Page 13 - DMEA Week 35 2021

DMEA NEWS IN BRIEF DMEA

the huge gas reserves of about 206 trillion The global price of natural gas has also maximum efficiency to support diversification
standard cubic feet, stakeholders believe that witnessed over 60 per cent increase, trading efforts.
domestication could reduce the price, spur close to $4 per Million British Thermal Unit “KNPC’s management was keen to
investment opportunities, reduce burden on (MMBtu) yesterday. ensure the organisation embraced the
foreign exchange, provide unemployment The Petroleum Products Pricing latest technology, enabling it to operate at
and strengthen the development of the Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had earlier maximum efficiency, with network visibility
downstream sector. disclosed that the current consumption of gas and agility to support changing market
Faced with energy poverty, carbon stands at about one million metric tonnes, conditions and new commercial ventures,”
intensive energy usage is damaging the indicating that a five million consumption Al-Khurayif added.
environment and potentially changing the target set for this year may wobble. “In Kuwait’s oil and gas sector,
climate in Nigeria while cities are becoming The Minister of State for Petroleum opportunities for new projects appear quickly
unbearable due to outdoor pollution. Resources, Timipre Sylvia had said that and require sophisticated IT resources, with
Although the NGEP offers a unique funding initiative would push job creation a rapid turnaround and the ability to develop
opportunity in unlocking gas molecules as from NGEP to the NGEP will create over powerful, customised applications,” said Naji
a favourable combination of solution to a 12 million direct and indirect jobs with Al-Marri, Manager, Information Technology,
mirage of issues in the country, deforestation approximately 2million jobs annually and KNPC.
persist as people turn to biomass (firewood) in human capacity development nationwide. He added that KNPC is already involved
search of cheaper energy option. BLUEPRINT in several megaprojects, including a strategic
Stakeholders had expressed concerns that project to expand and upgrade Mina Abdullah
the number of women, who die in the country and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries to be an
yearly from biomass may double. Recall COMPANIES integrated complex with a total capacity of
that the African Refiners and Distribution 800,000 bpd. Additional initiatives include a
Association (ARDA) and other experts had KNPC refines digital sulphur handing project and a fifth gas train.
warned of imminent danger if Africa fails to To support these ambitious plans,
quickly adopt modern clean cooking energy transformation KNPC deployed its own private cloud in
as over 600,000 Africans, especially Nigerians two datacentres in Kuwait, with a Software
may die yearly due to household air pollution Kuwait National Petroleum Company Defined Datacentre (SDDC) approach, built
like firewood and charcoal. (KNPC) has taken its digital transformation to on VMware solutions, virtualising compute,
Similarly, over 14 per cent of primary forest the next level with VMware. storage, network and security layers for
has already been lost between 2002 and 2020 “By embracing a cloud-first approach maximum agility, in addition to reduced cost
due to collection of wood for fuel. with VMware, KNPC has boosted its agility, and complexity. KNPC’s IT team is operating
The high demand for fuel wood for efficiency, and security to set in motion a new both sites in Active-Active configuration,
cooking and income increased the rate of era of digital transformation,” said KNPC allowing them to provide high resiliency and
deforestation as the development pushes spokesperson and Deputy CEO for Admin. Service Level Agreements to the business
Nigeria to the verge of environmental disaster, & Commercial Affairs, Ahed Al-Khurayif. units.
especially desertification, loss of ecosystem, “The company has already achieved more “In line with KNPC’s goals to develop
loss of biodiversity, land degradation, soil than 95% datacentre virtualisation, reducing into a truly smart organisation, our digital
erosion, as well as economy risk. its datacentre footprint by 70%, and realising transformation partnership with VMware is
Currently, a kilogram of cooking gas, total cost savings of more than 50% over three providing exactly the flexibility and scalability
which traded for about N300 earlier this year years, while enabling the rapid launch of we need to innovate, boost efficiency, and
now sell for over N500 across the country on modern applications.” adapt to ever changing market conditions,
the backdrop of vulnerable economic indexes, This agility means that KNPC will be able including the completion of megaprojects,”
especially the continuous weakness of the to deliver new mega-projects in the country said Ebrahim Alsharrah, Team Leader, End
naira and the increasing price of natural and and support the goals of Kuwait Vision 2035 User Support, KNPC. “This, in turn, is helping
refined gas at the international market. to further support economic growth. contribute to Kuwait’s economic growth, job
In May, naira was devalued from N379/$1 With Kuwait increasing productivity across creation, and secure digital oil refineries.”
to N410.25/$1. As of yesterday, naira was sectors as part of its national Vision 2035, it With cybersecurity a growing concern
exchanging at N510/$1 on the parallel market, is critical that the oil sector - the traditional in the energy sector, VMware’s solutions,
where most Nigerians purchase their foreign mainstay of the economy for several decades including NSX, has helped boost KNPC’s
exchange. - also modernises, allowing it to achieve security by providing intrinsic security

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