Kunle Kalejaye
14 July 2016, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The Board of Directors of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG on Thursday morning has approved Tony Attah to succeed Babs Omotowa as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company.
Babs Omotowa who after nearly five years at the helms of affairs of NLNG will be returning to Shell International in the Hague, Netherlands.
Omotowa according to NLNG board is leaving the company in a stronger position and well positioned for the next chapter of the company’s growth. He will take great pride and satisfaction in his numerous achievements including consolidating the company’s position as a reliable supplier of LNG and a major player in the global LNG market, restarting the Train 7 expansion program and with NLNG becoming ranked as the number one home-grown company in Nigeria.
His successor, Tony Attah will be taking over from Omotowa after returning from an assignment at Shell’s Group Integrated Gas business as Senior Projects Advisor, working on projects in The Netherlands and Singapore. He was Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) before then.
He comes to NLNG with a 28-year experience in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. A trained mechanical engineer and an MBA holder, Attah started his career in Sokoto Cement Company as a Maintenance and Operations Shift Supervisor.
He joined Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in 1991, working in various technical and management roles in Field Maintenance, Production Operations, Core Engineering and Major Projects Commissioning, Rotating Equipment Engineering etc. He was also once Head of Joint Venture Economics in Commercial.
Between 2005 and 2007, Attah managed the Soku Gas Plant as Asset Superintendent and Operations Manager of the initial NLNG gas supply as well as NLNG Train 3 construction works.
He oversaw the operation readiness of other petroleum and natural-gas production projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and the start-up of a liquefied-natural-gas extraction system north of the Russian Pacific island of Sakhalin as the Regional Manager Operations Readiness and Assurance – Account manager for EPG Africa projects and Russia Sakhalin OR&A.
In 2009, he was appointed General Manager Western Location & Sustainable Development – External Focus; and in 2010, he became the Vice President (VP), Health Safety, Environment, Sustainable development & Corporate Affairs including Communications, Crisis and Reputation Management.
In 2013, he was appointed the Vice President HR Shell Sub-Saharan Africa, maintaining the business competitive edge through talent development, resourcing and providing support to the business.
In 2014, Attah assumed the position of Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCo, in addition to his role as VP HR. He was responsible for SNEPCo’s offshore business integration and leadership and managing a network of external and internal stakeholder.
He is a champion for social performance and sustainable development and has an impressive record of building relationships with various levels of governments in the Niger Delta, as well as with more than a thousand local communities.
At NLNG, Attach will be responsible for sustaining NLNG’s top quartile performance in supplying LNG to the global energy market and advancing the company’s expansion programmes.