The Petroleum and Pure Fuel Senior Employees Affiliation of Nigeria has demanded that the Federal Government provide an energy transition policy that can preserve the nation during crises and emergencies.
There is a global energy transition from fossil-based fuels such as oil and natural gas to renewable energy, including wind and solar. This has become the new normal in the last decade, and many countries are aligning with the new trend.
President of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, said on Monday at a media parley in Lagos, that “The Nigerian government should show seriousness and come up an energy transition policy. It should be such that everybody will know his or her direction before the 2050, proposed by the Minister of state for environment, Sharon Ikeazor, as energy transition.”
He noted that his union was working on a programme that could educate the members on energy transition to make them relevant in the oil and gas industry of the future.
“While we engage the government to come up with a policy direction, we will also see to its workability. The policy should be what is implementable and pragmatic.”
He noted that Nigeria would likely face the challenge of crude oil purchases and finance, saying that the price of crude oil would fall if supply were to be more than demand.
“We need to embark on huge industrialisation, where most of this fossil fuel will be used locally without exportation. Nigeria should be looking at expanding its gas production as gas would still be relevant.”
The PENGASSAN boss argued that even with the sanctions on Russia, the United Kingdom might still buy gas from the country because it was its major source. “What we should be looking at as a nation is to channel our energy to gas production.
“Today in Nigeria, we ought to be producing two million barrels of crude oil per day, but if you look at Dangote Refinery, for example, it is going to be refining 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day. If our four refineries are functioning, we will be refining 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
“When you have both of them, they will amount to 1.1million crude oil barrels per day. It means that almost 60 per cent of our production would be refined locally.
“If we refine these 50 per cent locally, as a country, we will consume a good amount of the product and if you look at the entire African suburb, we may export this product to them. Beyond this, what we should be thinking of is industrialisation.”
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