NCDMB hosts Ministers, industry big wigs in Bayelsa for 2023 Practical Nigerian Content Forum

The 17-story Nigerian Content Tower (NCT), Headquarters of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Swali, Yenagoa, will host oil and gas industry eggheads and policy makers for the yearly Practical Nigerian Content (PNC) Forum 2023, 12th edition, starting on December 4.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and his Gas counterpart, Hon. Ekperikpo Ekpo would lead other industry big wigs to Yenagoa for one of the biggest events in the calendar of the oil and gas industry.

The Ministers are expected to deliver addresses and point out the direction of the Federal Government’s thinking concerning Nigerian Content and investment strategies.

The PNC is hosted by the NCDMB in partnership with DMG Events and Bayelsa State Government and this year’s edition will open with an invitational golf tournament and welcome dinner – the first of the three gala nights that would be sponsored by Coleman Wires and Cables, the Bayelsa State Government and the Nigeria LNG Ltd. The Forum will end on Thursday, December 7, 2023 with a visit by delegates to the facility of MG VOWGAS in Port Harcourt, River State.

The PNC will feature, among other top class presentations, the opening keynote address by the host and Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote. The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, the Chief Executive, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPA), Engr. Farouk Ahmed, alongside other key industry figures would also feature prominently in the 4-day event. The Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari is also expected to grace the PNC as he had always done in previous years.

Major international oil companies (IOCs), members of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), and service companies, would be actively participating in the conference, with their chief executive officers functioning in one capacity or the other, principally as moderators of panel discussions, panelists or delivering papers on critical subjects relating to local content practice in the oil and gas industry.

Key subjects for the panel sessions include “Providing an Enabling Environment for Investment in the Energy Sector,” “Opportunities in Decarbonisation and Domestic Gas Utilization,” “Deepening Nigerian Content in the Manufacturing Sector,” “Financing a Thriving Midstream Sector for Socioeconomic Development,” and “Sustainable Framework for Human Capacity Development.” Presentations on Research and Development Success Stories are also expected.

There will be elaborate exhibitions, while the PNC Forum will also afford prospective investors and clients as well as fund managers an interactive platform with key Federal Government officials overseeing the oil and gas sector, key industry operators, service providers, and chief executives of regulatory agencies. Among the industry players, a major activity will the evaluation of their performances in local content practice, and consideration of appropriate adjustments aimed at better results.

Equally to be showcased are opportunities for collaboration and partnership between the public sector and private business interests and between the private sector and the academia as well as emerging opportunities from divestments by IOCs and the decarbonisation drive in the industry.