By Prince Okafor

NIGERIAN Association of Petroleum Explorationists, NAPE has challenged the Federal Government to develop public hydrocarbon management strategies for investment in the frontier basins.

In a report jointly signed by the President-elect and the outgoing President, Biodun Adesanya and  Nosa Omorodion respectively, NAPE stated that the  geological concepts at play in the Nigerian Frontier basins are relatively less understood, just as data management is not optimum, leading to poor quality decisions in exploration in frontier basins.

It noted the apparent lack of collaboration between the various government agencies involved in the exploration of these basins, as there is also significant lag-time between hydrocarbon discovery and first oil in Nigeria, due, in part, to the lack of clarity on fiscal and regulatory policy.

The report further recommends that the Federal Government must improve industry collaboration and effective communication channels to improve exploration success.

According to the report, operators must be given opportunities to propose areas of interests during licensing rounds.

NAPE also called for collaboration between the industry and academia in training, research and development, as well as knowledge management, while urging that government should provide a more conducive business environment for investors in terms of security, comfort, sanctity of contracts and transparency.