Data-Driven Insights from Nigeria's Natural Gas Data Using PowerBI

Abstract

Each year, the Nigerian gas industry churns out big data on all channels of its value chain. The data is collated, analyzed, and reported by government agencies, corporate companies, institutions, and even academia. Some of these reports are the NNPC and DPR annual oil and gas reports. The annual oil and gas reports contain data tables, charts, and data driven insights. Considering the growing uncertainty in business intelligence triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the fast-paced 4th industrial revolution, the future of data reporting, analyzing, and presentation is also experiencing a new normal. Oil and gas stakeholders desire quick data-driven and actionable insights to reduce business risks caused by the impacts of these key drivers. This article explores and presents the use of Power BI on Nigerian gas data from 2000 to 2018. It extracts data on demand, production, utilization, gas flare volumes, export, current infrastructure capacity, domestic gas supply, and other relevant data categories. The collated data is developed into a dataset by appending and merging tables from the different reports. This data is prepared, and model relationships are created to answers questions on demand, production, infrastructure, and sustainability of the Nigerian Gas market. Empirical results show that new insights can be obtained from the dataset using new tools and a thoughtful data design process. These insights are presented on a dashboard where key takeaways for quick business decisions and policy implementations are easily assessed. The method is proposed as the future of annual energy reporting. It is also a continuous improvement process that can be applied by all oil and gas stakeholders in their data architecture.