Abuja — The international conference on the future of oil and gas industry in Nigeria, which is jointly organised by Summertime Energy and Leadership Newspapers Group has been postponed.

This development is contained in a press statement issued in Abuja yesterday by the conference co-ordinator, Prof. Joseph Akpan, who cited unfavourable circumstances relating to the earlier timing of the event as reason for its postponement.

The conference, which was earlier scheduled to hold at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja, between September 22 and 23, according to Akpan, is to be rescheduled and new date would be announced as soon as possible.

While tendering unreserved apologies to its invited participants for any inconvenience the postponement might have caused, the organisers and sponsors of the event, however, reiterated the importance of the conference to the nation's oil and gas sector.

"We, however, wish to reiterate first, the importance of this conference to the oil and gas industry and the nation at large, and second, our commitment to hosting this event in the atmosphere and time that would optimise its goals and objectives," the statement added.

The conference which was ultimately aimed at informing the general public of the enormous opportunities and possibilities in the oil and gas industry, was expected to bring together citizens, national and international scholars, as well as government and industry luminaries to discuss and brainstorm on the future of the industry.

The experts are to critically evaluate the state of the industry at 50 years of Nigeria's independence, especially oil and gas exploration, and analyse possible changes the industry is likely to undergo within the next 50 years.

President Goodluck Jonathan, was expected to be the distinguished guest of honour at the conference, and was expected to use the occasion to underscore the local content policy, and his long term goal to maximise the growth of the industry.

In view of the lasting impact of the forum, the organisers have disclosed that plans are on to disseminate the papers and proceedings of the conference to a wider audience through the media and scholarly journals.