Okechukwu Nnodim, Abuja
Nigeria has maintained an excellent record in the submission of data from its oil and gas sector in the past three years, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has said.
According to OPEC, Nigeria had during the period under review submitted accurate, complete and timely data of activities in its oil sector, adding that the country was among the first three nations in the cartel that performed excellently in this regard.
The Head, Data Services Department, OPEC, Adedapo Odulaja, stated this on Monday during the cartel’s data management training workshop at the headquarters of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund in Abuja.
He said, “The performance of Nigeria in submitting data to OPEC has been very excellent in the past three years. The data submitted are as accurate as possible and complete.
“We lay emphasis on data because the material we work with at OPEC is data and not crude, and these data are collected from all member countries of the organisation.”
The OPEC Governor for Nigeria, Omar Farouk, said the country ranked third among member nations in the submission of data to the organisation.
“In the last three years, things have changed; OPEC is very happy with us; the accuracy of our data has improved tremendously. Also, the timeliness of the submission of our data has improved tremendously. I believe that as of today, we are the third in the hierarchy of data submission,” he stated.
Farouk said the major focus of the training would be on every part of data from crude oil production, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, oil consumption, gas and refinery run, among others.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Folasade Yemi-Esan, noted that the ministry had been working with the Central Bank of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics and Debt Management Office, among others, to ensure accuracy of data collection.
She called on OPEC to ensure that the training exposed participants to more valuable ways of gathering data in-country, adding that observers often said that Nigeria lacked a repository of oil sector data.
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