‘Efficient local content devt crucial for energy transition’

Efficient development of local content will provide a soft landing for Nigeria despite the growing pressure towards energy transition, the Managing Director, TotalEnergies, Michael Sangster has said.

While Nigeria currently boasts of over 30 per cent local development in the oil and gas sector, with State Minister for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva insisting that the country would hit 70 per cent threshold in the next 10 years, intense pressure to move from hydrocarbon creates elusive outlook for the oil and gas sector.

Sangster, on the sideline of the 2021 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit, in Abuja, sees opportunities for Africa’s leading oil producer, especially if local content development is prioritised.

With millions of unemployed Nigerians, Sangster said: “We strongly believe that sustainability of the local content will help keep young people busy.”

In 2010, Nigeria introduced the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (NOGICDA) aimed at promoting indigenous participation in the oil and gas sector. Sangster sees that as being proactive, noting that it must be sustained.

“The Egina project is a good product of local content and we are very proud of it because 70 per cent of the fabrication was done in the country and they are of good quality and the facility is working well,” he said.

Director joint venture Operations, Mid Africa Strategic Business Unit, Chevron Middle East, Africa and South American Region, Monday Ovuede, said with the right guidelines and policy, the sector would achieve the desired growth.

According to him, the gas pipeline is a good step in the right direction as provision of power was critical for growth and development.

Executive Director, Commercial and Strategy, TotalEnergies, George Oguachuba, had earlier noted that the company would achieve 50 per cent gas energy mix by 2030.

“As a company and a business, the strategy is to become more and more as a company and our target is that by 2030 we should have about 50 per cent gas energy mix in TotalEnergies.

“And this coincides with Nigerian government’s decade of gas, that sees gas as playing a significant role in the country’s economy,” he said.