Omiete Blessing
The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has disclosed the plan to commercialise researches carried out by universities in the country to create employment opportunities for the oil and gas sector.
Executive Secretary of PTDF, Ahmed Galadima Aminu, disclosed this yesterday, during the Close-out Seminar of the PTDF University of Port Harcourt Professorial Chair on Gas, held at the Emerald Energy Institute in Port Harcourt.
Represented by the General Manager, Research and Innovation Department, PTDF, Mr Olayinka Agbonlahan, the Executive Secretary said the agency has already put in place a framework for effective commercialisation of researches.
He said over the years, PTDF has invested so much in sponsorship of researches and would not want them to end on the shelves of universities.
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“PTDF has funded a lot of research over the years and we have partnered with universities to conduct this research through endowment programmes and then we also have the oil and gas research where we form different research groups in different areas in the oil and gas industry.
So, a lot of viable results have been achieved from this research programmes, we have had a lot of patent certifications generated from this research and a lot of knowledge has been created, new processes created, software have been developed from these research and we need to take it forward,” he said.
He said to ensure that researches do not end up in the shelves of universities, the agency will ensure that they actually translate into viable products in the marketplace through commercialisation.
The PTDF Executive Secretary explained that they are already partnering with organisations and researchers to achieve the commercialisation.
Mr. Aminu praised the the occupant of the chair for his numerous achievements in his five years tenure, assuring that the agency would continue to fund researches in the universities and institutes.
Narrating his achievements, occupant of the chair, Prof. Dulu Appah said the chair has been able to train many persons and carried out innovations that would add value to the oil and gas sector.
“We have developed humans, we have developed the system of home-grown construction and fabrication of equipments and we have built people for the industry. So we are hoping that the problem we have solved and tried to solve would add value to the oil and gas industry and especially to detect leakages where you have gas transmission,” he stated.
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Prof. Appah continued that Niger Delta is a gas province and as such universities in the region should be able to conduct researches on gas, stressing that gas transmission is more challenging than crude oil as is highly combustible and posses grave dangers to human and facilities.
He called on PTDF to continue to support research in-country, train people in-country to reduce capital flight, early release of funds for researchers and a regulation on how the chair should run to enable those who are coming in to know the minds of the sponsor.
Keynote Speaker at the occasion, Mr. Emmanuel Okudo who spoke on the topic: “Leak Detection and Repair Techniques in Natural Gas Distribution and Transmission”, said faulty pumps, valves and compressors have led to several cases of gas leakages.
He called for stringent design policies and legal frameworks to prevent leakages and increase productivity.