– Visits Samsung, Africoat industries
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — In a significant move to boost Nigeria’s economic agenda, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, is insisting on local involvement in major oil projects.
This is as the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, visited Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria, SHI and Africoat Nigeria Limited yesterday, emphasizing the need for international oil companies to utilize local facilities as mandated by the NOGICD Act.
The visit comes as international oil companies, IOCs, ramp up preparations for Bonga North Deepwater Project, Ubeta Gas Development, and Zabazaba Deepwater Project, among others.
According to NCDMB, the Board has played a key role in fast-tracking approvals for these projects, ensuring that Nigerian firms get a significant share of the contracts.
“We will continue to partner with IOCs to develop new projects, but we insist that key aspects must be executed using local firms with proven capabilities,” Ogbe stated.
At Samsung Heavy Industries, SHI, the company’s Managing Director, Mr. Jin Lee, highlighted its in-country capacity in heavy fabrication and FPSO – Floating Production Storage and Offloading – integration.
Lee recalled that SHI successfully fabricated and integrated six modules for TotalEnergies’ Egina FPSO project in 2018.
“We trained 560 welders, including women, during the Egina project. At its peak, we employed over 1,000 workers, but due to a lack of projects, we are now down to 131,” said SHI’s Business Development Manager, Mr. David Bruce Inglis.
SHI also disclosed its plans to manufacture oil and gas components in Nigeria for export, leveraging the country’s strategic location.
“We have the capacity and the facilities to manufacture for the global market. Nigeria is well-positioned for this,” Inglis added.
At Africoat Nigeria Limited, Engr. Ogbe challenged the company’s management to resolve its lingering legal dispute with Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics, LADOL, and its bankers. The dispute has kept Africoat’s $42 million pipe coating facility idle since 2017.
“A peaceful resolution of this issue is necessary to revive the plant, benefit investors, and create jobs for the economy,” Ogbe stated.
Africoat’s Managing Director, Mr. Frank Twynam, confirmed that discussions were ongoing to resolve the impasse.
“Once the dispute is settled, we have a robust plan in place to restore the facility and begin operations,” Twynam assured.
