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16<br />
BUSINESS A.M. FEBRUARY, MONDAY <strong>05</strong> - SUNDAY 11, 20<strong>18</strong><br />
THE MONDAY INTERVIEW<br />
Q&A<br />
INSIGHTS FROM NIGERIAN AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS & CORPORATE LEADERS<br />
‘We should create more indigenous oil, gas<br />
companies for jobs, economic expansion’<br />
BANK-ANTHONY OKOROAFOR, the chief executive officer of Vherbarge International Limited and President of Petroleum and Technology<br />
Association of Nigeria (PETAN), in this interview with ANDY NSSIEN and AJOSE SEHINDEMI bares his mind on a number of burning<br />
issues including how government policies can create over a million jobs in the oil and gas sector and what to do to get Nigeria’s<br />
refinaries back to full capacity. He also speaks on opportunities for West African nations at this year’s West African International<br />
Petroleum and Exhibition Conference (WAIPEC 20<strong>18</strong>) holding on February 7 & 8 in Lagos, Nigeria.<br />
What is WAIPEC about, can you tell us more about it?<br />
Yes, WAIPEC (West African International Petroleum<br />
and Exhibition Conference) was formed to ensure<br />
that all participants in the Nigerian oil & gas community<br />
can continue to share views, develop partnership<br />
and attract investment. So, it is basically focused on<br />
high-level strategic sessions and discussions on game changing<br />
solutions for the oil & gas industry. The strategy is to deliver better<br />
programme every year and add value to the industry. It is an integral<br />
platform combining plenary conference programmes with<br />
a series of solutions and an international exhibition to ensure that<br />
all participants in the Nigerian oil and gas community can continue<br />
to share views, develop partnerships and attract investments.<br />
I guess it is an annual event?<br />
Yes, and it was held in Lagos last year.<br />
Has it gone outside Nigeria?<br />
It has not gone outside Nigeria.<br />
Is it because you are operating from Nigeria?<br />
No! We packaged WAIPEC as a regional conference to target Africa.<br />
And most of the speakers you are going to see will cover the key<br />
oil & gas sector, finance and government people from all of Africa.<br />
Concerning the speakers, how were you able to get most of<br />
the industry’s heavyweights to agree to attend the conference<br />
and what do they stand to benefit?<br />
That is a very good question. You know as I said, it is focused on<br />
high-level strategic sections and discussions on game changing<br />
solutions for the oil & gas industry. We have been able to get the<br />
Group General Manager of NAPIMS, he is coming. We have been<br />
able to get one of the COOs of NNPC, he is coming. . We have been<br />
able to get the executive secretary, Nigeria Content Monitoring<br />
Board, Simbi Wabote, she is coming. We have been able to get the<br />
guy in charge of gas for the whole federation, he is coming. And<br />
from the banking sector, the MD of Standard Chartered Bank for<br />
Nigeria and West Africa, he is coming. We have been able to get<br />
many of the key oil & gas top figures in Africa, they are all coming.<br />
Looking at the conference you have been holding over<br />
time, can we know how it has impacted on the nation’s<br />
economy overtime?<br />
You know, the idea is to promote the region’s oil & gas, seek<br />
industry’s best practices, explore new technology and develop<br />
commercial opportunities for business and international investments.<br />
And if you watch, that is the key thing going on right<br />
now. You see the oil price is inching up gradually; many of the<br />
companies are still recovering from the drop in the oil price.<br />
This gives them a lot of opportunities to seek solutions in this<br />
depressed oil market, you understand? Seek solutions, seek best<br />
practices and seek what they can apply to reduce their cost and<br />
still be profitable in this challenging environment.<br />
Can you talk briefly about your own company? Tell us<br />
about yourself?<br />
My name is Bank-Anthony Okoroafor and I run three companies,<br />
CB Geophysical solutions, into seismic acquisition, seismic<br />
processing, seismic interpretation and integrated reservoir<br />
studies. Another company called Vhebarge International Limited<br />
which is into early production facilities, pipeline, flow line<br />
repairs and I have been in the oil and gas industry for 28 years<br />
and still going.<br />
Fuel scarcity is always an issue. Now that it has become a sour<br />
point in Nigeria, how can Nigeria come out of this problem?<br />
One, the government should stay away from refining and leave<br />
the private sector to run it. As long as, the government continues<br />
to run the refineries, problems will abound because government<br />
runs like a social service but when you hand over to the private<br />
sector, what do you think will happen? It will be working. Like<br />
now, most of the refineries are not working to 20 percent capacity.<br />
What do you think government can do to the refineries to get<br />
to full capacity?<br />
There are two things we need to do: one, deregulate and allow<br />
the market forces. Deregulate fully the downstream and allow<br />
the economics of demand and supply to determine the price,<br />
and you discover at the end of the day, prices will come down<br />
and the product will be available. The government has no business<br />
in determining price. As long as refineries are not run by<br />
private people, we are going to have a lot of problems.<br />
What are the oil and gas global policies that Nigeria and<br />
West African countries can tap into for their own benefits?<br />
Like the local content we implemented in Nigeria, the best practices<br />
can be shared. In a forum, people come up with best practice,<br />
like funding. Which creative funding scheme are they using in other<br />
countries? Those things that can be shared in a forum like ours are;<br />
what mechanisms are they using in other countries, what is the best<br />
mechanism for drilling that reduces cost, improves and save drilling<br />
times. What is the best way for operating in the deep offshore?<br />
In a conference, all these can be shared.<br />
Out of these practices in your reports have been adopted by<br />
the government and the private sector?<br />
All recommendations are based on communiqués released after<br />
BANK-ANTHONY<br />
OKOROAFOR<br />
Profile:<br />
CEO Vhelbherg Group<br />
Age: 54<br />
Education:<br />
University of Nigeria<br />
University of Surrey, UK<br />
Married to Uju, with<br />
children<br />
THE only thing<br />
government can<br />
do is to ensure<br />
that the act is<br />
properly enforced,<br />
monitored and<br />
sanctions applied<br />
where necessary<br />
conferences. Many things have been implemented, for example,<br />
gas commercialization, flared down to zero was from a conference<br />
held, local content started at a conference from (PETAN)<br />
Petroleum and Technology Association of Nigeria. So, a lot has<br />
happened, Nigerians owning vessels and rigs and Nigerians are<br />
now handling jobs on land and swamps. So, from our conferences,<br />
people build partnerships and learn and implement. As<br />
practitioners, we see the changes and people are also seeing it.<br />
The Niger Delta is always an issue with one crisis or the other.<br />
How can it be resolved and controlled once and for all?<br />
For us to have genuine peace in the Niger Delta, we have to<br />
be sincere about what we want to do, we must create sustainable<br />
development and empowerment there, it is key. Why<br />
can’t we convert the Niger Delta to modular refinery belt?<br />
Why can’t we have 24hrs power supply in Niger Delta using<br />
the gas there? Why can’t we have the coastal rails or roads<br />
system? When people see genuine development, the change<br />
starts from their hearts and it would be sustainable.<br />
Local content issue with Shell winning the award several<br />
times, why do private companies fail to implement the local<br />
content policy ?<br />
Local content is now a law, so every company must abide with<br />
it, else they face stiff penalties if they fail to do so. Unless there is<br />
no capable Nigerian with capacity around, that is when they can