President Muhammadu Buhari will virtually inaugurate the National Oil and Gas Excellence Centre in Lagos on January 21, in a bid to boost the operations of the nation’s petroleum sector, an official of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said.
DPR Head, Public Affairs, Mr. Paul Osu, who made the announcement in a statement issued on Monday in Lagos, quoted the Director of DPR, Mr. Sarki Auwalu, as saying that the centre would afford the oil and gas industry the critical elements for competitive advantage in a changing global energy landscape.
“The integrated centre will also entrench Nigeria’s status as a regional leader and position the nation for significant global impact in the provision of value-added services and breakthrough solutions for the industry in years and decades to come,” he said.
According to him, the centre was structured to drive the three-pronged objectives of safety, value and cost efficiency which are critical for the oil and gas industry stability, growth and sustainability.
Auwalu said the complex was structured to house various flagship centres, including search, rescue and surveillance command and control centre and national improved oil recovery centre in order to comprehensively cover all the key areas of the industry.
Other centres are the oil and gas dispute resolution centre, oil and gas competence development centre and integrated data mining and analytics centre.
The DPR boss said: “SeRAS is an industry-wide programme established to enhance safety management, emergency preparedness and response, as well as bed space management and logistics services across the industry.
“The SeRAS Command and Control Centre established at the NOGEC centre, Lagos will entrench safe practices, drive cost reduction and improve operational efficiency across the industry.
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“Two other rescue coordination centres will be set up at Osubi and Brass in the first instance, for effective coverage of all areas of operations,” he said.
The director said that the centre was established to formulate and implement strategies for improved and enhanced oil recovery methods in the industry for the purpose of achieving maximum production at the lowest possible cost.
“The centre will partner with operators and technology innovators, in their research and development efforts, for achieving its objectives. It will also collaborate with similar international oil and gas regulators in sharing lesson learnt and operational best practices.
“NIORC will focus on the implementation of a robust national IOR framework to enable the country optimize its resources as well as create greater opportunities for operators,” he said.
Similarly, he noted that the oil and gas centre would offer arbitration, mediation and conciliation services for the industry.
“The DRC is structured to adequately resolve disputes in a manner consistent with regulatory and commercial interests of the industry.
“This will address the sub-optimal development of oil and gas assets associated with lingering disputes and the attendant consequences of value erosion in terms of national resource growth.
“It will also improve global competitiveness, investment attractiveness, government take and investor’s profitability,” he added.
Auwalu said the centre would leverage industry technical experts, alternative dispute resolution practitioners and resources of the national data repository to provide fair and balanced resolutions of industry-related disputes from an informed position.
According to him, the centre was set up to be a regional hub to deliver training for oil and gas industry practitioners as well as a world-class centre of excellence that would serve as the innovation hub for the oil and gas industry in Nigeria, and beyond.
