Chuks Isiwu
12 June 2016, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Nigerdock has successfully completed fabrication and load-out of the topsides for multinational oil company, Total’s Ofon 2 project, a facility that would be deployed for the Ofon 2 project expected to add 40,000 barrels per day, b/d, of oil to Total and Nigeria’s output.
The topsides were fabricated at the Snake Island Integrated Free Zone in Lagos and are the first full Engineering, Procurement, and Construction, EPC, project to be undertaken by an indigenous Nigerian contractor.
Speaking at the event to mark the load-out of the topsides last week at Snake Island, Mr. Esueme Dan Kikile, Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, Nigerian Content Development and Management Board, NCDMB, said their successful fabrication by Nigerdock in-country was a boost to the Nigerian Content policy aimed at domesticating more oil and gas activities in Nigeria.
“This event marks yet another milestone in the Nigerian oil and Gas industry. It is yet another incontrovertible proof that local capacity and capability can be utilised to deliver key projects.
“I am particularly excited because the Ofon 2 project is the first full EPC project to be undertaken by an indigenous Nigerian contractor.
“With the successful completion of this project, I am indeed convinced that Nigerdock and other Nigerian fabrication yards have what it takes to take up similar projects even those that are much larger than this,” Kikile said.
Referring to the achievement as a direct result of the enactment and implementation of the
Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act of 2010 and the overwhelming support the government has continued to give to the development of Local Content in the oil and gas industry, he congratulated Total for believing in the Nigerian Content cause and for giving Nigerdock the opportunity of delivering a high-quality project.
According to him, the successful completion of this project underscores the high level of quality that Nigerian companies are capable of delivering.
He stated that the NCDMB would continue to support Nigerian companies in a bid to achieve its key mandate of developing capacities and capabilities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Also, Kikile enjoined Nigerian companies across all sectors to always strive to develop their capacities and capabilities, both human and structural, saying the focus of local content development is not to compromise quality but to ensure that work done by local companies can compete with that of their counterparts in any parts of the world.
