SPE OLEF-2022 will focus on enabling a sustainable framework for the energy transition’

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigerian Council says its 2022 Council Year is focused on energy transition. Thus, one of the major sub-themes for the ongoing Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum (OLEF) 2022 is enabling a sustainable framework for the energy transition.

“At OLEF 2022, we shall have diverse conversations on energy transition and investments in the oil and gas industry to answer those salient questions in the mind of many especially when you consider the rhetoric on funding of fossil fuels post-COP 21”, said Prof. Olalekan Olafuyi, a professor of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Benin and the 2021/22 Chairman of Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Nigeria Council.

Confirmed keynote speakers and panelists include Chief Timipre Sylva, Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources; Mr. Mele Kolo Kyari, Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd; Mr. Chikezie Nwosu, Managing Director/CEO, Waltersmith Petroman Oil Ltd; Mr. Bala Wunti, Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS); Mrs. Elohor Aiboni, Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNPECo); Mr. Roger Brown, Managing Director/CEO, Seplat Energy Plc; Mr. Gbite Falade, Managing Director/CEO, Niger Delta Exploration & Production Ltd; Mrs. Olayemi Anyanechi, Commission Secretary/Legal Adviser, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) amongst others.

To accelerate the country’s energy transition agenda, Olafuyi said that SPE-Nigeria Council believes in homegrown pragmatic solutions suited to Nigeria’s environment and nation-building adding that the country needs to evolve considering its environment.

The SPE-Nigeria Council Chairman said that “though Nigeria and Africa are not the major contributors to CO2 emission, we still act as though we were and hence advocate for cleaner forms of energy, to support the energy transition. SPE-Nigeria Council would always advocate best practices and not borrowed or copied practices to sound politically correct. We are apolitical but demonstrate strong commitments to our environment and sustainable development”.

Though the world is now a global village, however, the Council believes that dependence on indigenous competence should be up to 80% in Nigeria, especially in key positions.

“The pandemic has shown that we have developed competence locally in terms of the workforce and vendors providing services. With proper legislative framework and implementation, homegrown innovations could foster effective energy transition at the lowest possible cost. This would strengthen our economy in the long run”, said Olafuyi. The Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum (OLEF) is an annual lecture series focused on contributing to oil and gas policies development for Nigeria in commemoration of the first oil-well drilled in Nigeria by Shell Darcy at Oloibiri, in Ogbia, Bayelsa State, in 1956. The annual lecture series attracts participation from the government, regulatory agencies, heads of industry practitioners at all levels, as well as other key stakeholders from around Africa.