NCDMB targets 100% domestication in 10yrs

By Sebastine Obasi

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote said the Nigeria oil and gas industry has set 2027 as target to domesticate the full capacity and capability required for the integration of Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSO).

Wabote, who stated this at the public hearing conducted by the Joint Senate Committee on Petroleum Upstream and Gas in Abuja, said the new target for the industry follows from the successful in-country fabrication of six modules of the Total Egina FPSO and scheduled integration of the modules on the FPSO at the SHI-MCI yard in Lagos in September 2017, the first time these feats would happen in Nigeria.

The FPSO is the biggest component of deep water oil and gas project and the fabrication and integration of the modules at any location spurs multi-dimensional development and creates thousands of jobs.

Another major target of the Board, according to Wabote, is to establish a Local Content Bank of Nigeria “to focus on establishment of facilities for domiciliation of services with emphasis on optimal use of local resource input.”

Speaking on the achievements of the Board, Wabote confirmed that Nigerian Content activities recorded six million training man hours and is now able to retain $5 billion in the local economy from the annual $20 billion industry expenditure, which wholly ended up in foreign economies in the past.

He stated that 36 percent of the marine vessels operating in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry were now owned by indigenous players, a marked improvement from total foreign domination of the industry before the implementation of the Act.

Wabote cited the establishment of five world class fabrication yards as another evidence of Nigerian Content implementation, adding that “today, Nigeria is able to handle 60,000 metric tones of fabrication in-country.”

He also mentioned the local manufacture of barites which is required for crude oil drilling operations, noting that NCDMB worked with the industry to support the establishment of a mechanized plant in Benue State for barites mining and beneficiation.

On the Nigerian Content Development Fund, NCDF, the Executive Secretary said that international oil companies comply reasonably in remitting one percent of the value of their contracts but some service companies and indigenous operating firms default in their payment.

He regretted that the impact of Local Content in the oil and gas sector had not been sufficiently linked to other sectors of the economy and canvassed for the support of key government agencies in deepening Local Content in the country.

Also speaking, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, represented by Senator, Ahmed Lawan, Leader of the Senate, highlighted the importance of Local Content in economic development, adding that full implementation would help create employment and grow the national economy.

He explained that the National Assembly was keen to ensure that oil and gas companies comply with the Nigerian Content Act.

 

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