A stakeholder in the oil and gas sector of the nation’s economy, Patrick Obianime has called on the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to review its policies to confirm with modern exploration trends.
Obianime, a lecturer at the Port Harcourt Polytechnic stated that the current policies of DPR are archaic and could not be sustainable in modern oil explorations in a chat with The Tide from the sidelines of an event by Gas Alert for Sustainable Initiative (GASIN) in Akinima, headquarters of Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State, last Tuesday.
He noted that some aspects of the Petroleum Act guideline, in the oil and gas sector of the nation’s economy have been in existence for too long, saying, “they need to be changed for contemporary ones and they have been fundamental in the attainment of their purpose, but can no longer subsist in modern times”.
Obianime reasoned that there were vast technological advancements and better ways to doing business presently and stressed that the old expensive and less productive ways should be done away with.
He observed that opportunities abound in the Niger Delta, pointing out however that the challenge was in accessing these potentials to compete favourably at the global markets.
He added that exploration has evolved in many respects and as such current techniques must be adopted to ensure a shift in the profit margin of the oil and gas market.
Furthermore, he said the Niger Delta region still has a huge exploration potentials as the region is said to still have about 35 billion barrels of oil reserves, which he said could not be optimally realised if modern technological approach is not employed to explore and exploit the reserves.

Tonye Nria-Dappa