UAE's first ever oil and gas museum attracts visitors

Visitors to this year's Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) have been treated to the UAE's first ever oil and gas museum.

The ADIPEC Museum is a unique collection of photographs, equipment, maps and documents that illustrates the history of the local oil industry from its humble beginnings with the signing of the Red Line Agreement in 1928 to the present day.

Hosted in an outdoor marquee at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, the 500-square-metre museum also has a chronological display of photographs of the Abu Dhabi region dating back to the 1930s. The photographs illustrate the growth of Abu Dhabi in the last 70 years from a modest fishing community struggling in the wake of a dwindling pearl diving industry into the 8th largest oil exporter in the world.

The ADIPEC Museum was assembled over the past year and offers visitors a unique opportunity to look at materials that have never been seen before in a single public display. The curators poured over 17,000 photographs from 15 local and international archives.

The museum is a notable collaborative effort between international oil companies. Four of the seven original signatories of Abu Dhabi's first oil concession agreement of 1939, namely: ExxonMobil, Total, Shell and BP, are significant contributors to the museum.

N33.945bn for Oil and Gas Museum in Oloibiri

The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has approved the proposal made by former President Shehu Shagari for the construction and building of Oil and Gas Museum in Oloibiri, Bayelsa State. Based on this, Federal Executive Council (FEC) is expected to give final approval for the release of funds for the take off of the project.

In a letter by the Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr. Emeka Eze to the Director General of the PTDF, the Due Process office reduced the price quotations for the construction of the Oil and Gas Museum from N36,315 billion to N33,949 billion. It also approved the award of the contract to seven contracting firms.

The cost estimates is to cover the following areas for the Oil and Gas Museum; Research Centre, International Conference Centre, Sand Filling and Civil Works, External Maintenance, External Electrical Works, Site Clearance, Geotechnical Survey and Fencing. Seven oil and gas companies bided and won the contract for the constructing and building of the Oloibiri Oil and Gas Museum.

The Oil and Gas Museum is aimed at generating revenue by ensuring that the funds earmarked for overseas training for oil and other allied workers and other necessary conferences take place in Nigeria, while at the same time ensure the sustainable development of the eco-system of Oloibiri, where oil was first struck in 1956 by the Dutch Oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company.