By Tayo Joseph Lagos
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has called for closer collaboration among African nations not only in oil and gas but across all sectors to leapfrog the economies in the continent.
Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, made this submission during his goodwill message today at the opening ceremony of the ongoing Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) at the International Conference Center in Abuja.
The theme of this year’s conference is: “Leading Africa’s Response to Global Oil and Gas Challenges.”
Dr. Baru challenged the participants to come up with practicable solutions to effectively develop Africa’s hydrocarbon resources, saying that discussions and interests alike would stir up strategies and actionable items that would crystalize into a veritable roadmap for the energy future of the African continent.
“Our expectation is that at the end of this summit a communique will be issued out as action points for current and potential African oil and gas countries for better collaboration and development,” Dr. Baru stated.
According to him, discussions were expected to cut across the industry value chain with focus on deepening collaboration across and within the African oil and gas space; modern technologies in the industry; innovative strategies to survive after a global downturn; current trends in the oil and gas markets; gas to power; prospects and opportunities; policy and regulation; sustainable socio-economic development of the Niger Delta; as well as lessons learnt so far from the Nigerian experience.
Dr. Baru pledged the support of the NNPC to nurture the summit into a full-fledged international summit like the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) held in Houston, USA and Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference held annually in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
He applauded the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, for working tirelessly and for ensuring the fruition of the summit, stressing that his good works would not go unnoticed.
The GMD noted that NIPS was expected to be Africa’s largest and most important industry platform and linkage to the world, adding that after six decades of petroleum exploration and exploitation in Nigeria, the summit was long overdue.
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