Digitisation Can Unlock $600bn In Oil And Gas Industry – MD IDSL

The Oil and Gas sector has the potential to unlock $580bn to $600bn through digitisation and democratisation of oil industry data, the Managing Director Integrated Data Services Limited, Ayebateke Bariwei, has said.

Democratising oil industry data implies making the right data available to the right people at any time.

He said this on Thursday in a keynote address during a virtual presentation co-hosted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and IDSL titled, ‘Leveraging data democratisation to improve asset management efficiency,’ monitored by THE WHISTLER.

The MD said the $600bn potential could be achieved when things are done differently in a manner that promotes, “transparency, accountability and performance excellence.”

Nigeria’s oil and gas industry had over the years experienced a boom and bust cycle.

According to Bariwei, things could be done differently in the country’s oil sector if potential issues associated with operational inefficiencies are addressed.

He explained further that adapting to recent technology in the sector would enhance productivity, reduce waste and improve system efficiency.

Nigeria had in April moved to reduce the unit operating cost of crude oil production to $10 per barrel from next year.

However, the IDSL Boss pointed out that to achieve the target operational cost reduction in 2021, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other industry players must optimise resources and reduce wastes by transforming the country’s oil and gas industry digitally.

He added that the corporation’s process needed to be streamlined using automation.

Bariwei also said that democratisation of data in the industry would remove bottlenecks in accessing the quality data required by investors and stakeholders to make their investment decisions.

He added that data democratisation would operationalise transparency in decision making process.