SOME stakeholders in the oil and gas sector have called for value addition in order to enhance sustainable growth in the sector and the nation at large.
The stakeholders made call at the Seventh International Mid/Downstream Oil and Gas Conference in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
The conference was organised by the Centre for Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Engineering (CGRP), University of Port in partnership with the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers.
Speaking at the event, Mr Manish Mundra, the Managing Director, Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited, said that the conference would generate ideas that could engender positive changes in the sector.
Represented by Mr Upendra Singh, the Head, Fertilizer Manufacturing, Indorama Eleme Fertilizer Chemicals Limited, Mundra said that positive reforms in the sector would support Nigeria’s economic growth.
“Repositioning the sector means promoting hydrocarbon numbers into diversified high value industrial products,” he said.
Mundra further said that Indorama had implemented several policy reforms through innovative expansion strategies.
He said that a three-billion dollar expansion programme implemented by the company had made it the largest petrochemical and fertilizer company in Africa.
“Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited’s polymer supply sustains Nigerian MSMEs in manufacturing,” he added.
Also speaking, Mr Adeleye Falade, the Managing Director Director, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), said that export-led growth and investment in people and cultural transformation were critical to petro-economic development of Nigeria.
Represented by Mr Oluwafemi Lawal, the Manager, Future Opportunities of NLNG, Falade said that value addition ecosystems and capabilities should be built around the sector for sustainable growth.
“Possession of oil and gas resources alone may largely not translate into economic development and prosperity, we must add value.
“Resources become an advantage only when capability is built around them. The real multiplier is not the gas molecule, it is the economy built around it.
“We need to think of how we can build capabilities around our resources and export them. The future we seek is not buried beneath our feet, it is what we choose to build above them,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Anthony Ogbuigwe, the Chairman, Governing Board, CGRP, expressed worries that despite the large deposit of petrochemical resources in Nigeria, the sector had remained underdeveloped.
“We must move from a crude exporting economy to a value addition economy. Every barrel of crude oil refined locally should create opportunities for jobs and economic sustainability,” he said.
Ogbuigwe stated that Nigeria currently had more than 300 million cubit feet of natural gas, and that there was need for synergy between energy and manufacturing sector.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the conference is: “Repositioning Nigeria’s Petrochemicals Sector for Industrial Growth, Innovations and Sustainable Development”(NAN)
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Tags: Oil and Gas Stakeholders urge value addition sustainable growth
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