Africas oil and gas business will continue to experience growth after 2016, a report by oilfield service company Baker Hughes announced
Ayo Shote, managing director of Baker Hughes Nigeria, said that investments will continue to flow into the continent’s growing oil and gas industry.
According to Shote, Nigeria had high potential in the west African belt but countries in other parts of the continent too could be targeted for growth.
“The big portion of growth will be in Nigeria. It has the biggest market globally and in Africa as well. We are also witnessing the increasing importance of indigenous participation in Nigeria,” added Shote.
In order to increase the rate of investments in Africa’s oil and gas business, Baker Hughes said that it had spent US$500mn on research and development.
The company was able to achieve success in its operations in Africa due to its focus on training. In 2014, Baker Hughes has set a target to employ 968 field engineers and mathematicians. Out of these, 27 are PhD holders.
Nigeria has vast offshore fields that have not been explored fully yet, according to Shote. KPMG’s Oil and Gas Africa Report 2014 stated that the country is currently focusing on deep and ultra-deep offshore areas with some activities planned in the Chad Basin and is likely to continue exploring deep offshore fields in the next couple of years.
