By Teddy Nwanunobi
For the oil and gas industry to remain relevant, given the climate change and Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic challenges, the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigeria Council has called for more efficient operations, reduction of waste and disabling fugitive emissions.
To this end, the SPE Chairman, Engr. Olatunji Akinwunmi, has advised that more focus should be on transition to gas exploration and development to replace coal in electricity generation, by improving technologies for capture and subsurface storage of carbon dioxide.
Akinwunmi gave the advice in his welcome address on the opening ceremony of the SPE Nigeria Annual International Conference & Exhibition (NAICE 2021), on Monday.
Valuechain reports that NAICE is an annual event organised by the SPE, Nigeria Council.
Akinwunmi also noted that novel technologies and digital transformation initiatives would help in the direction of reducing both emissions and cost.
“Without a doubt, the energy landscape is evolving very rapidly, with increasing share of non-petroleum energy sources, and new frontiers of energy solutions being explored, especially in the more advanced economies. The future of the demand for oil and gas and relatedly the supply of energy are expected (to) be based on the tripod as captured in our conference theme.
“On the first point, climate change concerns are paramount in the energy equation evaluation of governments, institutions, and individuals all over the world.
“There is a concerted drive to reduce the carbon intensity of energy production. Indeed, several institutions, governments and companies have already announced net-zero emission ambitions by 2050, with an increasing share of renewables in the energy mix of the future, fixing a target date for the end of sales of internal combustion engine passenger vehicles, and transitioning towards an overall electrification of the economy.
“Moving on to the second point, no one could have imagined a health challenge with such dramatic consequences – not only for the energy industry, but for practically every area of human endeavour.
“The number of mutations of the COVID-19 virus and the sinusoidal nature of the different outbreaks over the past 20 months clearly lead to postulate that the drive to eradicate the virus would be on the front burner for the foreseeable future, and that the energy landscape would certainly have some irreversible effects, leading to a new normal.
“On the third point, how would the oil and gas industry remain relevant, given the dual challenges enumerated above? We, in the SPE Nigeria Council, believe that it is clearly in the best interest of the oil and gas industry to be in phase with the rest of the world – significant reduction of the carbon intensity of our operations can be achieved by making our operations more efficient, reducing waste and disabling fugitive emissions, with more focus on transition to gas exploration and development to replace coal in electricity generation, by improving technologies for capture and subsurface storage of carbon dioxide.
“In addition, novel technologies, as well as digital transformation initiatives should help in the direction of reducing both emissions and cost, which would render our products more accessible, more competitive, and more acceptable.
“Furthermore, the technological solutions that have helped to facilitate the exploration, development and production of petroleum can certainly be adapted for use as the energy mix evolves in the future.
“With all these in consideration, the 2021 Council leadership of SPE deemed it fit to have in-depth conversations around these subjects, and, of course, tie this into the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that has just been passed by the Parliament,” Akinwunmi said.
Valuechain reports that NAICE 2021 is holding from Monday, August 2 to Thursday, August 4, with the theme, ‘The Future of Energy – A Trilogy of Determinants: Climate Change, Public Health, and the Global Oil Market’.
According to the information on its website, this year’s conference will has 3000 attendees, 180 technical papers, 70 exhibitors, 43 speakers, 24 technical sessions, and eight short courses.
Some of the speakers are: Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva (Special Guest of Honour), Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari (Guest of Honour), Director/CEO of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Engr. Auwalu Sarki (Guest of Honour), and Managing Director of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Engr. Tony Attah.