The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has urged indigenous oil and gas companies to invest in training young Nigerians and strengthening technical capacity to support the country’s ambition of producing three million barrels of crude oil per day.
PETAN Chairman, Wole Ogunsanya, made the call at the association’s media roundtable in Lagos on Monday, warning that the transfer of oil and gas assets from international oil companies to indigenous operators had created an urgent need to train the next generation of industry professionals.
He said Nigeria faced a widening gap between experienced oil and gas workers and younger professionals entering the industry, stressing that local operators must develop training programmes to sustain production and retain technical expertise.
“We have a huge gap between those that are experienced in the industry versus age. Training is a very important aspect of our industry,” Ogunsanya said.
He noted that many experienced Nigerian professionals had received their training through multinational companies, including Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron and TotalEnergies, often benefiting from international placements and technical development programmes.
However, he questioned whether similar opportunities would remain available as international operators divested some of their onshore, swamp and shallow-water assets.
“Now we are divesting the assets. We are selling the assets to indigenous companies. Almost 100 per cent of the assets on land, in the swamp and shallow waters are owned by Nigerian indigenous companies.
“Who is going to train the Nigerians? The new generation of Nigerians are coming behind to take over and operate those assets and work for these companies successfully,” he said.
Training Centre
Ogunsanya said Nigeria had sufficient human resources to develop its oil and gas industry, but needed to do more to attract graduates and provide them with practical skills.
“The issue is not that we don’t have Nigerian young educated graduates that can come into the industry. The issue is how do we encourage these young educated Nigerian graduates to look into the oil and gas industry?” he asked.
He said the industry required professionals with practical experience in drilling, pipeline installation, fabrication, welding and offshore operations, adding that training must prepare young Nigerians for the physical and technical demands of the sector.
Ogunsanya disclosed that PETAN recruited nearly 100 engineers every two years through its internship programme, placing them in member companies for practical training.
“After two years, PETAN members absorb over 60 per cent of these guys because that’s how good the training that we’re giving them is,” he said.
He added that the association was working with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) on human capacity development initiatives.
The chairman also disclosed plans to establish a training centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, with facilities, including drilling rigs, to train more Nigerian professionals locally.
“If Shell will send 10 people to train, we can train 100 Nigerians if we bring the trainers into the country and we have the facilities,” he said.
The PETAN boss warned that experienced Nigerian professionals were increasingly being recruited by countries in the Middle East, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, making local training investment more urgent.
Drill-Or-Drop Policy
Ogunsanya also backed the Federal Government’s drill-or-drop policy, which seeks to compel operators to develop their oil assets or risk losing them, describing it as critical to achieving Nigeria’s three-million-barrel-per-day production target.
“The cheapest oil to produce in the world is already discovered, and we need to drill a few more wells to bring the oil,” he said.
The PETAN chairman argued that developing existing discoveries could deliver additional production more quickly than relying exclusively on new exploration, which requires significant investment and carries geological risks.
“We cannot have those assets sitting there that have potential to produce 10, 20, 50,000 barrels. Every drop of oil adds up to get to that three million barrels,” he said.
According to him, enforcing the policy would also benefit indigenous service companies by increasing demand for drilling, equipment deployment and other technical services.
He explained that service companies often have equipment and signed contracts but generate little revenue when operators fail to commence work.
“If they say, ‘Ah, we don’t have work,’ you can have the contract in your hand, it’s signed. If they don’t call you, you don’t do any work,” he said.
Ogunsanya added that increased activity would enable service companies to earn more revenue, purchase additional equipment and contribute to higher production.
He also supported a review of aspects of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, saying developments in the industry had created areas requiring attention.
Gas Development Gaps
The PETAN chairman also called for greater investment in gas production and distribution infrastructure, describing it as essential to expanding electricity generation and supporting industrial growth.
He cited Nigeria’s estimated 210 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and said the country had yet to maximise the resource’s potential across power generation, industry and domestic consumption.
“This country needs a minimum of 100,000 megawatts of installed power capacity, and we will not have it unless we produce enough gas, unless we lay the pipelines where those gas turbines are going to be,” he said.
Ogunsanya compared Nigeria’s installed electricity generation capacity of about 12,000 megawatts with the much higher capacities of South Africa and Egypt, arguing that increased gas utilisation was necessary to close the gap.
He said the oil and gas industry remained central to Nigeria’s economic growth and urged operators, regulators and the government to address the constraints limiting investment and production.
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