By Blossom Ozurumba
Three years after the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria took the final decision to approve the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), an African Petroleum Technology and Business Conference, the third edition of the event is set to hold in its capital city, Abuja from February 9 – 12, 2020.
The event, which is highly touted to be the official government-endorsed event has been designed to be the rendezvous for Nigeria and indeed, Africa’s oil and gas sector where principal decision-makers from the public and private sectors exchange innovative ideas.
The African Energy Chamber, as the credible voice of the African petroleum industry and the foremost African advocacy association representing all facets of the African oil and gas industry, will be on the ground to bring you the front row access to the over 20 sessions that will hold in the 4-day event.
Here are three of the top-recommended sessions to watch out for, which we believe will have a wide global impact and firmly place the West African country on the top burner, and certainly on the continent.
Launch of the National Gas Transportation Network Code
Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources, in conjunction with the Department of Petroleum Resources, will formally launch the National Gas Transportation Network Code as part of the opening events of the NIPS. Nigeria recently proclaimed the year 2020 as its year of gas, a move that NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber noted could become “the most relevant political action anyone has taken in Nigeria in years”.
The National Gas Transportation Network Code aims to ensure that the wrong quality of gas does not go into the pipeline, in addition to guaranteeing gas pipeline integrity, open access to pipelines and common understanding on metering.
It is also expected to provide a uniform platform in terms of guidelines for agreements between buyers and sellers which will ensure transparency and eliminate existing bottlenecks. We look forward to the launch and hope that it will rightly position Nigeria to experience 2020 as its Year of Gas.
Ministerial Session: Technology, Policies and Investment – A Conversation
This is perhaps the most important session as it will bring together Oil and Gas Sector cabinet Ministers from Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, THE Republic of Congo, Mali, Mauritania and Nigeria, and the OPEC Scribe in a genuine and honest conversation that will perhaps speak to the overarching theme of this year’s conference: “Widening the Integration Circle”. It will seek to provide a high-level response to such questions as: how Africa can evolve into a significant actor on both the regional and international energy stage and how oil-producing and oil-consuming countries can better cooperate in Africa, amongst others.
Governors’ Forum: What More Can We Expect from the Oil Bearing States?
This session will put the Governors’ of oil-bearing states in Nigeria on the spot during the Governors’ Forum segment to match the opportunities as oil-bearing states and interrogate their various roadmaps on what should be and where they are headed to.
The discovery of oil and gas deposits in Nigeria has been viewed as both a blessing and a curse for the Nation with the insecurity seen as the greatest challenge right next to environmental degradation.
The expected outcome of this session will be the new solutions that will be proffered to create a conducive environment for the investments that will grow the Nation’s hydrocarbon reserves and drive development.
Last Words
James Shindi, the Managing Director of Brevity Anderson, the event producer, in reference to the conference, recently stated that “It has been our tradition from inception. We gather the best brains and key policymakers from across the continent to chart the way forward and posit strategies for the management of Africa’s huge hydrocarbon resources.”
We look forward to this year’s edition and will be on the ground to appraise the delivery. You can download the conference agenda when you click here http://bit.ly/2HbP9iq.
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