Oil & Gas in Nigeria Spends $1 Billion on IT in 2012

 

Lagos, Nigeria: Oil and gas companies in Nigeria spend an estimated $1 billion (N 165 billion) annually to buy new technologies, an official from Shell said. The Managing Director of SNEPCO, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, Chike Onyejekwe said at the ongoing Onshore West Africa conference that the world’s seven billion population was putting pressure on energy demand.

He spoke on a topic titled, “New Technology, Safe and Efficient Offshore Operations and the Regulatory Environment in the Region”. He said the population growth necessitates huge budgetary allocation by oil companies in research and development as part of ways of enhancing massive oil production and ensuring supplies.

He said: “Technology is a critical enabler for responding to the energy challenge and I know that the key to technological breakthrough has been research and development, backed up by an overall annual research and development and spend of more than $1 billion.

“Shell is one of the leading investors in the research and development of innovative technologies that will enable, support and sustain deepwater development.”

Onyejekwe credited the introduction of many of the deepwater technologies that the oil and gas industry uses today to Shell. He said: “We pioneered the J-lay technique for installation of deepwater pipelines and proved its first deepwater use during installation of the Auger TLP export pipelines.”

The oil chief cautioned that industry operators while engaging in production activities to meet demand, must factor safety of environment. “We need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and get smarter about how we extract and use resources. We will need to do this against a backdrop of almost constant volatility change,” he said.