The Federal Government declared on Thursday that Nigeria has lost its most valued crude oil customers, while some of its gas buyers now compete with the country in the same market.
It also said international oil companies were massively shifting focus to alternative fuels, as the threat posed by the push for renewables was seriously gaining momentum.
The government divulged this through its Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority at the opening ceremony of the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Industry HSE Managers’ Forum in Abuja.
The Chief Executive, of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, who was represented by the agency’s Executive Director, Hydrocarbon Processing Plants, Installations, and Transportation Infrastructure, Francis Ogaree, urged operators in the oil sector to try and move along with the changes in the industry globally.
He said the number of crude oil buyers from Nigeria had been decreasing, stressing that Nigeria must build its oil and gas sector collectively for it to survive the changes in the space.
Ahmed said, “As we speak, some of the big IOCs are funding gigantic research in alternative fuels.
“As sweet as Nigeria’s crude is renowned to be global, we have recently lost our most valued customers and our gas buyers are themselves now competing with us in the same marketplace as suppliers.
“All of these point to one fact; if Nigeria is to continue to benefit from its vast petroleum resources, now more than ever is the time to build sustainably into our oil and gas value chain, as well as management of its waste. And this rests on the shoulders of not only the regulators but on all stakeholders.”
