Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Kenyon International West Africa Ltd, Mr. Victor Ekpenyong, says the indigenous oil servicing firm has developed a homegrown solution to oil theft and vandalism.
To this end, the oil firm has urged the federal government and oil operators to leverage on the expertise of Nigerian firms to check oil theft and increase oil production.
Ekpenyong announced that the solution which the company refers to as ‘Idle Well Management Solution’ was currently being deployed in some oil fields and has proved cost effective and efficient.
The solution, according to him, includes installation of anti-theft devices on well heads that makes it impossible to steal crude or vandalise well heads.
Ekpenyong said that the package to secure oil installations relies on idle well management practice which helps to monitor idle wells, preventing them from vandalism and theft.
He expressed optimism that if the solution was adopted across all oilfields, oil production will take an upward swing and enable Nigeria benefit from the rising oil prices.
“Nigeria has the capacity to produce nearly 2.5 million barrels of oil per day, but now, it struggles to produce one million plus barrels a day.
“Some of the factors that caused the plunge in production are vandalism and oil theft. This has inevitably led to some Nigerian companies shutting down their operations.
“To salvage the situation, the government needs to conduct a situational analysis. From the information we have seen so far, the country previously produced more oil, and we should enquire why our oil producing capacity is plunging as the days go by.
“Now that oil is above $100 per barrel, we should take advantage of it and maximise our revenue. Our government needs to devise plans on how to safeguard oil and gas assets and conduct community engagement.
“Currently, we have a lot of tech savvy youths in the country; and in community engagement, citizens can proffer some tech-solutions to these problems we face.
Young people can develop applications that can track vandals. This can be potentially beneficial to both oil companies and the citizens as well.”
The Keyon boss emphasized that there was a need to raise oil production beyond current levels to take advantage of increased oil prices on the international market.
He also charged the regulatory agencies in the oil and gas sector, to ensure that oil companies are following the industry-recommended procedures and best practices.
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