Olusola Bello
Chairman and Managing Director, Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), Rick Kennedy, has identified low carbon emissions, gas development, effective industry policies, collaboration for cost reduction, and digital technology/innovation as strategic imperatives for fortifying the Nigerian oil and gas industry for economic stability and growth.
Rick gave this indication on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, while speaking at the Industry Leaders Panel discussion during the Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Conference & Exhibition at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. Also on the panel was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), Senator Bassey Albert Akpan.
The Chevron boss, who noted that the entire industry continues to face strong headwinds ranging from the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, among others, stated that the global community has continued to scale up the collaboration towards lowering carbon emissions.
According to him, “Chevron supports global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and is actively investing in operations to improve environmental performance while also working with industry to develop new innovative technology and best practices to achieve these objectives.” He added that in 2021, the company plans to spend some millions of dollars to advance projects in key focus areas: energy efficiency, flare reductions, venting and fugitive reductions, renewables, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage.
“Chevron has joined other energy companies supporting the Methane Guiding Principles to reduce methane emissions from natural gas exploration and production operations through digital innovation and deployment of best practices,” he added.
He said that the NNPC/CNL Joint Venture has progressively reduced routine gas flaring by over 95% in the past 10 years and has remained ahead in terms of maximizing supply of on-spec gas into the Nigerian domestic market. While reiterating CNL’s gas strategy, which he said, is to end routine gas flaring and build a profitable gas business through a portfolio of projects and supply to the domestic and West African market, he mentioned some of the efforts in that regard including the Gas Sale and Aggregation Agreements, and the Regional Value Chain Agreements such as the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) project value chain agreements.
While commending the Nigerian government for the efforts in pursuing legislations for the oil and gas industry, he stressed the need for the legislations, policies, and regulations to bolster investor confidence and to be globally competitive to protect existing investments, unlock opportunities, and help reduce the cost premium of operating in Nigeria.
On domestic gas, he said the legislation should assure investor confidence such as resolving legacy debt, establishing gas pricing that is competitive and covers the cost of development and operations, and improving security for people and assets.
He extolled the industry collaboration to identify resource saving measures, opportunities for efficiency, and optimized operations to save costs, adding that the oil industry is being reshaped by digital technology, which is pushing the boundaries for automation and analytics.
“At CNL, we are enabling Digital Innovation and Acceleration to build digital fluency and an agile mindset in our workforce and implement next generation IT systems. We are also adopting Digital technology in various aspects of our operations as part of CNL’s efforts in lowering carbon emissions,” he stated.
Rick noted that CNL has been making significant investments in Nigeria for close to 60 years, and that the company is optimistic about the future of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria, with the right policies, laws and regulations that will stimulate growth in the industry.
