*Sweetcrude remains official OTC publication
Yemie Adeoye
and Oscarline Onwuemenyi,
01 May 2012, Sweetcrude, Houston – The Federal Government yesterday highlighted the remarkable growth in the development of local content in the nation’s oil and gas industry, stressing that passage of the Nigerian Content law in 2010 has paved the way for even greater local participation in the sector.
Meanwhile, Sweetcrude has reached another landmark as the nation’s sole publication on the industry to be well-received among industry operators at the OTC.
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who declared the Nigerian Pavillion open at the on-going Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas in the United States of America, said the exploits by local marketers, operators and service providers in the sector has vindicated government’s drive for indigenous participation in the industry.
She added that government was further motivated to push for more robust reform through the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, which will transform the nation’s oil and gas sector for the benefit of the Nigerian economy.
She said, “The progress that we have seen in the Nigerian oil and gas industry over the years is not only predicated by the number of pavilions exhibiting here today, but over the last 12 months since we were here, we have seen so much progress in the sector, the sort of creativity from our own indigenous operators and service providers that really encourages us at the leadership level to continue expanding our own frontier, to continue to given robust support to our indigenous operators and service providers.”
The Minister also acknowledged the “financial wherewithal and technological expertise and partnership that multinational companies and foreign companies operating in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, and we expect that they will continue with us for a very long time to come.”
According to Alison-Madueke, since the passage of the Nigerian Content Act, there has been remarkable progress by industry operators and government to ensure the involvement of Nigerian companies in the offshore sector.
“It is really remarkable to see the tremendous progress that Nigerian operators and service providers have made over the past couple of years. I can only imagine what will happen in the oil and gas industry over the next three years if we continue to do what we are doing, and if we continue to move the frontiers that we are moving at this time.
“I can assure you as government representative in this industry, we will continue to aggressively and robustly support marketers, operators and service providers in the Nigerian oil and gas industry to the best of our ability as we go forward,” Alison-Madueke stated.
Sweetcrude, has lived up to pre-conference billings as a major force in Nigeria’s efforts to demonstrate the growth taking place in the sector.
Sweetcrude, which made a bold entrance at this year’s OTC with a bumper 120-page package, profiling a large volume of Nigerian companies and major operators in the oil and gas industry, was well received by most conferees as a worthy ambassador of the country’s energy industry.
Interestingly, Sweetcrude’s focus for this special edition focused on ‘Measuring the Growth’ of the local content law, and this year would mark the third year since the popular newspaper would be at the OTC since its debut in 2010.
