The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria,PETAN has emphasized the need for corporate bodies and governmental institutions to embrace new tools and engage in continuous training with a view to taking advantage of emerging technologies in the world.
The body said the tools should be deployed in the operations across the value chain of the oil and gas industry, increase investment in Research and Development (R&D), equipping the nation’s institutions of higher learning to expose our young ones to emerging technologies while creating and promoting the enabling environment for their deployment and domestication.
PETAN Chairman, Mr. Nicolas Odinuwe, disclosed these as a panelist on the second technical session of the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF 2021) titled ‘Digitalization, Innovation And Emerging New Technology In Oil And Gas’ .
He said that several PETAN companies are leading the way in rendering services in new technology trends like Automations, ROV Technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Intelligent Pigging, 3D Modelling and Visualisation among several other emerging technologies in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.
Mr. Odinuwe maintained that PETAN was determined to expedite action on the slow pace of the digitalisation drive in Nigeria.
“PETAN”, he said, “has been promoting the development of technology in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria through the organisation and promotion of conferences, seminars and workshops such as the Offshore Events and Technical Conferences (OTC) where we get add-ons on latest oilfield technologies and innovations in the industry and carry them onward through trainings and scholarships to young engineers in some of our higher institutions of learning”.
“It will interest you to know that a popular digital App in the USA called ‘NEXIT’ is largely a PETAN-member investment. So PETAN will continue to give inspiration and aspiration to the Oil and Gas Industry with forward thinking Nigerian service industry players and National Oil companies (NOCs) while also aiding other technical local service companies to come to par with industry trends and emerging technologies”.
He commended the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for using a portion of the Nigerian Content Fund to develop new technologies while also engaging young minds in innovation through schemes such as the NCDMB Technology Hackathon and Nigerian Content Science and Technology Innovation Challenge (STIC) and urged more to avoid systematic corruption and dearth of brilliant minds in the industry.
