Yemisi Izuora
The Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is set to drive down operational cost as it intensifies efforts toward achieving digital transformation of its operations and processes.
The Executive Director, Asset Management, NPDC, Mr Ismail Mohammed, who spoke at a webinar organised by Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) and hosted by the Chief Operating Officer, Upstream, NNPC, Mr. Adokiye Tombomieye; reiterated the commitment of NPDC towards digitally transforming their asset management operations in order to reduce waste and be more efficient.
These, the organisation hopes to achieve through digitising their data, re-engineering their processes and adopting digital technologies best suited for their operations.
He recounted their collaboration with CypherCrescent Limited, an indigenous digital technology solutions provider towards democratisation of their legacy asset management data, an initiative considered by E&P stakeholders as a fundamental first step and critical enabler for the digital transformation journey.
The third edition of an ongoing national E&P webinar series themed, “Leveraging Digital Technology to Improve Asset Management Efficiency,” is geared towards delivering a pragmatic blueprint to meet the Group Managing Director (GMD), Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari’s call to do things differently in order to accelerate Nigerian oil & gas industry growth and reduce unit operating cost (UOC) to $10 per barrel of oil produced.
Contributing on behalf of the management of NPDC, Mr Ismail Mohammed expressed his delight at the awareness and timeliness of the webinar as well as the impact that expanded adoption of digital technologies would make on their business.
Other top industry experts including the keynote presenter, (Alhaji Danladi Inuwa- Group General Manager, Information Technology Division, NNPC); Engr. Afolabi A. F. General Manager, Western Asset, Seplat; Alessandro Tiani – General Manager, District, Nigerian Agip Oil Company;
Kunle Adeyemo – General Manager, Asset Development, Chevron; and Joseph Musa- Assistant Director, Facilities -Engineering & Standards, DPR, also shared the impact of digital technology adoption in their organisations as a cost cutting measure and the quick gains to the Nigerian oil & gas industry.
The event was moderated by Professor Joseph Ajienka, University of Port Harcourt, who stressed the importance of the involvement of the academia in technology development. He also lent his voice to the laudable initiative of the top echelon of the NNPC/IDSL towards being responsive to unstable oil prices and high cost of operations.
Other participants during the event were principal representatives from top four oil & gas digital technology companies, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Huawei, and CypherCrescent Limited.
They took turns to showcase their technology advancements such as remote operations, digital twins, internet of things (IoT), big data, digital oilfield, and asset management solutions which have been deployed across several oil & gas assets to significantly reduce waste and cost whilst driving performance excellence and amplification of efficiency across E & P upstream operations.