OpeOluwani Akintayo
01 February 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Despite the fast-changing landscape of the global oil and gas industry, “Nigeria remains attractive for investments”, asserted Engr. Simbi Wabote, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, at the BHGE 2018 annual meeting in Florence, Italy, which held from January 29 to 30.
Fielding questions at the ministerial panel, the Executive Secretary stated that Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is still very attractive to investment, regardless of various challenges facing the global oil industry since 2014.
Earlier in his opening remarks at the meeting, themed “AM 2018 Investing Smarter Ways”, Mr. Lorenzo Simonelli, Chairman & CEO of Baker Hughes GE (BHGE) had highlighted the various oil sector challenges, including market volatility, threat of emerging technologies and digitalisation, energy transition to cleaner fuel sources and the demands of energy affordability, security, and sustainability.
Conceding that these challenges are real and enormous, Wabote contended that from an African perspective, “the concern for me is the emergence of artificial intelligence and robotics and how these impact on people”. He enjoined international oil companies to pay close attention to this fact as well as to environmental stewardship. He charged operators and service companies to avoid mistakes of the past and conduct their businesses with transparency.
The members of the panel agreed that “meeting the world’s energy needs isn’t going to be easy” and that the “changing market realities and constant uncertainties mean that the industry will continue to face pressures from all directions”, making the case for investing smarter ways.
BHGE annual meeting is one of the most anticipated events in the industry, which brings together global industry leaders to debate key issues and learn about latest technologies and innovative solutions to operational challenges.
This year’s ministerial panel featured His Excellency, Carlo Calenda, Minister of Economic Development, Italy, Dr. Dawood Nassif, Advisor to Bahrain Oil Minister and the Executive Secretary of NCDMB. The panel was moderated by Steve Sedgwick of CBNC.
In addition to the Ministerial Panel, there were several keynote presentations and break-out technical sessions.
