NNPC subsidiary Seplat. Other critical gas projects targeting the domestic market have yet to move forward.
On the export front, Nigeria LNG (NLNG) has been running below its nameplate capacity and missed the opportunity to fully capitalise on unprecedented gas prices in Europe in 2022.
Shell has been the dominant supplier to NLNG and the domestic market, but with the Anglo-Dutch major looking to sell its entire onshore and shallow-water JV portfolio, it has not sanctioned any new greenfield gas projects. Italy’s Eni is another key gas supplier, but it also has not committed to any new projects.
The improved fiscal regime brought in by the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA has not translated to a flow of investment.
Experts say that incoming administration will need to work out a plan to change this, with tweaks to the PIA potentially required.
A shake-up of the upstream corporate landscape should be given priority and the entry of competent players could kickstart the flow of investment.
Also, the Nigerian independents have been the obvious buyers from the majors, but the country needs to attract other brownfield experts with access to capital that can complement the efforts of the independents and unlock incremental value from mature fields.
In the deepwater sector, attracting other capable International Oil Companies,IOCs outside of the majors with deep pockets and technical capabilities should be prioritised, experts declared.
