29 May 2012, Sweetcrude, LAGOS – Over 40 new alliances formed by British and Nigerian companies would be expending over $500 million in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry within the next five years, British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Peter West, has said.
West said at the Nigeria-UK Oil and Gas Supply Chain programme in Lagos that some of the partnerships will undertake specialist local manufacture, technology cooperation for deepwater production and gas utilisation as well as having the potential to create new investment, business opportunities and high value employment for skilled Nigerians.
Emphasising the importance of the Nigeria-UK Supply Chain events, he stated that they bring Nigerian and UK companies together to form sustainable, long term partnerships which will contribute to the competitive delivery of Nigeria’s oil and gas projects.
The keynote address at the event was delivered by Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr Ernest Nwapa, who disclosed that the proportion of contracts awarded to Nigerian companies in the oil and gas industry has risen to 85 per cent.
He said the industry has achieved between 85-90 per cent Nigerian Content in engineering, while fabrication tonnage is over 50 per cent, with thousands of jobs created.
Nwapa also disclosed that though there has been an increase in contracts awarded to Nigerian companies, the industry still had a long way to go in attaining substantial percentages of real Nigerian Content.
