Success Nwogu 
Leaders in the oil and gas sector have called for greater and dominant involvement of indigenous players and more adherence to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), SUCCESS NWOGU writes
A former Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Chief Chamberlain Oruwari Oyibo, has said there is the need for more indigenous companies to take lead in the oil and gas sector.
He noted that there were indigenous companies that are already playing leading roles on the sector. He advised against government interference in the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Oyibo said: “Industry should go for the best in terms of human resources. And luckily now we have a lot of Nigerianisation, which will continue to support it and let it grow.
So that our companies can one day become international oil companies (IOCs), in other countries. “Indigenous companies are already taking advantage of some of the opportunities in the sector.
SEPLAT Energy has acquired Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), ExxonMobil’s shallow water business in Nigeria, in a deal worth more than doubling its production.
The acquisition, completed on December 12, 2024, adds the following assets to Seplat Energy’s portfolio: Operated Interests: 40% interest in OML 67, 68, 70, and 104, 40% interest in the Qua Iboe export terminal and the Yoho FSO, 51% interest in the Bonny River Terminal (BRT) NGL recovery plant.
It also has the following Non-Operated Interest: 9.6% participating interest in the Aneman-Kpono field. There are also approximately 1,000 staff and 500 contractors transitioned to the Seplat Group.
This acquisition positions Seplat Energy as Nigeria’s leading independent energy company, with equity in 11 blocks, 48 producing oil and gas fields, 5 gas processing facilities, and 3 export terminals.”
He added: “Also Oando Plc completed the acquisition of 100 percent of the shareholding interest in the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) from the Italian energy company, Eni, for a total consideration of $783 million comprised of consideration for the asset and reimbursement.
“Also, Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings has completed a landmark acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) for $2.4 billion.
This acquisition marks a significant milestone in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, deepening indigenous participation in the upstream sector.
The companies involved in this acquisition as part of the Renaissance Consortium are: FIRST Exploration & Petroleum Development Company Limited (FIRST E&P), ND Western Limited, Aradel Holdings Plc, Waltersmith Group, and Petrolin, an international energy company with global trading experience and a pan-African outlook.
This is a good development. “So we are doing what we should do. What we need to do is to develop the capacity of those companies. I think the government has done the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). And the only thing is that they should also look at the cash incentives so that we can drill and increase our reserves.”
Encomium
Oyibo also extolled the late Chief Godwin Aret Adams for his humility, integrity, human capital development and overall contribution to Nigeria’s oil and gas sector development.
Other speakers who extolled Adams for his contribution to the industry, human capital development and bonding of families included:
Former GMD, NNPC, Engr Andrew Yakubu, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Aret Adams Foundation, Engr Charles Osezua, Chairman, Osuno Petroleum Consults, Ogbueshi Ben Osuno, former Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, Mr. James Orife, former Head, Exploration, Shell Petroleum Development Company, Dr. Ebi Omatsola, former Exploration Manager, Elf/Total Company Limited, former Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Engr George Osahon, former Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okaru, Director, Zebbra Energies Limited, Dr. Steve Okolo, Chief Executive Officer, Enuani Energy Limited, Mr. Louis Mbanefo, Chief Executive Officer, EnergyInc Advisors, Mrs. Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, member, Governing Council, Aret Adams Foundation, Mrs Patricia Ochogbu, and Mrs Izarene Adams.
They spoke during the 22nd Annual Aret Adams Memorial Lecture Series 2025 organised by Aret Adams Foundation. The topic of the lecture was: “Aret Adams – Legacies And Impacts On Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry.”
Refining
Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Enuani Energy Limited, Mr. Louis Nwachukwu Mbanefo, said most recently, Nigeria has witnessed large-scale private refining. He expressed the hope that in 20
Kick government out of interference. Government interference has always been the problem
years, the industry will be increasing in terms of Nigerian companies integrating more vertically and taking greater profit from the value chain and the benefits that provides.
He added that in that sense as well, they also will starting to gradually understand where the world of oil trading comes in at, what the profits, the margins, and how those can help.
According to him, these are key companies at the refinery, in the supply of crude and the shipping data products as well as greater integrates their profitability.
Mbanefo said: “But all of that I see as part of the natural evolution of the industry.”
Meritocracy
Chief Executive Officer, EnergyInc Advisors, Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, said the players in the Nigerian energy sector are at an inflection point again in the industry.
She, however, said that they needed to seize the moment. She harped on meritocracy and professionalism in the industry.
She said: “And what do I mean by seize the moment? You talked about the fact that we’re now back into the era of drilling and material. We have a fossil fuel friendly administration in the United States that’s redefining the global energy game.
And Nigeria once again has an opportunity to take advantage of shifting things. And I think that’s something we need to do. “We were also at a time when, you know, before the advent of Shell, we didn’t take advantage of capturing global demand markets around the world.
So I think that’s key. (3:59) The second thing I would also say is around NNPC. Management and governance is at an inflection point. NNPC is now in position to lead what is potentially the largest capital markets transaction in the entire African continent. If it goes to Initial Public Offer (IPO).
“I think that’s something that Chief Adams would be proud of if we do it well and if we nail it. So this passing was, I personally as a young professional in the industry, I’ve learned about meritocracy, authenticity, the need for competence, the need for humility in all we do, and the need to bring a very human face to leadership in the oil and gas sector.”
She said that a cursory look at the last 22 years of the oil and gas sector, in one sense, from a regulatory perspective, the Petroleum Industry Act was the biggest shift.
She recalled that the PIA was first completed around the early 2000s. He opined that it took almost an entire generation to get that legislation through. He noted that along the way, there had been the major indigenisation push and the multinational divestments.
She also said that in 2009, there was the amnesty programme and in the last two years, there had been some of the biggest divestments again into the hands of local oil companies.
Growth
A former Director, now defunct Department of Petroleum Resources, (DPR) Engineer George Osahon, said there should be growth in the sector. According to him, in the next 20 years, there should be transformation in the sector.
He stated that one of the things the industry witnessed in 2021 is that most of the ‘video editing’ companies said they were going to increase their spend on oil and gas by as much as 60 per cent. He said that this was documented by World Bank.
Osahon said: “Now, before that, everybody had been talking about renewables, renewables, and what’s going to happen to fossil fuel industry and so on and so forth. Most of the video companies, you know, the executives of this world, they were initially cutting back, but that is not happening anymore.
“So if you take a look at some of the things that forecasters have talked about that will happen by 2030 or 2050, we don’t think that they are going to happen anymore.
So, if we are thinking of a change, so the first thing we are thinking about is this will be the demise of the fossil fuel industry. It is not likely to be that way.
“We have now gone from the situation where we think the fossil fuel industry is going to die to the world that is probably going to save us from the energy problem we are putting in the world is going to happen because we need more energy.
Now, how does that fit into what we are talking about? We have come from a situation where we are looking at revolutions in the Nigerian oil and gas industry by way of the laws that guide us from the regulatory point of view.
We have gone from initially we had the zero-emission companies, then I think we probably went back to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), we went back to 1916, the MoU that revised the investment in 20,000, then it came down to the PIA.”
He added: ”What is going to happen next? Because of some of the revolutions I talked about earlier where most of the major assets are now being picked up by Nigerian companies, what are we likely to see?
We are likely to see some changes even in the regulatory area. For example, the PIA tells you that if you pick an asset, you have set a number of years to work on the asset. You just cannot keep an asset throughout when you are working to produce it.
In Nigeria, that’s about 20 square kilometers. I say I’m going to keep it. You will not be able to keep it anymore. You have to work on every piece of discovery you have to be able to keep it. Otherwise, you will lose it.
Otherwise, it will drip or drop. How will that go into the future? There are going to be more players. It’s going to be working in the industry. We’re going to have more of it in ourselves. I’m lucky for us.”
Dominance
Former Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okaru said indigenous companies in Nigeria should play prominent role in the oil and gas sector in the country, continentally and globally.
She said: “I remember Chief Adams not just for what he wanted to do in transforming the oil industry, but what he wanted to do for Nigerians. And how he wanted to build Nigerian skills, Nigerian capability, Nigerian capacity, and Nigerian prominence.
“And so, I’m projecting a wish. And that wish is that not just do we have more indigenous oil and gas companies; we have indigenous oil and gas companies that are world-renowned and command top tier level.
Whether that will happen in 10 or 20 years, I don’t know. But that’s what we would like to see. “We’ll take over not just the projects we’re taking over today. We have deep water related projects. And we are also, at the very minimum, masters of Africa, in terms of the development area.
But beyond their success as companies, for it to be related to the growth of Nigerian enterprise, for it to be reflected in the growth of Nigeria’s economy. So not just in terms of its contribution to foreign exchange and how we form governments.
But more in its contribution to real sector development. “So how, for example, we take all the derivatives and make Nigerian enterprise out of that in such a way that they’re successful. How we power the energy sector in such a way that it also powers enterprises.
“And I think what Arafat Adams did, I want to continue to say from heaven, is that change is a constant. He didn’t have it easy when he was trying to transform the oil and gas industry. And still, in spite of all the challenges that we had.
“In spite of whatever the environment was, which isn’t as so different as what we have today. Because sometimes we feel that, oh, because we just know today, things just started today. In spite of all that, he forged ahead.
And he wanted for us to be the best that we could ever be. So for today, it’s to tell not just those who are in the industry, but to tell all Nigerians that regardless of the environment that we are in today, regardless of the challenges that we face, not just as corporate organizations, but as individuals.”
PIA
A former Group Managing Director, NNPC, Engr Andrew Yakubu, said that he expects that the PIA will continue to promote in the sector, growth, excellence, strong regulatory institutions and focus.
He said: “What I want to say more, is to kick government out of interference. Government interference has always been the problem. We are moving, moving, moving. We are pulling out.
Tomorrow I will have to get a new set of people to start doing it all over. So, we should allow PIA to go its own way, and that was Adam’s dream. Remember, the last thing he did when he went back as an advisor, was to put all into an act. And those were completed.
The first thing that was done by 1999, was to pass it as an act of parliament, and it became law. So, that is to have an organized and centralized way of governing the oil and gas industry. And that is the starting point.
“But if we let it loose, anybody can come and hijack it and interpret it the way he wants to interpret it. And at the end of the day, we are back again to square minus two. So, PIA for me is an inspiration, and we need to generously get it.
Last Line
“For a long time, we now have a very serious management team in (the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC Ltd). And the board that will govern the affairs of oil and gas, we need them to get it right.
We need to pray for them. If they don’t get it right this time, then we should forget it for a long while. We must pray for them. They are all a set of technocrats, and they are tested.
And then we also have the PIA that should guide them. And we have a government that is willing to allow them to perform.
So, let us keep our fingers crossed and move forward. The problem is not about hitting the target, but moving forward and going back to it.”
