Technology is vital to the energy sector. It is against this background that a new energy portal, EnergyHub, was unveiled in Lagos.
Dr Felix Amieyeofori, the Lead Promoter, said the new EnergyHub will drive growth in the sector.
Amieyeofori said the energy digital marketplace will provide collaborations among industry players in the sector, including service providers, operators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), investors, regulators, academia, renewable energy, energy information and technology providers.
Dr Felix Amieyeofori said the digital marketplace was designed to empower Business to Business (B2B), Business to Companies (B2C) and Companies to Companies (C2C) collaborations for businesses that provide energy.
He said the platform provides the digital space for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), vendors and suppliers, service and technology providers, Free Zone operators, oil and gas operators, regulators and government agencies, the academia, professional associations and stakeholders in the energy spectrum, to interact and collaborate.
According to Dr Felix Amieyeofori, for any developed country, an industry must have a relationship with the institutions.
He said: ‘’An industry has to come from innovation, creativity and l noticed that our high institutions are isolated and disconnected. There is no feedback mechanism. Many times l challenge my friends in the service oil industry. l said Nigeria has been producing oil since 1958, how come by now we don’t have a Nigerian oil gas technology, something that belongs to us?’’
Amieyeofori, who is the Chairman, Entek Integrated Resources Limited, continued: “That symbiotic relationship in thinking as one industry and coming together are still lacking. On the other hand, l see that lots of people both in and out were not able to access information in the industry. They don’t know what is happening in the industry or how to access vessels or materials for their operations. This, among others, called for the creation of an EnergyHub or ‘Collaboration Room’.
“The platform provides a space where energy stakeholders can enquire, acquire, lease, sell, advertise, and market their products and services just at the push of the button. Our vision is to see stakeholders in the oil and gas, and the broader energy spectrum to efficiently transact their businesses within a digital community at any time.’’
Amieyeofori, a former MD/CEO of Energia, also highlighted the benefits that Energyhub brings to the academia as it makes interactions between the school and the industry easy.
He said the platform also offers territory institutions the opportunity to showcase their creativities in research and development (R&D) to a wider audience and business community for recognition and partnership, adding that the platform will also facilitate the placement of students’ internship, and even employment opportunities in the Industry.
“EnergyHub will eventually bring the needed technology transfer and domestication not only within Nigeria, but also on the African continent as global technology providers come into the collaboration room to interact with Indigenous players.
We created a digital EnergyHub that will bring everybody together to display their services. With time there will be interactions, knowledge sharing and with time there will be “Big Data” and data analytics.
“As it progresses, we don’t need to search for information and services because it is a digital marketplace that we can search for information anywhere in the world.The EnergyHub has already been receiving global acceptance.”
He noted that with EnergyHub, they could create a digital Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), Society of Petroleum Engineers’ (SPE) conference and for NAPE, among others.
‘’It gives opportunity to the universities to show any ground breaking research to the world as well as upload their best I. T. students for employers to contact.
‘’It will make sure that universities are aware of the challenges of the industries and tailor research topics at masters, doctorate, and bachelor levels to find solutions to such challenges and problems,’’ he added.
The Corporate Business Manager, Ms Blessing Muoneme, pointed out that Energyhub will further provide topical energy news and updates, events/conferences and business intelligence for all its partners.
She said this was to ensure that partners were kept abreast with information that would enhance their business decisions.
She added: “The benefits of the EnergyHub are massive. The vision is to offer opportunities for research based economy where both oil and gas operators, academics and researchers can tap into the opportunities.
“It’s also beneficial to the media, for instance, if they have breaking news on the oil and gas sector, we would pull it out from their website, post on the EnergyHub website with the newspapers names accredited and because it is a hub that brings people together, we are also looking at collaboration with the media houses.”
