Six Strathmore University Masters of Oil and Gas students in the 2018 cohort visited Nigeria to interact with the country’s private and public oil and gas sector in order to have a practical assessment of the oil and gas industry, to meet oil and gas practitioners and to study the correlation between oil and gas law and other aspects of oil and gas contract negotiations.

The practice of oil and gas is more practical than theoretical and it is imperative that students are exposed to the multi-disciplinary nature of oil and gas contract negotiations. The Nigerian oil and gas industry has one of the best local content policies in Oil and Gas and has several locally owned integrated energy service providers making it a great learning destination for a country like Kenya which intends to embrace local content in the industry.

Private and public sector engagement

The first part of the trip covered private sector engagement. They were hosted by Oando Plc, one of Africa’s largest integrated energy solution providers, during a two-day intense knowledge sharing/academia visit to the company. They also toured the company’s mid-stream and downstream businesses, Axxela Group and OVH Energy, as well as learning from their trading arm, Oando Trading. Besides the substantive oil and gas practice, the visit demonstrated the Oando culture, a culture that opens its doors to students and, most importantly, a culture that embraces and embodies local content and is driven by young, vibrant and highly qualified Nigerians. The Oando Plc culture is a reassurance that Africa can do it for Africa and that local content is achievable if appropriate measures are put in place.

The second half of the academic visit involved engagements with the public sector. The Director General/CEO of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) spoke about environmental governance in the oil and gas sector. The group also met Eng. Johnson Awoyomi, Group General Manager, State Petroleum Resources, Dr. Lawrence Chidi Anukam and Dr. Yunana Jackdell Malo, the Head of the Energy Directorate at the Bureau of Public Enterprises. Furthermore, they visited the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency. Noting Kenya’s relatively nascent oil and gas sector, managing government policy against investor interests is important to ensure sustainability and maximum economic recovery.

Courtesy call to Kenyan High Commissioner in Nigeria

The visits also served to nourish the various dissertation topics chosen by the students. The group paid the Kenyan High Commission in Nigeria a courtesy call and had a closed-door meeting with Dr.Wilfred Machage, Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria and his Deputy High Commissioner/Head of Chancery, Lydia Momanyi.

 

This article was written by Mohamed Ramadhan Ruwange, Oil, Gas & Mining Lawyer/Lecturer, at the Strathmore Law School

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