Oil & Energy

Total And Sustainable Dev Practice

Published

15 years ago

June 13, 2011

Corporate relations responsibility is a core value to any successful business venture and to Total Exploration and Production Nigeria (TEPN) Limited, it is not just a responsibility but a commitment. This commitment has propelled the company’s core value in corporate social responsibility which basically include respect for the environment and the enhancement of social and economic well being of communities hosting its facilities. The company has made concerted efforts in putting in place structures and programmes for the improvement of the well being of its host communities.

Little wonder Total has been adjudged the best in the oil and gas industry in terms of its corporate social responsibility delivery to host communities which is hinged on the concept of sustainable development.

The concept stresses that when indigenous communities run majority of their programmes through institutions and enterprise set up by themselves and for themselves with Total as partners, high sustainability is maintained.

This, no doubt, has greatly paid off for the company as amidst the restiveness that other oil companies face, for Total upsstreams companies in the country, the relationships with all the communities that host its facilities have been robust and cardinal. They have operated in relative peace with all their neighbours and stakeholders. The acceptance by host communities and the perception of the Company as a role model in Corporate Social responsibility delivery by the larger society have placed the company in a good stead in the oil and gas industry. Only recently, the company’s sustainable development practice was stretched to those at the other end of society as in mates of charity homes in Port Harcourt were showered with gifts worth millions of Naira.

Among the homes visited were Home for the Elderly, Harbour Road, Motherless Babies Home Borokiri, Global Foundation for Orphaned Chilren, Ikwerre Road by Rumuokwuta and David Bassey Ikpama Home Eagle Island.

Items donated to these homes include food stuff, baby cots/Matrrases, branded wooden beds, baby changing station, provisions among others.

Presenting the items, the company’s Public Relation Manager, Port Harcourt district, Mr. Ikwazom Norbert said, “it is the tradition of Total to share the concerns of its host communities and especially during festive periods, we let every facet of society have a feel of Total’s presence”.

Responding to the gesture, Cliff Jarrell, the father of the family of almost 40 orphaned children (Global foundation for Orphaned Children) said “it is a huge help, you have taken a huge burden from me. I thank Total for being agent of mercy. An agent of change; an angel to the home. You will surely be rewarded”.

In the same vein, Mrs Barile Austine Nwakoh, Matron of the Port Harcourt Children’s Home said Nigeria would have being a much better place if we have more of the likes of Total, urging others to emulate the company.

Indeed, Nigeria, specifically the Niger Delta would have been a better place if we had many more companies like Total in existence companies that would put the people at the centre of policy formulation and implementation in the delivery of social programmes in their domains.

The practice, rather, industry-wide has been the usual appeasement of community leaders through payments and assistance which ended up not meeting the real needs of the people.

And sometimes, the appeasement ends up in the pockets of some priviledged few.

At other times when these companies go beyond payments and assiatnace to the provision of basic infrastructure which did not, emanate from community consultation, it could not be sustained as the stakeholders or communities were disconnected from such programmes.

No wonder most projects carried out by companies that took this approach end up either being abandoned or decadent due to lack of maintenance. The people become discontented and naturally results to resentment and aggression.

Total had a paradigm shift in its corporate social responsibility delivery to host communities since 2007 which has set it apart in the oil and gas industry. Total’s approach has not only been adjudged the industry bench mark but has made the company to have commensurate value for projects and programmes initiated; and the host communities derive full satisfaction.

Hear what Mr. Edem Etim Ebong, Chairman, Ibeno Youth Development Council said in an interview:

“Total has been one of the best oil and gas company Ibeno has associated with. It is the first oil company so far that will sit down with the community and discuss their developmental needs so as to have a framework of agreement on what is expected from each party … the relationship has taken off well and it is cordial”.

In demonstration of the company’s commitment to the educational development of its host communities, the company in collaboration with the consultancy division of Benviatto Schools Limited organised the 2011 Career Guidance and Counselling Programme for secondary Schools in its, OML 58 areas. The 2011 edition was the third in the series which had about 163 students drawn from eleven secondary schools in OML 58, NYSC members, teachers and community representatives’.

The company’s General Manager, Sustainable Development and Public Affairs, Mr. Vincent Nnadi represented by Anthony, Umesi, head, Educational Development said the programme is one of the compnay’s valued programme aimed at exposing students to various career.

By the programme students from the communities are exposed early in their lives to the variety of courses and professions available. They are placed in a vantage position to choose courses that they have aptitude in as it will be easier to excel and add more value to society in such chosen fields.

Also a limelight was thrown on the importance the company’s attaches to the health of indigenes of its host communities during the maiden edition of the training workshop for Traditional Birth Attendants in Akabuka. It was organised in collaboration with Partners on Health Resources and over 62 participants from OML 58 communities. The aim is to build the capacity of participants on effective maternity services and health care delivery.

Total is one company that is in the forefront in the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry local Content Development (NOGIC) Act. An Act that is geared towards the establishment of facilities in the country and ensuring they are patronised in a bid to bring Nigerians jobs back home for instance the Akpo Oil and Gas Deeproater Development Project (OML130) which delivered its first oil in 2009 had 7.85 million man-hours in local employment, 25,900 tonnes of steel in local fabrication and an overall Nigeria content value of 80 per cent.

The first Nigeria’s privately owned vessel, MV OSAYAME came into being through the support of Total.

One can therefore make bold to say that Total is one company that is committed to extending socio-economic benefits to all the areas where it operates.

Borrowing the words of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer – Churchill, “Courage is what it takes to stand up to speak and courage is what it takes to sit down and listen” Relationship can be marred or sustained through the courage to give and receive. And in every relationship there is time to give and a time to receive; a time to understand and to be understood. Therefore at every point, both ends have something to do which is usually a onerous task that takes courage to accomplish.

Total has performed its part of the pact creditably by paying the price to keep the relationship with host communities thereby getting a great value for both parties involved.

Price going to prove Warren Edward Buffet’s words that, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get”.

Vivian-Peace Nwinaene

Oil & Energy

Can Cheap Batteries Deliver COP31’s 35% Electrification Goal?

Published

5 days ago

November 9, 2026

The Tide

Electrification will be the major focus of the COP31 United Nations climate conference, to hold in Antalya, Türkiye, from today, November 9 to 20, 2026. The host country will invite the attending nations to sign onto a voluntary pledge to reach 35 percent electrification on a global level by 2035. J

ust a year ago, this target may have seemed overly ambitious, but now, experts say that a number of factors, including volatile oil and gas markets stemming from the war in Iran, paired with enormous advances in clean energy technologies, have put that goal within “striking distance.”

The months-long closure of the Strait of Hormuz has catalyzed the clean energy transition and the rate of electrification around the world. Before the United States and Israel began their military offensive in Iran back in February of this year, one fifth of the world’s oil and gas trade flowed through the Strait of Hormuz. Its abrupt closure therefore sent global oil and gas markets into turmoil and sent energy-importing countries around the world scrambling for alternatives, especially ones that they could produce and control on their home soil. And, just like that, renewable energy became the new face of energy security.

“Wind and solar cannot be embargoed, blockaded, or shut off by a foreign power,” David Frykman, General Partner at Stockholm-based venture capital group Norrsken, wrote in an op-ed for Fortune earlier this year. “Every terawatt-hour of domestic renewable generation is a terawatt-hour that no adversary can weaponize.”

But there is another, quieter force that has made this rapid global pivot toward renewable energies possible – the energy storage boom. Energy storage is critical to ensure grid stability in the face of rapid electrification and the increasing representation of intermittent energy sources like wind and solar power in national energy mixes. Major advances in the sector in recent years have made battery storage more affordable and more scalable than ever before – just in time for the world’s most recent bout of ‘fossilflation.’

“What’s really become a game-changer in the past two years is the rapid deployment of large-scale batteries that can hang onto ever larger amounts of power to be used throughout the day to smooth out demand and avoid overtaxing the grid,” Forbes wrote in a Monday report.

The second quarter of this year saw the United States’ largest-ever energy storage expansion, at 20.2 gigawatt-hours of additional capacity, according to a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. That puts this year’s total additions at 30.8 GWh – and counting.

“Although President Trump is no fan of renewable energy or batteries, utility-scale energy storage capacity still nearly doubled to 165 GWh from 88 GWh in the first 18 months of his administration,” the Forbes article goes on to detail. “Grid operators, utilities and data center developers are all buying batteries as fast as they can to meet power demand and improve grid reliability. As a result, battery energy storage systems supplied more electricity to the grid in the year’s first eight months than in all of 2025.”

Ironically, despite his best efforts, Donald Trump is overseeing one of the United States’ most significant clean energy booms in the nation’s history as solar and wind have simply become too cheap to fail. And the United States is not alone. Buoyed by a flood of cheap solar panels and battery storage systems coming out of China, even the world’s poorest countries are experiencing clean energy revolutions.

“Some countries are pulling off stunningly fast energy transitions, adding solar so rapidly, it’s become a major source of electricity over the course of years — not decades,” reports CNN.

Pakistan has become the surprise poster child of this trend as residents install rooftop solar and batteries faster than any other market on Earth, as these systems provide electricity more cheaply and reliably than the country’s own beleaguered energy infrastructure. In addition, emerging economies including Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Morocco, Kenya, and Namibia have all overtaken the United States – the world’s largest economy – in their clean energy transitions.

By Haley Zaremba

Oil & Energy

MAN, Ministry Tackle High Electricity Costs, Erratic Supply

Published

5 days ago

November 9, 2026

The Tide

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has said it is working with the Federal Ministry of Power to address high electricity tariffs, unreliable grid supply and rising energy costs that are undermining industrial production and competitiveness in the country.

The association said the collaboration would focus on developing sustainable energy solutions for manufacturers, including renewable energy, battery storage, captive power generation and improved electricity distribution.

Speaking during the second edition of the Manufacturers Energy Security and Energy Efficiency Summit in Lagos, the President, MAN, Dr. Ifeanyi Okoye, regretted that high electricity tariffs, unreliable grid supply and heavy dependence on fossil fuels had made industrial production exceptionally difficult.

Okoye said energy expenses consumed nearly half of some factories’ operating budgets, weakening their competitiveness, increasing product prices and threatening jobs.

He said manufacturers had continued to operate their own power infrastructure despite paying for electricity from the national grid.

“When energy expenses claim nearly half of a factory’s operating budget, competitiveness evaporates, retail prices skyrocket, and jobs are placed on the line,” he said.

Okoye said the association was moving beyond advocacy to implement practical solutions through its Industrial Energy Cost Reduction and Energy Support Programme, as key partners in delivering the initiative.

According to him, the programme would promote factory-roof solar installations, battery energy storage systems, captive natural gas generation and smart energy management networks to reduce production costs and protect manufacturers from global fuel price shocks.

He, however, stressed that manufacturers needed affordable, long-term financing to undertake the energy transition.

“We cannot finance 21st-century industrial transitions with 30-day commercial bank loans at cut-throat interest rates,” Okoye said.

He said the summit would bring financial institutions, climate funds and green investors together to develop long-tenured, low-interest financing instruments, carbon credit opportunities and asset-financing

Also speaking, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, warned industrial customers against unauthorised electricity connections.

He disclosed that investigations had uncovered about 14 industrial customers along a particular corridor who owed more than N400m in unpaid electricity charges over several years.

Tegbe said such practices deprived the electricity sector of revenue needed to sustain power supply and unfairly burdened consumers who paid their bills.

“Such conduct deprives the sector of revenue that we need to sustain the supply, and unfairly burdens consumers who pay honestly,” Tegbe said.

The minister vowed to recover the outstanding charges and hold those responsible accountable, urging MAN to encourage its members to maintain lawful electricity connections and comply with applicable regulations.

Tegbe acknowledged that manufacturers continued to struggle with electricity interruptions, poor power quality, vandalism and electricity theft, adding that the government was directing investments towards addressing the underlying problems.

Speaking on behalf of manufacturers, the MAN South-East Chairman, Ada Chukwudozie, said energy had become a question of survival and competitiveness for Nigerian manufacturers.

She said manufacturers were increasingly financing and managing their own electricity infrastructure while struggling with rising production costs and limited access to capital.

“We are effectively running a second power system paid for by ourselves, besides the grid we also pay for. And that is why for the Nigerian manufacturer, energy is no longer simply an operational issue. It is a question of survival and competitiveness,” Chukwudozie said.

She explained that unreliable electricity supply forced manufacturers to make difficult choices between purchasing energy and raw materials, maintaining equipment and paying workers.

The regulator added that manufacturers could strengthen their competitiveness by adopting cleaner energy sources as international markets increasingly imposed environmental and carbon-related requirements on products and supply chains.

Oil & Energy

Reps Panel Dismisses Petition Against NIPCO gas Licence

Published

5 days ago

November 9, 2026

The Tide

The House of Representatives has dismissed a petition seeking the cancellation of gas distribution licences awarded to NIPCO Plc, ruling that the petitioners failed to provide credible evidence to substantiate their allegations.

The decision followed a review by the House Sub-Committee on the Petition concerning NIPCO Plc, which rejected the complaint filed by the Nigerian Energy Security Watch Group (NESWG) for lacking substance and evidential support.

The petition had called for an investigation into, and the suspension and cancellation of, gas distribution licences issued by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to NIPCO for Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Osun states, as well as the Lagos and Lekki Free Trade Zones.

Announcing the decision last Thursday, the Chairman of the Sub-Committee, Peter Aniekwe, said the petitioners relied on hearsay and failed to establish any wrongdoing in the licensing process.

“At its sitting today, the Sub-Committee resolved not to proceed with the investigation, and the petition is accordingly dismissed,” Aniekwe said.

The committee, which also includes Dahaltu Shehu, was constituted in October to examine the petition. It was granted an additional 14 days on October 26 to conclude its assignment.

Aniekwe said the issuance and regulation of gas distribution licences were statutory responsibilities of the NMDPRA under the Petroleum Industry Act, while stressing that the National Assembly would continue to exercise oversight over the process.

He disclosed that the regulator had committed to completing and rolling out gas distribution licensing in the fourth quarter of 2026, adding that the committee would monitor the implementation.

“Nigerians deserve a gas market that is open, competitive and safe, and investors deserve rules that are clear and stable,” he said.

The lawmaker reaffirmed the House’s commitment to considering petitions from individuals and organisations with genuine concerns about the petroleum sector, saying “each complaint would be assessed on its merits”.