#AOW2019: Facing the challenges

Former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo

“These are then same in the oil producing countries, the oil market and in the industry in general," Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said at Africa Oil Week in Cape Town.

“These challenges are not challenges that only one country can deal with on its own. They are national challenges, they are regional challenges that they are also, what I would call oil and gas industry challenges, which we must handle together. Whatever the challenges we are facing as an industry must be able to disaggregate and find the best instrument, the best institution or the best organisation to deal with the challenges.”

The rising of renewables

When it comes to the sustainability of the sector and the rising tide of renewable energy, he believes that despite the need to reduce carbon emissions the oil & gas sector still has an important role to play and a bright future in Africa. “The present challenges particularly include renewable resources growing into the areas where oil and gas has been predominant. I believe this should not really worry us too much.

“For me, I believe for the foreseeable future there will be no renewable energy that will be as portable as oil & gas. That is something that we can take as the advantage of to ensure oil & gas will still be there for the foreseeable future.” But he believes that technology will pave the way to extending the life of oil & gas.

“With technology we have to make the production of oil & gas cheaper and if is cheaper, we will be able to get oil & gas going on for much longer than some people have predicted."

A future driven by technology

“I believe that this is the area where the oil countries should really work together and take advantage of new technology that is part of the digitalisation transformation such as artificial Intelligence. All the technology that are here now that were not available to us 15 years ago. They are there for use everywhere but are very important in the oil and gas industry. Of we bring this into the industry I believe that the industry and the fear that we have now will all be a thing of the past. The next 10 to 15 years may not be the way some people think.

Collaboration is the key to sustainability for the sector in the immediate future. “I see collaborations at the national level, at the regional level, and at the industrial level, and of course, collaborating, at the global level. Collaboration and taking advantage of technology. That would make the life of the oil industry much longer than reduce the fear that some people have that renewable energy resources will make oil and gas a thing of the past. If we can surmount this challenge, then the future of oil and gas cannot be dictated by anybody except by us; the producers and the investors. This will maintain oil and gas as an active resource for humanity," he said.