This paper proposes the development of business sustainability strategies framework for the oil and gas industry in the Global South (GS) using the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a case study. Energy, and most importantly oil and gas play an important role in the economic development of any nation. The world is changing as the traditional ways of doing business are no longer working. Business sustainability is a strategy adopted by any business that wants to be in business today and continue to exist tomorrow to perform its functions. Greater awareness of the effects of Climate Change (CC) and the need to meet demand has mandated many oil firms to radically alter their business models to become carbon-zero by 2050. Organisations such as Tesla is driving the automotive industry by switching from fossil fuel to renewable energy that reduces global emission and involves less price volatility. The impact of climate change has given rise to sustainability as business activities can no longer be taken for granted as the world keeps depleting because of unsustainable practices. This paper proposes the need for strategies that avails organisations the competitive edge to remain in business to keep achieving its goals. It further argues the role of technology in achieving stakeholders’ objectives in the oil and gas industry. Literature in public domain have narrated various issues in respect of the theme of this paper as noted below. International entrepreneurship in the oil and gas industry could lead to the creation of novel solutions to big problems and their global implementation worldwide more specifically in the GS. Innovation in the oil and gas business is more crucial than ever to manage major disruption to the movement of people, products, and services across the globe. The supply network of oil and gas operations in the GS is volatile, unpredictable, complex, and ambiguous. Achieving effectiveness and efficiency in the GS O&G will requires moving the management paradigm towards intellectualisation, digitalisation, and automation. The research philosophy adopted is pragmatism while abduction as the research strategy. A case study of the Nigeria oil and gas sector was adopted using secondary data and content analysis adopted from the public domain. Business strategies, formulation, implementation, and evaluation is needed till Nigeria O&G industry gets it right. Issues relating to lack of proper management and planning of the resource’s earnings are some of the areas to work on. Human capital development is very vital for the growth of Nigeria O&G sector, managers with good business understanding are required to formulate strategies for business sustenance. Nigeria O&G sector needs to be further unbundled with less interference. The industry should encourage public private partnership as this will encourage transparency, accountability, and productivity. There is an urgent need to diversify from the O&G sector and improve the citizen’s standard of living. The proposed framework calls for holistic approach that addresses the political, environmental, social, technological, economic, and legal as well as gives autonomy to the states and diversify from the activities of the O&G. Future work will include collection of primary data from key stakeholders in ascertaining the effectiveness of the proposed framework in the oil and gas sector of the Nigeria Niger Delta.

Authors: Titus Kehinde Olaniyi, Oledibe Ukamaka Chinonso

Published in: World Congress on Sustainable Technologies (WCST-2022)

• Date of Conference: 6-8  December 2022
• DOI: 10.20533/WCST.2022.0005
• ISBN: 978-1-913572-57-0
• Conference Location: Virtual (London, UK)