NAPE tasks FG on oil sector reforms

Written by Duncan Monday, 10 May 2010

The National President of Nigeria Association of Petroleum Explorationist, (NAPE), has said that for  Nigeria to reclaim its number one position as oil producing nation in Africa, their is  need to tackle the issue of pipeline vandalism, Niger Delta crisis and formulation and implementing policies that would improve the Nigeria's oil sector.

The NAPE president, Mr. Isaac Arowolo, said at the April Technical Meeting of the association that with strong support from the government Nigeria would be competing with top oil producing countries in the world.

He urged government to repair and restore peace to the Niger Delta region in order to grow Nigeria's daily oil production from the current position to a more competitive level. He expressed doubt over the ability of the Federal Government to meet foul million barrels per day (bpd) in 2010.

Arowolo maintained that so many things had gone wrong in the past years, which has placed Angola ahead of Nigeria in terms of oil production strength.

He said: "You have to know that for oil production to peak, some factors have to be put in place. Part of them is reserve base and other one is the condition of facilities and also the availability of funding.

"In the case of Nigeria, some things had gone wrong, which led to the shut-in of production on some facilities. We are all aware of persistent bombings of facilities and vandalism of pipelines. All these have been put to shape by the recent effort of the government like the amnesty programme.

He stated that NAPE would continue to contribute to the development of Nigeria oil and gas sector. As part of its contribution, he disclosed that the association will be holding its fifth NAPE mini-conference for tertiary institutions between May 6 and 9, 2010 at the University of Ilorin permanent site, Kwara State.

Corroborating Arowolo, Chairman, NAPE-UAP, Mr. Mayowa Afe, disclosed that the theme of the conference is "Empowering Geoscientists with Entrepreneurship Skills".

According to him, the NAPE mini conference is an event where young, upcoming and energetic geoscientists converge to present and exchange data on their interpreted projects about the earth and its mineral resources for the benefit of mankind.

He added that the conference was created to provide a platform for young university students and graduates to showcase their technical skills through paper presentations.

"Lead papers will be delivered by the Executive Secretary, PTDF, Mr. Muttaqha Rabe Darma and Vice President, Human Resources, Shell Upstream International, sub-Sahara Africa, Mr. Osagie Okunbor.

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