Energy transition: PENGASSAN charges FG to develop policy to make Nigeria relevant in sector
By Uthman Salami
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has charged the Federal Government to come up with an energy transition policy that will still make Nigeria’s oil production relevant in the globe.
President of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo stated this at a media parley in Lagos
In his words, “If Nigeria’s government is serious, they should come up with an energy transition policy in such a way that everybody will know his or her direction before 2050 proposed by the Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, as energy transition.”
He made assurance that his Union would educate 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,” he said.
According to him, the challenges Nigeria is likely to face as a result of the energy transition include, 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.
He said, “We need to embark on massive industrialisation, where most of this fossil fuel will be used locally without exportation.”
Osifo advised Nigeria to look at expanding its gas production as gas would still be relevant, noting that even with the sanction on Russia due to the war going on in Ukraine, the United Kingdom still buys gas from Russia as that is the country’s major source.
He stated,”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 percent of our production would be refined locally.
“If we refine these 50 percent 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 industrialisation.”
