- Nigeria is Africa’s main leading oil producer with production increased to an average of 1.16 million barrels per day (bpd) in June from 1.02 million recorded in May 2022
- Tanzania through the Association of Oil and Gas Service Providers (ATGOS) signed an MoU with Oman’s industry body in June
- The MoU was signed in a separate room during the ongoing energy congress held in Dar es Salaam Tanzania
Tanzania’s oil and gas industry just got a shot in the arm as the Association of Tanzania Oil, and Gas Service Providers (ATOGS) and Petroleum Association of Nigeria (PETAN) signed a skills transfer Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Tanzania.
The MoU which was signed in a separate room during the ongoing energy congress held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, comes at the right time as the fourth congress stresses on the continent’s top performers and technocrats to share knowledge and build meaningful partnerships to expand the oil and gas industry for the betterment of the continent.
Hon Abdulsamad Abdulsalim Vice Chairman of ATOGS, and PETAN’s chairman Nik Adinuwe witnessed the signing, which took place during the ongoing Tanzania energy congress.
The MoU stand to build local companies and human capital capacities for international players to collaborate with to realize Tanzania’s oil and gas ambition.
READ: Tanzania and Oman ink bold investment agreement
According to Hon. Abdulsamad Abdulsalim the MoU covers essential issues, including the transfer of skills and knowledge, which the ongoing energy congress highlighted as necessary for the successful development of the lucrative and complex sector.
The second issue the MoU covers is building capacity on health and safety standards, which is another key disqualifier marked on local companies when competing with global actors in the oil and gas market.
Further, the MoU brings onboard knowledge to help the local technocrats, upcoming companies, and experts submit and succeed at various tenders offered on the international markets. In most cases, local companies have lost tender bids to experienced foreign companies.
“We need the local players to understand deeply about these oil and gas related tenders and deliver within the internationally recognized standards”, He added.
The ATOGS chief didn’t hold back his grand ambition to transform Tanzania’s business operations for the greater good, highlighting Nigeria’s success story.
“We want to be a nation which has made great developments such as Nigeria in supporting its people and levitate the ordinary Tanzanians”, ATOGS Vice Chairman stressed.
Tanzania’s oil and gas association goes into a well-known territory as Nigeria holds extensive experience within the continent.
Nigeria is Africa’s top leading oil producer. Nigeria’s oil production increased to an average of 1.16 million barrels per day (bpd) in June from 1.02 million recorded in May 2022. In 2019, the industry contributed 5.8 per cent to GDP and was responsible for 95 per cent of foreign currency (Brookings).
READ: Oil and Gas in Africa: Tanzania takes lead as it hosts energy congress
PETAN Chairman highlighted his confidence in the MoU and its associated benefits as Nigeria stands to revitalize the Tanzanian oil and gas technical landscape.
“When you have the competency, you can challenge the nature of the work in your environment. For PETAN, we are happy to come here, spread out, collaborate, partner, and mentor with Tanzanians. The history of Tanzania and Nigeria goes a long way, and this is part of fortuning that relationship. I believe in the action we are going to take after this signing,” Aduniwe commented.
Another crucial angle the MoU explores is the establishment of technical learning institutions and a pool of technical human capital that effectively handles all oil and gas-related works coming into the landscape.
“We want our technical people to be well versed so that every project that comes in gets handled by Tanzanians. We want Tanzanians to benefit from these projects and the money earned,” He added.
Over the past decade, Tanzania has been striving to catch up with the rest of the developed world, angling for the partnership for exploration, extraction, production and distribution of natural gas and crude oil.
As a new entrant in the lucrative yet complex industry, Tanzania is battling a shortage of skilled experts and technology. This leads to missed opportunities, particularly in more significant projects, as locals fall short of necessary tools and industry-based know-how. Hence the MoU comes to address that gap.
The ATOGS chief noted that technical colleges will be established to address the latter as Abdulsalim argued that Tanzania cannot still produce world top-notch oil and gas experts.
The MoU give leeway to the private sector whereby an exchange program will benefit Tanzanian stakeholders to learn from Nigeria’s success stories and realize the learned experience back home.
One of the learning areas highlighted is environmental programs, where Nigeria will offer insights on studying opportunities for local companies to build capacity.
The agreement comes one month after ATOGS successfully signed another crucial MoU with Oman Society of Petroleum Services on co-operating on various issues in the sector.
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