FG to focus on in-country capacity building

Federal Government says it is refocusing on in-country capacity development as a way of cutting cost and improves efficiency in the oil and gas sector.

Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources and group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), who stated this while declaring open the stand of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigerian (PETAN) at the opening ceremony of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) 2016 in Houston, Texas, USA, on Monday, said: “There is need for us to look inwards and see how we can optimise cost; reduce the cost of production so that we can remain afloat.”

He said “as a nation we cannot reduce the cost of production if we do not have Nigerian expertise in development of procurement materials.”

The minister, who was represented by Saidu Mohammed, group executive director, Gas and Power, further stated that with the capacity building that was today going on with fabrication of so many equipment that we need in the oil and gas industry, you can be sure that of course, Nigeria was going in the right path.

Although, so many things are happening within the oil and gas industry, particularly with the dwindling prices of crude oil, Nigerian companies can take us to the promised land anytime soon, he said.

When asked about efforts of the government to cut cost, he said, “I will not call it cost cutting, I will call it cost optimisation. You optimise your cost when you are in difficulty and at the end of the day what is the bottom line?

“What are the inputs in what you do in terms of production? You look at the input and apart from the human beings, you need machinery, so how can you lower the cost of those inputs like the machinery, the chemicals you use day and nights.”