FG advised to review policies to enhance ease of doing business

The Federal Government has been advised to review some of the policies in oil and gas industry so as to enhance the ease of doing business in the sector.

According to some of the operators, doing business within the sector has become extremely challenging in the country as a result of the red tapes that investors have to overcome in the course of carrying out their business transactions.

They therefore advised the government to do some reviews at the policy levels so that the constraints on ease of doing business in oil and gas industry would be eliminated.

Some of the identified challenges include, meeting the condition NIPEX have put in place to getting licenses from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), paying for safety and standards, among others.

Group Managing Director, BRADE Group, Ese Avanoma, stated that local content needs to be better strengthened and supported just as other duplicated policies in the oil and gas should be looked at and be reviewed by the government for the purpose of ease of doing business in the industry.

He said the government must see how it can reduce the red tapes in the industry which have really increased.

The BRADE Group boss who said his six companies operate across Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda doing drilling and completion operations, explained that drilling of oil and gas wells are core areas of its operations.

“Our focus is also on heavy duty equipment used for these jobs, such as oil pipes and line pipes. In addition, the group is looking at the adaptation of a new technology in the industry that would reduce the cost of crude oil production”, he added.

Most recently, he said his company went into the Production of chemicals as well.

“In summary, we are into drilling and completion of oil and gas well, heavy equipment to service the oil industry, manufacture of chemicals and new technology adaptation in Nigeria,” he said

Speaking further on the adaptation of new technology into the oil and gas industry in the country, he said the oil and gas industry has undergone some major reviews in recent past both which have negative and positive impacts. He said however that cost has been the major driver of the industry.

“As you must have noticed, the oil industry has undergone major review in the past few years; cost is one of the major drivers. We use to have a barrel of crude oil costing $100, today it cannot be anywhere higher than $60 per barrel. We will bring in new technologies and adapt them to the Nigerian environment to see how they can reduce the cost of producing a barrel of oil here”.

He said the cost of producing oil is so high in the country explaining that such new technologies will change the way things are done traditionally for better results.