The Federal Government has disclosed that the Nigeria International Energy Summit (N.I.E.S.) is the country’s official Energy Industry event.
The disclosure was made by the Honorable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, 24th February, 2022.
Speaking at the press briefing which was a prelude to the 5th edition of N.I.E.S. scheduled to hold between 27th February and 3rd March, 2022, the Minister said, “the objective of the summit from inception was to deliver the biggest and best African Petroleum Technology and Business Conference that will be the definitive platform, not just to Nigeria, but also for Africa to engage the global energy community. I believe that we have delivered on that with every edition”, Sylva added.
Sylva stated that, N.I.E.S., was formerly known as the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), with the maiden edition holding in 2018. He added that, “in line with global agenda for energy transition and the need for us to remain relevant and ahead, we rebranded the summit and it became known as Nigeria International Energy Summit (N.I.E.S.).
Speaking further, Sylva informed that “our objective is to drive a new narrative and make energy a cornerstone of the country’s Industry Policy’.
According to the Minister, interesting outcomes from the summit had been embraced by government, policy makers and the Industry as a whole. Some of these outcomes are; Nigeria decade of gas initiative, conversation around the exit of government from Joint Venture Cash Calls Funding, push to diversify Nigeria’s economy and drive industrialization through focus on domestic utilisation of natural gas which culminated in the declaration of year 2020 as the year of natural gas, the United States’ Trade Development Agency’s signing of a phenomenal deal to finance the development of 1.35 megawatt power plant in Abuja with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited among others.
The Minister also stated that key international and indigenous companies like Shell Petroleum, TotalEnergies, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Dangote Refinery, Waltersmith and a host of others use the summit platform for special presentation to drive their aspirations and launch major projects.
On the prevailing rise in the price of crude oil in the international market, Sylva expressed government’s displeasure for not being able to take advantage of the high prices. He however assured that everything was being done to bring back production with a view to addressing the shortfall.
“Our production is not where it was a few months ago. We are begining to climb up gradually. We are hoping that before the end of this year, we would have completely regained our production and we will be meeting up our OPEC quota” the Minister stated.
The theme for N.I.E.S 2022 is; “Revitalizing the Industry: Future Fuels and Energy Transition”
Signed:
Enefaa Bob-Manuel (Mrs.)
Director (Information)
MPR
