The Highs of Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference (NOG) 2019

-By Fred Ojeigbe

The eighteenth edition of the Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference & Exhibition, took place at the International Conference Centre in Abuja from 1 – 4 July 2019 with the theme “Promoting Investment and Collaboration in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry.”

The event which is an annual meeting of industry stakeholders, once again gathered more than 700 industry professionals for an unrivalled networking experience. It offered extensive networking functions and provided attendees with ample opportunities to build, develop and continue business partnerships with old and new players from across the entire global value chain.

Specifically, this year’s conference and exhibition brought together over 800 senior level conference delegates, over 80 speakers representing the Nigerian oil and gas value chain, 230 exhibiting companies and over 4000 exhibition visitors.

This year’s event also afforded participants to get an opportunity to meet the who’s who of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

Keynote speakers included immediate past Group Managing Director NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan and Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Engr. Simbi Wabote, among other government actors.

There were high level representation from Nigeria’s foreign collaborators like the British government whose High Commissioner to Nigeria H.E. Catriona Laing and Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria H.E. Jens-Petter Kjemprud used the opportunity in their speech to pledge their countries’ support to efforts that would drive growth and development in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

This year’s meeting once again proved to be a great success due to the overwhelming and continuous support received from the industry.

With the support and participation of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NNPC, its subsidiaries and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) not forgetting Nigerian independent oil and gas as well as service companies, NOG has become a part of the institutional framework of the industry and has been at the forefront of key policy announcements and strategic discussions for the last 18 years.

2019, just like previous years, presented a vital platform for Nigerian SMEs and international partners, where initiatives were planned and contracts established and signed.

For instance, it was at the conference NNPC announced that this year alone, it had significantly progressed new third party financings for the NNPC/ Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) JV and NNPC/MPNU JV with both transactions substantially over-subscribed. NNPC/SPDC Santolina III Project has an estimated cost of about $500million and NNPC/MPN Satellite Field Development II Project has an estimated cost of $1.3billion.

NNPC also revealed it has successfully initiated the Memorandum of Understanding between it and NLNG for the provision of $2.5 Billion funding for NNPC’s portion of Cash Call payable on Upstream Gas Supply Projects for SPDC, Total Exploration and Production Nigeria (TEPNG) and Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) Joint Ventures.

Also, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) announced that it had so far disbursed $160m out of the $200m Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCIF) to oil companies for the development of modular refineries, and capacity-building, among others.

Nigerian Firms Dominating

According to the organisers of the conference, international players initially dominated the exhibition with only a handful of indigenous exhibitors but now indigenous players and SMEs now make up 85 per cent of the exhibiting companies at NOG.

This year just like NOG of recent times, indigenous companies like Aiteo Group, Oando, Nestoil, Eroton Exploration & Production Company, FENOG Nigeria Ltd, Honeywell, Intell, Marine Platforms, Nigeria LNG Ltd, Shoreline, proved they were becoming household names for the conference and exhibition.

Talking Points

The Nigerian Content Seminar which heralded the conference provided a platform for legislators, the NCDMB, investors and oil and gas businesses to convene and celebrate the Nigerian Content achievements realised since the enactment of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act.

It also afforded participants to discuss the challenges that remain in Nigerian Content implementation, explore solutions and share case studies.

Stakeholders appreciated the fact that the country had done well with the establishment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development adding that local content should not only be sustained but also be enforced in other sectors to compliment what is happening in the oil and gas sector.

For the panel session, the major talking points were opportunities in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and how to unlock the country’s investment potential, legislation and policy, maximising Nigeria’s gas potential, the independent producers’ role in the future of upstream production and innovative strategies to combat crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

The panellists made up of representatives of the IOCs operating in the country in addition to indigenous oil and service companies and government agencies operating in the sector identified insecurity, high operating cost, funding constraints, as well as low crude oil prices, as key challenges in the oil and gas sector.

The stakeholders identified steps to ensure growth of the sector to include enacting fiscal terms to encourage more investments. They emphasized that promoting investment requires stability in regulatory framework, clarity in terms of fiscal direction and reforms, access to capital and more importantly effective and efficient deployment of both capital and human resources.

Testimonials

Below are selected comments of participants about the NOG as posted by the organisers in their website.

“NOG 2019 had a technical dynamism as participants were engaged in critical aspects of developing the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The introduction of an interactive conference app also enabled real-time feedback which enhanced the quality of delegates’ response to the development of the industry.” Said Nyoki Ita Supervisor, Stakeholder Management/Government Relations, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.

Ifeanyichukwu Chime, Business Development Manager, Tenaris Global Services Nigeria said:“Once again, proven to be the most widely regarded and attended industry event in Nigeria, where all objectives on attendance and participation are evidently met.”

To Abdulrazaq Isa Chairman/CEO, Waltersmith Petroleum Oil Limited,“NOG is a good platform for engagement with domestic players and international players, I think it is getting a lot of traction now, it is a lot of recognition for what you are doing and that’s why you can see a lot of participation across the board. I went to the hall, and I saw the exhibition and it was very impressive. You guys keep up the good work.”

Sidelines

This year’s edition also featuredtechnical sessions that were free to attend and open to all oil and gas professionals in technical and operating roles.

Other side attractions were Golf Tournament that took place at the IBB International Golf & Country Club, Opening Gala Dinner and closing Gala Dinner that also featured lifetime achievement awards named after late Venezuelan Minister of Petroleum and one of the founding fathers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dr. Alirio Parra, who was also the founder of CWC, the organizers of the annual NOG Conference and Exhibition.

NOG will be returned 29 June – 2 July 2020 for another 4 days of discussions and networking.