Consulting Services
Corporate Profitability + National Prosperity = Everyone Wins
Petrogas delivers comprehensive consulting solutions to national oil companies, state-owned corporations, and governmental/regulatory bodies. In addition, we also work with international oil companies and contractors.
Our consulting efforts are primarily aimed at addressing three particular needs:
Mitigating local resentment and pushback against oil and gas developments
Assisting NOCs with our international expertise
Assisting IOCs with our national expertise
With more than a decade of industry experience and projects execution in Africa, the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia, Petrogas is in the unique position of understanding all sides of national versus international Oil and Gas development projects.
Our most prolific consulting role is helping our clients develop and maintain solid relationships with community leaders and local stakeholders. We assist both companies and government agencies in understanding the community’s unique needs and concerns, and we help educate the public regarding the economic and social benefits that Oil and Gas development projects yield.
Seeing Both Sides
With Petrogas, any worry about NOC/IOC bias is alleviated, as both look to us for our expertise. Also, on our client list are state-owned corporations, governments, investors, banks, IOCs, contractors, and local communities. This allows us to fully navigate the complex O&G industry, and effectively serve our client’s (i.e. your) best interests.
A key aspect in our endeavors is you only get one chance to make a first impression, and in the case of local development, a poor first impression may never be overcome. You need a partner who knows the industry and the local community, and recognizes how both benefit by working together.
For many years, companies have practiced “corporate social responsibility” in order to gain acceptance for being fair and equitable. Unfortunately, however, this traditional approach has an appearance of treating local communities like they need to be “helped” or “saved.”
In contrast, Petrogas uses an asset-based approach, which focuses on strengths. We view diversity in people, thought, culture, and traits as positive assets. With Petrogas, every community is valuable; every community has strengths and potential.
Petrogas relies on proven conflict mitigation and community development strategies by leveraging the resources of all stakeholders. Our asset-based approach encourages citizens to be responsible partners by participating in the planning, design, and implementation of development activities. We incorporate the following sustainability measures into every aspect of our process:
Acquiring widespread stakeholder buy-in
Ensuring the transfer of critical skills and knowledge
Utilizing enabling strategies to encourage a learning-by-doing approach
Capitalizing on existing local talent, knowledge, resources, mechanisms, and forums for project interventions
Incorporating a “do no harm” conflict-sensitive approach to planning, development, and implementation
Ensuring project results are responsive to relevant Government priorities
Using an inclusive and participatory approach, we collaboratively design and implement social impact investment programs to ensure that both the “development dividend” (community/national prosperity) and profitability of the project are maximized. It’s the ultimate win-win.
Strategies that are mutually beneficial to the government, private industry, and local communities are applied. These include, but are not limited to: increased local employment opportunities; capacity building of local community members to produce a qualified workforce; participatory strategies to minimize/eliminate local corruption and increase community acceptance; conflict mitigating and security enhancing interventions; water and sanitation improvement plans, etc.
Bottom line: When oil and gas companies operate with enthusiastic local acceptance, the sky's the limit. Petrogas helps ensure that is the case.
Petrogas is an international company, and we have access to expertise and best practices utilized across the globe. NOC’s, and Government agencies call on us to tap into the vast wealth of knowledge we’ve culled from our experience and relationships developed working with some of the largest and most successful Oil and Gas projects in the world.
Bringing the World’s Expertise to African Soil
We’ve spent considerable space discussing mitigating local resistance. And indeed, this is a complex topic with a major impact (as well as major benefits). But we would be remiss if we did not briefly discuss the international expertise we bring to any African Oil and Gas project.
Petrogas is an international company, and we have access to expertise and best practices utilized across the globe. NOC’s, and Government agencies call on us to tap into the vast wealth of knowledge we’ve culled from our experience and relationships developed working with some of the largest and most successful Oil and Gas projects in the world.
Specific Consulting Examples
Our consulting engagements are widespread, and unique to our client needs. They also involve governance, political/social stability, future changes to the marketplace and local laws… It is multi-layered, interconnected, and at times, vastly complex. Here’s how we’ve helped:
Directly advise our clients on law reform, governance, and institutional reform mechanisms to improve the legal, regulatory, and policy frameworks governing the local oil and gas sectors.
Provide advice on savings and spending of sovereign resources/revenues with transparency and accountability. This respects current budgets as well as international standards for savings funds.
Work with Ministry officials to build capacity and create more transparent, long-lasting, predictable, and stable fiscal regimes.
Support improvements in contract management and enforcement.
Creating acceptable standard operating procedures for all areas of project oversight, ranging from cost recovery accounting in the petroleum sector to managing seismic data submitted by companies. Within this aspect also comes Health, Safety and Environmental oversight of day-to-day operations.
Identifying needs for training across NOC’s, state-owned corporations, private companies, regulators and governmental entities including ministries, departments, and executive agencies. And not only do we train, we can also create tailored “training programs of trainers” to meet future needs. This includes documentation and guidance manuals to ensure the knowledge and processes become part of the institutional memory of the client.
Reviewing documents submitted by IOCs or NOCs for compliance with relevant laws, regulations, and agreements. We also assist client partners with compliance.
Many more. If you’ve read this far, we should talk. Contact us here.