In October 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government unveiled its own roadmap to develop a stable and enabling environment that will maximise investment opportunities in the oil and gas industry and generate increased growth in the Nigerian economy, developed by the Minister of State Petroleum Services, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, as the 7 Big Wins.
“Oil and gas still remains a critical enabler for the successful implementation of our budget, as well as the source of funds for laying a strong foundation for a new and more diversified economy,” notes President Buhari.
The first Win in the roadmap revolves around policy and regulation referring to the government’s aspiration to develop robust policies and laws to remedy existing challenges in the Industry. The plan is to break the existing Petroleum Industry Act into three bills for easier passage by the National Assembly into laws that focus on the governance of the petroleum industry, the fiscals and the legal.
By 2019, Kachikwu sees Nigeria as a net exporter of petroleum products and value-added petrochemicals achieved by an aggressive revamping of existing local refining capacity and expansion of domestic capacity.
The second Win of the roadmap is the creation of a business environment and investment drive that will accelerate income for Nigeria in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil industry. Since Nigeria has not been maximising its yields from all these sectors, the strategy includes a review of existing joint ventures, attracting investment in non-associated gas initiatives and implementing a long-term maintenance programme.
A GAS REVOLUTION
A Gas Revolution is emerging in the Giant of Africa and the government’s third Win identifies its potential of moving from an oil-based economy to a gas-based economy. As the ninth-largest gas reserve holder in the world, the ultimate objective is to develop gas infrastructure, revolutionise gas projects, implement a gas commercial framework and maximise the use of gas to power for economic development.
As its fourth Win, Buhari’s team intends to enhance the utilisation capacity of local refineries to guarantee the supply and distribution of petroleum products across Nigeria and the African sub-region. Fundamental to the success of this entire roadmap is the establishment of a secure environment.
Essential to attracting investment, the fifth Win focuses on the Niger Delta, an area with 159 oil fields, 275 flow stations, 1,481 oil wells and more than 7,000km of crude oil products, gas pipelines and flow lines. The upsurge of militant attacks on oil and gas installations within the region caused a significant reduction in oil and gas production.
For the sixth Win, Buhari expresses “there is also a dire need to instill a new culture of transparency and efficiency in the industry, streamline operations along best practices by championing and implementing strategic reforms at every layer of the industry.” They acknowledge this direction would help to improve production, exploration, local refining capacity and perhaps most importantly, build sustainable partnerships.
The last Win of the roadmap concentrates on Stakeholder Management and International Co-ordination, which essentially aims to eliminate all production obstacles and ensure the visibility of Nigeria in the global oil production.
The roadmap will provide huge investment opportunity in infrastructure development, oil and gas facilities, operations and maintenance across the entire value chain. By focusing on harnessing the full potential of Nigeria’s people and its bountiful resources, the 7 Big Wins provides a comprehensive roadmap that leads towards a new dawn not only in Nigeria but also for the whole of Africa.
DISCLAIMER: Brand Voice is a paid program. Articles appearing in this section have been commercially supported.