PETAN: Local oil ownership must benefit Nigerian firms

The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has called for a bigger role for indigenous oil and gas service companies, warning that local ownership of petroleum assets will deliver limited benefits unless Nigerian firms also control the technology and services required to operate them.

The association said the growing participation of indigenous operators in asset ownership must be matched by opportunities for Nigerian service providers to handle increasingly complex technical and operational contracts across the oil and gas value chain.

PETAN’s Publicity Secretary, Dr Joan Faluyi, made the call at the 2026 Energy Conference of the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria (NAEC) in Lagos recently, stressing that capable Nigerian companies had the expertise and field experience to support the country’s expanding indigenous upstream sector.

“Our members bring the technical expertise and field experience to do this, creating jobs and retaining value in Nigeria. With the right investment and enabling environment, they can take on larger and more complex scopes,” Faluyi said.

She maintained that expanding indigenous participation beyond asset ownership would create more jobs, deepen local technical capacity and ensure that a greater share of the value generated by Nigeria’s oil and gas industry remains within the country.

Faluyi called for the right investment climate and stronger support to enable indigenous service companies to compete for and execute larger contracts, including technically demanding projects that could otherwise depend on foreign expertise.

She also commended NAEC for sustaining public discourse on energy issues and providing a platform for policymakers, operators and service providers to discuss challenges and opportunities across the industry. Faluyi expressed hope that the conference would produce practical commitments to expand indigenous participation across the energy value chain.

She congratulated recipients of the NAEC Industry Awards and urged industry stakeholders to translate the conference’s deliberations on access into tangible opportunities for Nigerian companies and lasting progress in the sector.