Part of the plan for the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigerian, PETAN’s participation in this year’s Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, holding at the Reliant Park, Houston Texas, in the United States, is how to attract more investments in Nigeria’s gas sector. The refocus on gas development follows the recent crash in the price of crude at the international oil market.

As designed by the organisers, OTC is where energy professionals meet to exchange ideas and opinions to advance scientific and technical knowledge for offshore resources and environmental matters. The conference and exhibition is an annual gathering of scores of thousands of people from around the world with interest in oil and gas, comprising policy makers, operators, professionals, manufacturers, business executives, entrepreneurs and visitors.

PETAN, which has been the coordinator of the Nigerian Pavilion at the OTC, said the conference “avails attendees an opportunity for engagement with key players in the industry.” The coordinator said Nigerian delegation to this year’s conference will include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, international oil companies, IOCs, independents, international and indigenous service companies, investors as well as representatives of government agencies.

Part of the activities scheduled by PETAN for the 4-day conference holding between May 4th and 7th, will include luncheon/panel sessions; Nigeria industry award dinner & Cocktail; business networking seminars, and will be rounded off with a golf tournament     For the exhibition, the Nigerian Pavilion will be hosted in Booths 1462, 1463, 1466, 1467, 1563 and 1567 at the Reliant Centre,

PETAN is an association of Nigerian technical oilfield service companies in both the upstream and downstream sectors, which promotes the development of technology in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry. It does this by mobilising active participation of indigenous firms in international conferences, seminars and workshops, training young graduates through internship programmes.

It also engages in active consultations with the legislative arm of government for enabling policies, its enforcement, and enhancing indigenous companies’ participation in major projects through robust engagements with the IOCs. Meanwhile, organisers of the OTC 2015 disclosed on its official website that technical programme during the conference will cover “a wide range of topics related to the offshore energy industry.”

They added that “OTC offers key insights by global experts on technological advances, safety and environmentally focused solutions, and economic and regulatory impacts.”

They further disclosed that this year, OTC received 1,313 proposals, the highest in the event’s history. It listed parts of the progamme to include technology improvement advances with specific reference to the application of aerospace technology to the energy industry, flexible pipe advancements and more.

Projecting into the future, the organisers noted that “As technology improves, what is on the horizon for flow assurance, applications of computational fluid dynamics, CFD, and extending the lifetime of current facilities.”