Financial Energy Review
The Director, Department of Petroleum Resources [DPR], Engr. Sarki Auwulu, has accepted to speak on digitalisation in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, as Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria, OGSPAN, has concluded plans to launch its Petrohub, a leading petroleum products digital marketplace at May Hill Hotel, 12 Muritala Eletu Street, Osapa London, Lekki, Lagos on January 29, 2020.
In a statement released in Lagos, the President of the association, Mazi Colman Obasi, who confirmed the development, stated: “The Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Engr. Sarki Auwulu is the Guest Speaker. He will speak on how digitalisation will provide businesses more opportunities for value creation in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.”
He stated: “The deployment of an efficient and effective information technology platform in the supplying and buying of petroleum products in the downstream to improve performance, service delivery and transparency at the depots have become imperative. The downstream sector of the oil and gas industry is to a large extent the engine house of the nation’s economy. Refining, the depot systems, procurement and distribution of petroleum products energizes the economy as it aids effective production of goods and services in industries, the movement of people and goods (transportation) to sustain socioeconomic activities across the country.
“The supplying, buying and haulage of petroleum products in the downstream is besiege with problems. The procurement process whereby unsuspecting buyers pay for products at the depots that are not available for loading thereby leading to loss of revenues and tying down operational funds of genuine business people is deplorable. These unwholesome practices by miscreants and unscrupulous depot owners and importers have stalled the businesses of many bulk-products buyers, dealers, marketers and transporters therefore tainting business reputation in the sector and scaring genuine investors.
“The goal of Petrohub is basically to provide online real time platform that will pull all the depots to an electronic marketplace where suppliers and buyers of petroleum products will meet on daily basis to transact business with minimal human interference. The e-trade will eliminate wastage of resources, time and energy expended by the parties as it will serve as a hub of information on product supply, pricing and haulage delivery and transparency and by so doing decongest the depots.”
“A Real-Time Web Portal Platform have been established to profile and register all stakeholders in the business – depots/products owners who will declare actual products available on the portal on daily/weekly basis for products buyers, dealers, marketers and transporters who use the portal to know where products are available before placing orders or make payment for loading to commence.
“The Petrohub is a real-time innovative technology marketplace portal where suppliers and buyers (and haulage providers) of petroleum products in the downstream interacts and engage one another directly on daily basis to promote the sales of their products in a transparent manner, make products delivery more efficient by proving live information and data on actual products volume available at the depots and live pricing data for potential buyers in exchange for goods, make payments and haulage products to their various destinations. The products include PMS, AGO, DPK, LPG and LPFO, bitumen, lube oil, etc.
“The portal will serve as substantive information hub for products suppliers and buyers on one hand and buyers and transporters on another. The Petrohub will prevent wastage or misapplication of resources in payment of products that does not exist and tying down of trucks without loading. It is a private sector initiative that digitally pulls all the depots together to enable live products trading and efficient delivery of services, thereby aiding effective production of goods and services in the industries and movement of people and goods for sustained economic activities in the country.”
Mazi Obasi stated: “Through portal display, misrepresentation, sharp practices, fraudulent companies and middlemen activities, etc. will be eliminated. Products buyers and transporters will have rest of mind as businesses will be conducted in the open with your laptop, smart phone, iPad, note book, etc. at your door steps on the click of a button. In effect, a buyer will not have to pay when there is no product, and a truck owner will not have to dispatch his truck for loading. Even if where there are products, OGSPAN personnel will be on ground to ensure that each truck is attended to with dispatch and efficiency.
“The platform is owned by Petrohub in collaboration with OGSPAN the operator and promoters of the business to streamline and automate the supply, buying and payment of petroleum products in the existing 123 depots across the country live, ensure integrity, transparency and efficiency in the procurement of products at the depots registered on the portal will be done live – real time, promote genuine investments/investors in the downstream, ensure that all such depots/products owners are profiled and declare the actual products available for sale real time and ensure that available products are loaded with dispatch while observing all rules and health safety environmental and quality guidelines at the depots.”
The president added: “It is also to encourage symbiotic relationship and synergy with depot owners, products owners, buyers and services providers in the downstream, ensure marketers/buyers have access to the platform to know which of the depots have products at a particular time, what volume and at what prices before procurement or purchase and loading are made, compete on the rate of learning by leveraging innovation and technology to identify and fulfil each individual customer’s changing needs and by deploying the best human and machines to unlock the full potentials of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and the collaborative ecosystems in the industry, consciously create both social and economic values to shape critical social issues that will increasingly and continuously improve our business sustainability in our environment and ecosystem, embrace new ideas and open communication practices and commitment to building diversity in the top management level to achieve innovation, resilience and unlock full potentials of diversity in the organisation, create a sense of urgency within the organisation to ensure that everyone truly understand that to win the 2020s there is the need for change the way we do things and explore the latest strategic trends, research and analysis and continuously gather information from data ecosystem for evidence based transformation.”
