PE Energy Identifies ESG as Key Factor to Drive Economic Prosperity in Nigeria

Uzoma Mba 

The Founder/Group Managing Director of PE Energy Limited, Daere Akobo, has identified  Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) as key element to drive economic prosperity in Nigeria.

According to Akobo, ESG together with resources, would help  Nigeria to achieve economic prosperity.

He said this in an exclusive interview with Majorwaves on the margins of the 2023 Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF), which held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State with the theme “The Oil and Gas Industry – Catalyst and Fuel for the Industrialisation of Nigeria.”

“A  catalyst is something that accelerates the production of any organism. What is going to fuel the growth is sustainability. And sustainability has to do with Environmental Sustainability, Social Activity, and Governance. Those three things together with resources will galvanise and bring us economic prosperity,” Akobo said.

The PE Energy boss said NOGOF has been able to showcase reasonably available opportunities in the industry,  and the support that  the regulatory authorities – the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) are providing for players.

“So without industrial policies, there’s no economic prosperity.  I put it in  three bubble: there is a bubble of the market,  a bubble of passion, and a bubble of the technology. So the three things put together will create what is called economic prosperity,” he said.

On local content development in the country’s oil and gas industry, he  said: “There are two words that we must begin to integrate in our discussion about local content. One is capacity. And one is capability.

“When somebody is capable of doing something, it means that it should be a trajectory. But when you’re talking about capacity,   you are talking about the present.

“Local content  is looking at capacity building. It means that as a child, you have to learn how to sit.  And when you learn how to sit, you will learn how to stand, when you learn how  to stand, you will learn how to stand properly.”

“So yes, there are companies that have the capability. But capacity comes with training, capacity comes with knowledge, capacity comes with availability of discharge. So if you don’t have that availability of discharge, you cannot have the capacity  that they’re talking about,” he added.

PE Energy is a Total Solution provider of Valve & Actuation, Measurement Solution, Power, Water and Process Technologies, Automation (E&I) Solution, Exploration & Production Solution, Digital Solution, and Supply Chain Solution for the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the  oil and gas industry.

PE Energy is a subsidiary of Pana Holdings Limited, which also has Synergy E&P as its exploration and production support company, while AKD Digital Solutions, another of its subsidiary,  provides digital solutions for the industry.

In May,  NXT Energy Solutions Inc. announced a ten-year strategic alliance and associated financing with Synergy E&P  which grants Synergy an exclusive license to use, distribute, sub-license, market and sell NXT’s SFD® solutions in Africa.

“PE Energy Limited, an affiliate of Synergy, has performed several commercial projects with NXT in Africa in the past.

“Synergy, with this new arrangement, will be advancing the SFD® technology to address energy security in and transition in the African continent for both oil and gas and geothermal sources. Synergy and NXT will work closely together to train local technical teams and regulatory authorities on the patented SFD® technology application and related knowledge transfer,” NXT said in a statement.

SFD® means  Stress Field Detector  technology, for airborne data acquisition, processing, interpretation, and integration.

AKD Digital Solutions Ltd on the other hand,  is a dynamic technology company that specializes in providing innovative digital solutions aimed at optimizing operational workflows, creating organized and actionable databases, and enabling clients to make informed, optimal decisions across their company’s value chain.