Logistics captains hinge energy sustainability on collaboration
Sopuruchi Onwuka
Logistics services providers in the full energy value chain have declared that all stakeholders in the industries related to energy production and supply must evolve common quality standards for sustainability.
Panel discussants who examined issues on Offshore Energy, Logistics and Economic Zones at the 2023 Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) hosted in Abuja concluded that sustainability of the energy industry requires overall efficiency of the full activity chain, including those happening in the maritime terrains.
In laying the templates for discussion in the context of global shifts in environmental regulation, quality standards, access to funding and cost efficiency; the Managing Director of Starz Investments Company Limited, Mrs Iroaghama Ogbeifun, called on operators to upgrade to new standards of play.
She pointed out that whereas operations might be local, the energy market and requirements for environmental responsibility are global. Therefore, she said, there must be a new approach to delivering industry services.
And with new oil and gas provinces springing up in Africa and seeking international financing for exploration and development, she noted, players must deploy technology in diminishing the impact on earth while keeping production high.
She called for African producers to adopt a common local content strategy to ensure that activities conform to acceptable international standards. She made it clear that there is no one way to standards but many ways.
Beyond the race to meet evolving standards, Mrs Ogbeifun stressed the need for cost effectiveness, full facility and infrastructure capacity utilization, cost driver optimization and commercial competitiveness. She stressed the need for common infrastructure and shared services in order to achieve optimization.
In providing credence to recommendations raised in the lead presentation, the Director of A Oswell Limited, Mrs Charlotte Essiet, pointed out that all the critical gains of optimization could easily be achieved by building comprehensive stakeholder collaboration in the complete industry loop.
Both Mrs Ogbeifun and Mrs Essiet are prime members of the Women in Energy Network (WIEN), Nigeria’s foremost gender diversity advocacy group which anchors its demands on inclusive collaboration.
“To create the value ecosystem we desire,” she noted, the industry must first create the enabling value of collaboration.
She made it clear that energy and its linkage industries, including technology, aviation, maritime and other services must collaborate in a valuechain that must deliver specified projects on agreed quality standards and under sustainability guidelines.
According to her, the full length of collaboration must stretch to every stakeholder whose interest is crucial to the smooth operations, stable social environment and sustainability of the sector.
She called for collaborative engagement that would bring all interests from government’s agencies through investors and service providers to industry host communities in order to create a common network that is built on standards.
Director General of the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Bashir Jamoh, agreed on need to build a strong stakeholder platform for implementation of standards in the industry.
Having all stakeholders at the same level of compliance, according to him, is necessary to create an environment of good governance and security. He added that NIMASA is driving implementation of its Blue Economy initiative in the four pedestals of coordination, cooperation, collaboration and communication among stakeholders.
He explained that a comprehensive stakeholder base is a critical success factor in positioning the Nigerian maritime sector for investments in new energy; including wind and solar energy.
In addition, he noted, the maritime industry provides critical support to offshore petroleum exploration and production activities as well as logistics for international oil and gas trade. The indispensable maritime support services, he said, makes it crucial linkage sector whose players must collaborate with the oil and gas industry.
According to him, there must be an environment of good governance and security, adequate infrastructure, deep pocket investments and efficient regulation.
Dr Jamoh admitted that community stakeholders must be carried along in building any ecosystem that would be ruled by international products, service and process quality.
He made it clear that collaboration among industry players and regulators would create the highly desired ease of doing business and guarantee global best practices.
Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, agree that private players in the industry must collaborate to optimize available logistic facilities, adding that NNPC was forging pan-industry collaboration against ecological disaster.
In stressing the need to secure energy future, Mrs Eyesan listed barriers to sustainability to include insecurity, fiscal disputes and consequent project delays. She however stated that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has enabled progress towards investment decisions on a pipeline of projects.
In his contribution to the debate, the Managing Director of the NLNG Shipping Limited, Mr Abdukadir Ahmed, stressed that incentives are required to enable the industry attain sustainability in period of climate change concerns.
He said that the high risk nature of the energy industry requires that standards are high to guarantee sustainability. He added that whereas the requirements of efficiency and environmental standards are global issues, players in the domestic industry must evolve local solutions that target peculiar needs.
In participating in resolving some of the issues raised in her lead presentation, Mrs Ogbeifun stated that pan-industry would bring a lot of benefits in the operations; including transparency, trust, credibility, and feedback to policy drivers and regulators.
