Africa Must Harness Oil, Gas Reserves For Development-DPR

The Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Sarki Auwalu,has said that Africa must harness its oil and gas reserves for the development of the continent.

Auwalu disclosed this at the 5th Edition of the Sub-Saharan African International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference organised by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three-day virtual conference has as its theme: “Post COVID-19: From Global Crises to Global Opportunities.”

He explained that for a better and secured future, Africa must rise to the challenge of harnessing its over 125 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 625 trillion cubic feet of natural gas for the development of the continent.

“Africa must not be cowed to abandon its quest to grow its economies by the ‘doomsday’ narrative of ‘end of oil’ era and jettison the development of its resources.

“Africa’s resources must be used to fuel Africa’s development; the same way other continents utilised dirtier fossil fuels to fuel their economic transformation.

“To achieve this, we must take our destinies in our hands and join hands across all spectrum – technical, economic, legal, commercial, operational, financial, and political – drive regional energy security and economic sustainability,” he said.

The Nigeria government, according to him has introduced appropriate legal framework to support upstream asset acquisition, development, production and export, in committment to developing the national petroleum resources.

He further noted the effort of the government to develop gas-focused infrastructure for deepening value addition through the Refinery revolution and ‘Decade-of-Gas’ Initiative.

He said, “The Decade-of-Gas Initiative will leverage Nigeria’s 203 TCF of natural gas reserves for domestic gas supply (Gas-To-Power), Alternative fuels (Gas-To-People) and Gas Based Industrialisation (Gas-To-Derivatives)elements of the Gas-fired Industrial economy agenda within this decade.

“All these efforts will significantly increase the quantum of in-country value addition to drive the contribution of oil and gas to Gross Domestic Production, employment generation and poverty eradication.

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote in his remarks said that the Board would continue to deploy strategies to promote local content in Nigeria and within the African continent to provide jobs, support businesses and protect investments.