Robust and balanced fiscal regime that matches development cost and size has been described as essential for effective deployment of technology to guarantee proper development of Africa’s vast resources, Mark Ward has said.

Ward, who is the chairman and managing director, Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) and the lead country manager, ExxonMobil affiliates in Nigeria made the assertion in a keynote speech at the just concluded 2011 Society of Petroleum Engineers, Nigerian Annual International Conference and Exhibition in Abuja, recently.

The ExxonMobil boss said technology which continues to elvove to help meet people’s needs would have great impact in addressing the needs and issues in future, and would continue to play a critical role in enabling the achievement of energy secuirty objectives.

He explained that the solution to the challenge of satisfying future global demands lies in effective deployment of innovative technologies which would enable the full development of all the resource types from ultra-deep water to un-conventional resources like heavy oil, coal bed, methane, shale gas etc, the optimisation of energy utilisation and also mitigating the environmental impact of energy development and use.

The note reads partly: “Most forecasts predict that global energy demand will be up 35 per cent more in 2030 than today, driven by growth in population and economic activity. The forecasts also indicate that oil and gas will continue to constitute above 60 per cent of the global energy mix as no other energy source can match their availability, affordability and scale.

“So, as the international energy community is busy working on technologies that underpin growth in renewable energy sources as well as nuclear power and lower emission coal, it is critical for us to deliver technology innovations and improvements that will enable increased supplies of oil and gas that will be needed to support economic growth in the years to come.

“Much of the earth’s remaining recoverable oil resources are found in complex geological formations, remote locations, and under harsh conditions. Leading edge technologies are needed to overcome these challenges and bring these abundant resources to market, to  the continued success of the industry, it is a key foundation of ExxonMobil. We take a long-term approach to investment in technology. We spend more than $1 billion  annually on research and developemnt,”  he said.

On how Africa fits into the above, Ward said with a  resource base of about 182 GB it produces an average prodcution capacity of 10.5m bbls of crude oil per day culminating to 12. 5 per cent of the world’s total, stressing that the continent continues to show significant growth in exploration and production.

He added that Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Egypt and Libya were the five countries that dominate the upstream oil production and account for 85 per cent of the continent’s total oil  production.

He reasoned that due to the significant activity growth in the deepwater and unconventional sub-segments  in Africa in the near future which require cost-effective development, there was need for significant technology deployment.

Vivian-Peace Nwinaene