Dr. Bukola Olusola, MD, Matrix Energy
Matrix Energy Exploration and Production Company Limited is a subsidiary of Matrix Energy Group.
With the exit of the International Oil Companies (IOCs), from some onshore and small fields, the company takes the advantage and opportunity to venture into the upstream sector.
Dr. Bukola Korede Olusola, Managing Director of Matrix Energy, who spoke in an interview with Energy Focus Report on the sideline of the Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES), said the company moves into the upstream sector to contribute to national oil production and assist the country to fully utilize its resources and potentials.
Excerpts:
What can you tell us about Matrix Energy Exploration and Production Company Limited?
I am Dr. Bukola Korede Olusola, Managing Director of Matrix Energy Exploration and Production Company Limited. We are a subsidiary of the Matrix Energy Group and it is an integrated energy company. We started our business from the downstream arm and today, we have fully set up to operate in the upstream business where we are focused and based on our performance in the industry, we are open and ready to grow the business through asset acquisitions and strategic partnerships with other upstream players.
Matrix is known in the downstream and you are moving to the upstream. What propelled your action to move out from the downstream to the upstream which some other companies will not delve into because of its challenges and capital intensive?
Of course we started from the downstream business, and we’ve been able to demonstrate excellent leadership and resounding success in the downstream arm. In the course of the years, there seems to be a need for Nigeria, as a nation to be fully involved in the end to end business of the oil and gas industry. With the exit of the International Oil Companies (IOC), from some onshore and small locations, it became imperative for us as Matrix Energy to move into the upstream sector, wherein we can contribute to national oil production and help the nation to fully utilize its resources from upstream all the way to the downstream business.
So the marginal field is our entry strategy. But having spent the last two years working on downstream assets, it is critical for us to grow our production and support the federal government with the drive to increase national production, increase gross revenue from oil and gas and also encourage indigenous participation in the upstream sector.
The challenges would always be there and that is why the likes of us are in the business to tackle those challenges and help the nation to take the business to the next level.
Basically, do you have the wherewithal and fund to go into upstream?
In upstream, what determine your performance is not fund but rather vision. When you have the vision and people to carry out that vision, the funds will come. It is not often by the size of funds that you have. But how well you’re able to scale your operations and manage the funds. This is why as an organization, rather than starting with the bigger blocs, we started with small fields and we use that to learn the trade and business. Having done that and also being part of the first set of marginal field players to take an asset to first oil and gas production. We are now ready to move further and start investing in the bigger assets. What is critical is how you exhibit your project and utilize the right people to deliver your results.
Generally, the industry is focusing on energies, which involve power, renewables, gas and others in the value chain. Will Matrix explore other means apart from oil?
The energy transition is real. It is therefore important for the nation to embrace closely to the energy mix agenda.
Matrix is fully in tune with the agenda of energy mix. At the moment, as a nation energy is a transition and we believe is what would use significantly to develop the domestic market in Nigeria.
Part of our portfolio and strategy is to operate a zero gas flare such that we can use the gas that we produce from our fields to upscale our downstream business of supplying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to domestic market. We’re also working on a strategy that allows us to produce compressed natural gas (CNG), which is now what the government is promoting today for adoption by various end users.
Matrix has a vision to incorporate renewable energy into its portfolio but that will happen in a short while. In the interim, our focus is utilizing gas and maximizing value from it.
Are you quitting the downstream?
No, the downstream has come to stay. We are now a fully integrated energy company. We produce crude oil and natural gas. We are going to set up our midstream facilities to process gas and supply to the various end users. The downstream is a standalone business, which will continue to run while we focus on the upstream business as well.
What’s your advice for the government and regulators since you are a new entrant into the upstream?
My advice for the government is to do a thorough evaluation for all the idle fields in Nigeria and start considering either reassigning those fields to competent technical and financial companies or midwife these owners of idle fields with other players in the industry that can develop these assets. What that will do for us are three things: first, it will help us to arrest production decline that we’re experiencing now in the nation. Secondly, those ideal fields if developed, we will use the production from there to wrap up Nigeria production from about 1.4 million barrels as it is today to about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day or even more. Thirdly, it will also help the Nigerian government to generate additional revenue through collection of royalties and taxes. I think the government needs to look inward again, review all the awardees for all these fields and let’s see how we can bring them into production.
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