Kachikwu Canvasses Greater Local Content in Oil Sector

• Kachikwu Canvasses Greater Local Content in Oil Sector

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has made a case for the encouragement and greater involvement of Nigerian content in the country’s oil and gas sector.

The minister called for greater participation of local players in Nigeria’s oil sector during his visit to the Egina Floating Production, Storage and Offloading facility in Lagos.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by the spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Idang Alibi, the minister commended Total Upstream Nigeria Limited and its partners, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, CNOOC, SAPETRO and PETROBRAS, for the achievement by taking delivery of the $3.3bn Egina FPSO unit.

The unit berthed the shores of Nigeria on January 25, 2018 at the newly built 500-metre FPSO integration quayside at the Samsung Yard (SHI-MCI Yard), in the LADOL Free Zone, Lagos.

During the visit, Kachikwu recounted efforts being made by the Federal Government to encourage local fabrication and optimum participation of Nigerians in the oil and gas sector.

He also stated that the Egina FPSO was the first project to be initiated after the 2010 enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act.

Kachikwu observed that the Egina FPSO had the highest quantum of local content completed for any oil and gas project in Nigeria, thereby advancing Nigerian content to record levels.

The Managing Director, Total Exploration and Production, Nicholas Terraz, noted that with a length of 330 metres, the Egina FPSO was the largest FPSO ever installed in Nigeria and the largest FPSO built by the Total Group worldwide.

He stated that over the next five months, six modules which were fabricated locally in Nigeria would be integrated into the FPSO at the Samsung Yard before the FPSO could sail away to the Egina field.

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Management Board, Simbi Wabote, lauded Kachikwu for his support and insistence on local content in procurement and supplies in the oil and gas sector.

Wabote said such insistence would help to enhance Nigeria’s economic growth, adding that the Egina FPSO was a remarkable achievement in the local content development in Nigeria.

The ministry stated that Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria Limited and its joint venture partner established the SHI-MCI FZE as part of a firm commitment to build and develop local capacity and ensure knowledge and technology transfer.

The facility located at Tarkwa Bay is West Africa’s first fabrication and integration yard, according to the statement.

“With the coming on stream of the Egina project, the bar has been set in terms of compliance with local content laws with over 1,200 Nigerians employed in various capacities,” it said.