One of Nigeria’s oil sector unions, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has asked the federal government to produce an energy transition policy that will keep the country in contention, given the energy transition trending globally.
The drumming all over the world for energy transition from fossil-based systems –oil, natural gas etc – to renewable energy forms, including wind and solar, became very high in the last decade, and many countries are known to be making adjustments in the new forms.
At a media parley yesterday in Lagos, president of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, the Nigerian government should show seriousness and come up an energy transition policy. “It should be such that everybody will know his or her direction before the 2050, proposed by the minister of state for environment, Sharon Ikeazor, as energy transition,” he said.
He hinted that his Union is working on a programme that will educate the members on energy transition to make them relevant in the oil and gas industry.
“While we engage the government to come up with a policy direction, we will also see to its workability. The policy should be what is implementable and pragmatic.”
According to him, Nigeria would likely face the challenge of; who will buy the crude oil and issue of finance, saying that if supply is more than demand, the price of crude oil will fall.
“We need to embark on massive industrialization, where most of this fossil fuel will be used locally without exportation,” he said. Osifo said Nigeria should be looking at expanding its gas production as gas would still be relevant.
The PENGASSAN boss argued that even with the sanction on Russia, the United Kingdom may still buy gas from Russia as that is the country major source. “What we should be looking at as a nation is to channel our energy to gas production.
“Today in Nigeria we ought to be producing two million barrels of crude oil per day, but if you look at Dangote Refinery, for example, it is going to be refining 650 thousand barrels of crude oil per day. If our four refineries are functioning, we will be refining four hundred and fifty thousand barrels of crude oil per day.
“When you have both of them, they will amount to 1.1million crude oil per day. It means that almost 60% of our production would be refined locally.
“If we refine these 50% locally, as a country, we will consume a good amount of the product and if you look at the entire African suburb, we could export this product to them. Beyond this, what we should be thinking is industrialization.”
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