Indigenous Oil and Gas firms have appealed to the government and oil industry stakeholders to remain steadfast in implementing the NOGICD Act to expand opportunities in the country and support national goals.

This comes as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to attract new oil and gas investments, spur the speedy development of fields, and reduce production costs.

Observations show that some indigenous oil and gas firms are positioning themselves in West Africa to ensure cost competitiveness and speedy delivery of projects and opportunities.

This was noted during a media tour to some of the indigenous firms based in Rivers State, including Marconi NG EPC Limited (Marconi), a fully Nigerian entity that acquired the assets of Saipem Contracting Nigeria’s Rumuolumeni Yard in May 2025, Bunorr Integrated Energy Limited, and PE Energy Limited.

Speaking during the tour led by officials of the Corporate Communications Division of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the Chief Executive Officer of Marconi, Mr. Gian Fabio Del Cioppo, explained that the company’s yard covers more than 1,000,000 square meters, includes a 330-meter jetty, and has the capacity to fabricate over 25,000 tons of heavy structures per year.

He added that the facility is one of the leading yards in the country with assets and organisational capability to execute fabrication and other services for complex capital EPC projects, both onshore and offshore.

He emphasised that the company possesses the equipment, technical capacity, legacy and human capabilities to deliver the highest quality of work in the industry at competitive costs and schedule, aligned with the Presidential Directives on Local Content and the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, 2010.

He said the full implementation of the NOGICD Act will add greater value to the nation, insisting that Marconi is well-positioned to support national goals while contributing significantly to job creation and economic growth. He underscored the benefits of local content to the economy and urged government to resist pressures to roll back the progress that had been achieved in local content implementation in the last 15 years.

Conducting the journalists round the facility, Nigerian Content Manager of Marconi, Dr. David Editang, explained that the new owners retained the services of local experts who operated the facility for decades before the acquisition of the facility. He noted that the facility has the capacity to fabricate, store and load out completed project structures through three of its jetties.

Recently, Marconi marked the First Steel Cutting Ceremony for some subsea structures for one of the major offshore projects currently being executed in Nigeria.

The facility also played a significant role in the execution and construction of several notable projects in the past, including Egina, Usan, Akpo, Train 7, among many others.

The General Manager, Corporate Communications Division (CCD) of the NCDMB, Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, led other NCDMB personnel and a host of journalists on the facility tour.

He noted that Marconi is now well-positioned to operate across the oil and gas value chain, from land, swamp and shallow waters to deep-sea offshore.

Giving reasons for the tour, Dr. Ezeobi said, “As we showcase the companies, we are achieving our mandate as set out in Sections 67 and 70 (n) of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.” These Sections mandate the NCDMB to promote Nigerian Content through communication and stakeholder engagement, and also outline the board’s functions, which include capacity building.

He explained that media practitioners are critical stakeholders in the implementation of the NOGICD Act. According to him, “We want the media to understand better how the oil and gas industry works; we want to deepen our relationship, and to build the capacity of media stakeholders in reportage.”

Obinna said the tour was also an avenue to showcase oil and gas companies that are doing well in the industry as part of their mandate to promote and propagate the Nigeria Content as contained in sections 7 and section 70 of the Local Content Act.

He also noted that the NCDMB had established sustainable relationships with media stakeholders in different parts of the country, and organises annual engagements in Port Harcourt, Lagos and Abuja.

Vice President of PE Energy, Chukwuemeka Igilar, also highlighted the board’s ongoing development of oil and gas parks intended to deepen local manufacturing. He said the parks will create collaboration and joint-venture opportunities among Nigerian companies with manufacturing capabilities.

“As soon as that project is completed, there will be synergy. We won’t need to get most of these items outside the country. We have the capability in-country,” he said.

Earlier, Igilar described PE Energy as a 100 per cent local content-driven organisation with competencies across flow drive, flow control, flow measurement and supply chain services. He said the company has invested heavily in its workshops to assemble and manufacture valves, measurement systems and related process equipment for the industry.