With an estimated 125 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and over 600 Trillion Cubic Feet of natural gas reserves in Africa, the continent should not hasten to abandon fossil fuel, the Petroleum Institute Effurun, Delta State warned on Monday.
The institution also hinted that it has commenced the development of local technology to assist in oil exploration, modular refineries and drilling.
The Principal and Chief Executive of PTI, Dr Samuel Onoji, stated these during a press briefing on its forthcoming 4th Biennial International Conference on Hydrocarbon Science and Technology ((ICHST) with the theme, “Transforming Africa’s Hydrocarbon Sector: Balancing Growth, Environment and Governance”, scheduled for this Wednesday October 22 2025
According to him, instead of abandoning fossil fuel, African nations should strive to deepen research and development of local technologies that enable the exploitation and utilization of oil and gas endowment in a more environmentally friendly manner as the reality of global demand for fossil fuel is expected to linger for the next 50 years.
He said the ICHST will also provide the platform to nurture the next generation of energy professionals, offering students and young researchers opportunity to interact and grow their competencies.
Onoji said the technical papers to be presented at the conference cover different areas of the hydrocarbon value chain from exploration to abandonment/decommission and new developments in environmental management, Artificial Intelligence/Robotics and carbon capture utilization and storage among others.
He said, “With an estimated 125 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and over 600tcf of natural gas reserves in Africa, it is our considered opinion that Africa should not hasten to abandon fossil fuel but should strive to deepen research and development of local technologies that enable the exploitation and utilization of our oil and gas endowment in a more environmentally friendly manner as the reality of global demand for fossil fuel is expected to linger for the next 50 years.
“Today, we are confronted with the stark reality that only a few African countries have been able to master certain aspect of oil production technology and fabricate key machineries for the industry. Thus, this conference intends to focus on research in these key areas with the aim of developing local content capacity in oil technology.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the oil and gas sector in Nigeria and by extension Africa is experiencing unprecedented transformation in hydrocarbon resources, increased investments in exploration activities, declaration of 2021-2030 as decade of gas by the Federal Government of Nigeria, increased participation by the local players as well as regulatory reforms that align with the theme.
“As the world grapples with energy transition utilization of fossil fuels to cleaner and more environmentally friendly sources of energy, the Petroleum Training Institute through this conference has taken a bold step to kick-start research and development effort that takes cognizance of the peculiarity of African’s hydrocarbon situation.
“The past three conferences were the foundations we built upon over the years as our resolve is to keep blazing the trail in the delivery of training solutions, research and development while fully appreciating the dynamics of the global oil and gas industry and the challenges posed by the global energy transition.”
The PTI Chief Executive said the realization of the conference is a product of commendable partnership with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) NNPC Academy, NNPC-RTI, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and Cypher-Crescent Ltd.
Friday Olokor
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