The Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) is strategising on policies to spur industry’s growth and lay solid foundation for transitioning into cleaner sources of energy.

Dr Henry Adimula, Principal and Chief Executive of PTI, said this, while addressing the newsmen on its forthcoming 3rd Biennal International Conference on Hydrocarbon Science and Technology (ICHST).

The conference is scheduled to hold in Abuja from Oct. 23 to Oct. 24, 2023 with the theme “The Future of Oil and Industry Opportunities, Challenges and Development”.

The conference, organised in collaboration with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) Academy and RTI and African Petroleum Producers Association (APPO) is hosted by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).

Adimula said apart from formulating practicable policies, which the conference aimed at achieving, it also looked forward to take into considerations evolving technology needed for future development and its workforce in the course of policy implementation.

“The whole world is in a phase, transiting from our traditional source of energy to a cleaner form of energy which provides a lot of opportunities but come with challenges which we must surmount.

“The challenges are on issues of financing, government policies and regulations and how they affect our proposed match to finding a cleaner source of energy and at the same time not creating problems of energy poverty,’’ he said.

He said the conference which was conceived to showcase its major activities and research outcomes in Nigeria and Africa at large then examine current issues in Nigerian energy industry and worldwide.

“By being a research hub, we look at the challenges then create a research clusters around Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) to find solutions and understand problems better,’’ he added.

Speaking on developing technologies in modular refineries, he said PTI as a primary training institution created such to help advancement of technology in that space.

“Looking at the practice and lack of technology being used by artisanal refiners we focus on developing concepts and training refiners so that whatever they do will not adversely affect environment.

“As an institute we have built up our own but will scale it up and find ways to make it commercial. We have our templates so that it is easier to bring people in and teach them on various components of what to encounter in the field.

“What we have today are people who do not know anything about refining but go into the creeks and begin to create pipelines, cook oil.

“No, we do it differently by training and equipping the refiners with necessary skills and various components of what to encounter in the field and contribute meaningfully to the economy,’’ he said.

Dr Tina Isichei, Director, Research and Development, PTI said issues bordering CCUS technology and inclusion in the curriculum would be deliberated on in the conference.

This, she said would assist the trainees to understand latest things in the industry.

She disclosed that the PTI is partnering with the NNPC Ltd to come up with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered Tricycle in view of the emphasis on the decade of gas and cleaner energy source.

“Discussions are on and the whole idea is to come up with one so that we could have gas to reduce amount of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) we consume and emission going into the atmosphere,’’ she said.

Isichei, who explained that its modular refinery which had capacity of processing about 200 litres of crude was being used for training, added that it was looking for partners to scale it up beyond 200 litres.

The conference which will feature ministers, legislators, international and local industry players will have four panel sessions on policy and legislation, strategies for decarbonisation, finance and talents.

PTI was established to train technicians and technologists for the energy industry.