Yenagoa, May 19, 2023: The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, (NCDMB) has unveiled five key investment areas in the Nigerian oil and gas sector that can be taped to deepen investments and boost Nigerian economy.
The Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote, stated on Friday at a two days and fourth edition of the Nigerian Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair held in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital.
The event was attended by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, Mr Mele Kyari, representative of the Governor of Bayelsa, Commissioner for Mineral Resources, Mr Ebiere Jones amongst others.
Wabote, stated that the theme: ” Oil and Gas Industry Catalyst and Fuel for the Industrialization of Nigeria.” reflects the pivotal role that the oil and gas industry is expected to play in driving the economic growth and development of Nigeria.
The Executive Secretary, said in recent times, the role expected of the oil and gas industry has been dwindling due to missed opportunities as a result of policy inconsistencies, deferred decisions, and investments apathy.
He recalled that in 2022, the oil sector contribution to economic growth dropped behind Agriculture, Trade, Telecommunications/ICT, and Real Estate.
According to him, these are signs of a dying sector, stating that stakeholders must all join hands to stop the decline, so that the country can return oil and gas contribution to GDP to double digits levels similar to other major oil producing countries.
Wabote, added that it is with this understanding that the Board designed Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) with the objectives to showcase opportunities in the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream sectors of the Petroleum Industry.
He also added that there is the need to identify high impact activities with potential for in-country value addition with a 5-year outlook to deepen the practice of Nigerian Content.
Wabote, gave the five areas where investors can take advantage of as: policy-driven opportunities, people-driven opportunities, fund-driven opportunities, infrastructure-driven opportunities and situational opportunities.
He said the opportunities-driven by policies, guidelines, regulations, and statutes are attractive to investors as there is clarity on the framework governing their business endeavours.
“For instance, in 2021, Mr President declared the Decade of Gas which among others seek to stimulate the development and utilisation of gas resources for increased domestic utilisation and export towards generating more revenue for the nation.
“Other policies such as the automotive gas policy advocates for the use of CNG as an alternative fuel for vehicles and this has also created a vista of opportunities in the supply and installation of conversion kits in vehicles to enable it use of CNG.
“Several industries have also installed kits to enable their power generating plants to utilize CNG and in some cases LNG instead of diesel to manage cost.
“These policy initiatives have led to creation of several businesses and a surge in local utilisation of gas.
“For example, the annual consumption of LPG increased from 360,000 tonnes in 2015 to 1.4 million tonnes in 2022,” he said.
