Baru Urges NNPC And Oil Service Firms To Go Global
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and indigenous oil services firms should extend their operations to other petroleum industries across the world. NNPC Group Managing Director (GMD) Dr Maikanti Baru has said.
Baru who spoke while opening the Nigerian Pavilion at the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, USA, said the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL), were being positioned for international operations.
These strategies are part of the ongoing transformations in the Corporation. “We don’t want the NNPC just to be a national company but also the energy company of the future that will acquire oil fields and make inroads into new frontier basins in sub-Saharan and other petroleum climes across the globe,” he said.
To the oil services firms under the umbrella of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), which coordinates Nigerian delegation and pavilion at the OTC, Baru said they should look beyond Nigeria.
According to him, some of the indigenous oil services have taken their operations to Norway, Ghana, Uganda and Mozambique; among others but a chunk of the firms’ operation still revolve around Nigeria. He advised such firms to emulate their peers and extend their services overseas.
Baru said: “The NNPC has perfected strategies to become the energy company of the future by making inroads into new frontiers and acquiring oil blocks in the sub-Saharan Africa and globally. I also urge oil service providers to go out and look for more partners and better technology to excel especially in areas they consider difficult.
“We have Nigerian companies that are manufacturing high-tech equipment including pigs used for the inspection of pipelines being exported to far away Norway. “We also have Nigerian companies working in the most difficult terrain, in deepwater operations ranging from over 1000 meters. Nigerian companies should also emulate some of the counterparts that are diversifying into the full oil and gas value chain, from seismic, exploration to distribution.”
On the OTC that attained 50 years this year, he said indigenous firms have been able to grow capacity over the years as they now compete favourably with some of their counterpart in various field of the oil and gas industry.
Unlike in the 1990s when attendance was more of a jamboree, Nigerian firms have acquired capacities, new technologies, got partners and extending services to the world, he said.
According to him, OTC has been concentrating its activities around Houston and that it will continue to serve as a focal point for bringing different people with different ideas and services together. He added that this year’s exhibitions by Nigerian companies marks a great improvement not just in terms of quality but in the number of companies that are giving service in the Nigeria oil and gas industry.
