22 February 2013, Sweetcrude, Abuja – Nigeria is targeting to create a total 35,000 new jobs over the next three years from the execution of three major oil fields projects by Shell, ExxonMobil and Total, a government official said Thursday.
The deepwater projects involved are Shell’s Bonga Southwest, ExxonMobil’s Erha North and Total’s Egina oil fields. The three projects recently received the Nigerian government’s nod to proceed.
Ernest Nwapa, head of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, said about 20,000 tons of fabrications jobs for the three projects would be carried out in-country.
“The three companies have agreed to contribute $25 million to build a fabrication yard in Nigeria that will handle construction of subsea umbilicals for the deep offshore projects,”Nwapa told Platts on the sidelines of an industry conference in Abuja.
“With this agreement in place, Bonga Southwest project will create 30,000 new jobs, while Egina and Erha North field development projects will create 5,000 new jobs,” he added.
After protracted negotiations bordering on disagreement over costs, Nigeria recently granted approvals for Total and ExxonMobil to proceed with execution of the Egina and Erha North deepwater projects. Shell received similar approval for Bonga Southwest late last year.
The Nigerian Content Act signed into law in April 2010 provides that foreign oil companies must begin to source at least 50% of equipment and materials for their projects in-country by 2013, in the bid to promote indigenous capacity and participation in the lucrative oil business.
Nigeria aims to retain $10 billion out of the $20 billion average annual spend in the country’s oil industry by 2015, from the current less than $1 billion.
