The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has charged International Oil Companies (IOCs) not to allow the non-passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to deter them from embarking on new projects.
The Executive Secretary of the Board, Simbi Wabote, stated this while receiving the Managing Director of Total E&P, Mr. Mike Sangster at the Nigerian Content Tower, headquarters of the NCDMB in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. He commended Total for sustaining its investments in Nigeria.
While congratulating the Total MD for emergence the Chairman of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) – the umbrella body of major oil producers – Wabote observed Total deserves the position because Total E&P was the only international operating company that had taken Final Investment Decisions and sanctioned major oil and gas projects in recent times in Nigeria despite the delayed PIB.
While expressing confidence in the determination of the 9th National Assembly to pass the PIB after it had been delayed for over 15 years, Wabote encouraged other IOCs to forge ahead with their new projects.
He hinted that new projects were needed to grow local content and create work opportunities for local fabrication and manufacturing yards, many of which have been idle since the conclusion of the Total’s Egina deepwater project in 2018.
He also charged Total E&P to lend its full support to the ongoing NLNG Train 7 project, adding that the project held great prospects for the local oil and gas industry and host communities.
The Executive Secretary remarked that the Egina Project remains the benchmark of upstream project delivery considering its record-breaking performance in local content practice in the oil and gas industry.
He added: “The project served as a veritable tool to raise the bar in the development of our in-country capacities and capabilities.
“The Board is also happy with Total E&P on the implementation of the ‘Adopt a Faculty’ and the various actions it had taken on the programme,” he said.
Wabote also solicited the support of the chairman of the OPTS for the conclusion of the categorization of in-country oil and gas capacities and capabilities, covering engineering, fabrication yards, testing facilities and training facilities.
He also asked OPTS companies to prove feedstock for newly established modular refineries to increase value addition, local refining, demotivate illegal refiners and stealing of crude.
The Executive Secretary also noted that the Board has made significant progress with the development of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme in Bayelsa and Cross River states and requested the operating companies to encourage their key suppliers to set up manufacturing shops in the NOGAPS sites as they become operational by end-2022.
Earlier, the Total MD had remarked that the company had operated in Nigeria for 60 years and is the only IOC that operates in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
He indicated that the company developed the last three Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platforms in Nigeria and Egina created new records, one of which is recording 40 million man-hours in-country.
Sangster also reported that the company had made significant progress with the development of the Ikike Oil Field and would record its first oil before the end of 2021.
However, he was quick to admit that it had been difficult developing the project, particularly with the pandemic.
Commenting on the PIB, which underwent a public hearing in the National Assembly in January, the OPTS lead advised federal legislators and policymakers to ensure that the fiscal provisions in the law are fair to key stakeholders, to stimulate new investments in the industry.
