By Danlami Nasir Isah
Engr. Farouk Ahmed is the Authority Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA). He has a sound commercial and trading background, holding top management positions in the process, both within Nigeria and outside the country. His rich professional background, complementing his equally sound educational background arising from his studying at schools in Nigeria and abroad, such as the Sokoto Teachers College, Kaduna Polytechnic, Gulf Coast Community College, USA, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA, equipped him with the technical and administrative skills needed for the complex terrain of the petroleum sector regulation industry. Not satisfied with the knowledge acquired from these institutions, Engr. Farouk further attended the International Petroleum Exchange, UK, New York Mercantile Exchange, College of Petroleum Studies, Société Financiers Privee, Switzerland, New York Institute of Finance, Oxford Institute of Petroleum Studies, UK, and the CWC Consulting, Houston, Texas. These are in addition to the numerous seminars and conferences he has attended around the world. Engr. Farouk, an oil and gas expert commenced his career as a Logic Board Verification Engineer at Apple Computer Incorporated, which was later changed to Apple Incorporated, in Dallas, Texas, USA. From there, he later returned to Nigeria to participate in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. Thereafter, he joined the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), now Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), where he grew through the ranks to hold top management positions in the organisation. Engr. Ahmed has a sound commercial and trading
background and has held several senior positions over the 34 years spanning his professional career in the oil and gas industry, some of which include: Senior Crude Oil Trader, Duke Oil Incorporated; Manager, Crude Oil Export Programming and Nominations, Shipping and Terminals (Crude Oil Marketing Division-NNPC); Executive Director, Commercial, Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC); Managing Director, NiDAS Marine Limited; Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA); Managing Director, PPMC; and Special Adviser (Downstream) to Group Managing Director (GMD), NNPC. The NMDPRA Boss was a member of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Shippers Council and has also been the MD/CEO, Hauwath Consulting Limited. Engr. Ahmed is a Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) as well as a Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-USA). He is also a Registered Member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). In December 2023, the NMDPRA Authority Chief Executive (ACE) as he is officially known assured the world that Nigeria can attract $575 billion in investments. Engr. Ahmed speaking through Dr. Mustapha Lamorde, Executive Director of Health, Safe and Environment Division of the agency at the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP 28), said the plan is possible through the NMDPRA’s Industry Sustainability Initiative (ISI). Breaking down opportunities for investment per sector, he said $272 billion is in power, $127 billion in infrastructure, $96 billion in oil and gas processing optimisation, $80 billion in industry and $2.8 billion in clean cooking noting that making this possible will enhance government‘s commitment and collaboration with the private sector through technological innovation.
Whilst the ISI incubates, Engr. Ahmed and his team at NMDPRA are unlocking investments in gas by determining the appropriate tariff methodology and setting benchmarks for operations in the sector the agency regulates. Recently, the agency announced the establishment of the 2024 Domestic Base Price and applicable wholesale price on natural gas for the strategic sectors. This led to an increase in the price of natural gas for the strategic domestic sectors including power generation companies by 11 per cent. The increased gas pricing is expected to stimulate gas suppliers to bring on-stream gas from higher-cost fields. Without significant new gas development, the shortfall in gas supply by 2030 is expected to be as high as 3 BCF per day, worsening gas challenges for the power sector, and severely affecting facility utilisation for commercial, GBI sectors, and export markets. This is a new beginning for the midstream and downstream sectors of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. With Engr. Ahmed Farouk at the helm of affairs, the sector will witness remarkable gains such as the disappearance of fuel queues during festive periods especially during the yuletide season.
