Oil Industry Can Attract $25bn in Two Years — NCDMB

• Oil Industry Can Attract $25bn in Two Years — NCDMB

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board said on Thursday that the investment opportunities in the nation’s oil and gas industry could attract $25bn in the next two years.

The Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Mr Simbi Wabote, said about $20bn came into the sector in the last two years, citing projects such as Total’s Egina deepwater oilfield.

Wabote, who spoke in Lagos at a press conference ahead of the forthcoming Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair 2019, stated, “There has been substantial progress, and things are looking up, especially with the resolution of a lot of the cash call challenges that joint venture operators were facing which stagnated projects and investments.

“Since the resolution, a lot of opportunities are springing up in all the JV operations that we have. The other day, we also saw the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company inaugurating a significant project, almost about $200m, adding value to the industry.”

He noted that the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act of 2010 had boosted the growth of the industry, with more projects expected to come on stream in coming years.

Wabote said stakeholders would focus on how to maximise investments into the nation’s oil and gas industry for the benefit of Nigerians at the NOGOF 2019, scheduled to take place in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State in April.

He said the NCDMB was working hard to ensure compliance with the NOGICD Act by all operators, especially indigenous oil firms.

He said, “In terms of compliance, the international oil companies are the most compliant. If there are people who flout the Act, they are the indigenous players who have benefitted from the Act. When you put the measure of compliance between the IOCs and the indigenous operators, I see the clear tendency by the indigenous operators to want to circumvent the provisions of the Act which to me is an irony.

“People who benefitted from a process are now the ones who are actively working to circumvent the Act. The IOCs’ corporate governance structure is very strict. They also go through international scrutiny; so they try as much as possible to comply.”