NCDMB assure stakeholders of patronage

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has reassured oil and gas stakeholders that service companies and other manufacturers that have established capacities in the country will continue to enjoy patronage through the award of contracts from operating companies in the sector.

The Executive Secretary NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe made this commitment when he led officials of the Board and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) to visit companies that deliver pipe coating and related services.

The team visited Brightwaters Energy Limited, formerly known as Willbros Nigeria Ltd, Solewant Nigeria Limited and Pipe Coaters Nigeria, managed by Tenaris Nigeria Ltd all in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Ogbe, while noting that the visits were to assess the companies’ facilities and determine how the Board can galvanize the industry to patronise them, stressed the importance of getting first-hand information on in-country capabilities before making key decisions on oil and gas projects.

He insisted that operating companies must support and patronise local oil and gas service companies in compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.

Ogbe emphasized that activities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry must be used to create employment opportunities for the nation’s teeming youths and help to resuscitate the economy, in line with the aspirations of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

The Chief Executive Officer of Brightwaters Energy Limited, Mr. Scott Gregory said Brightwaters, formerly Willbros, carried out Nigeria’s first pipe coating in 1962.

Gregory, who recalled that the facility had 3,000 employees some years back, executing various spheres of oil and gas projects admitted that the coating facility had suffered downtime, but assured that the plant would be up and running within 60 days of the award of a new contract.

He conveyed the management’s aspiration to return the firm to those high-performance levels and sought the Board’s support to win oil and gas projects that would resuscitate the sprawling facility.

“We feel that we can be a positive contributor to Nigeria through the capacities that we have. We want to bring real, true value to the table,” he added.

The Chairman of Tenaris Nigeria, Dr. Ernest Nwapa, commended the efforts made by the agency to push local content in the industry, attributing it to the good culture that had been established at the Board over the years.

Nwapa, who was the pioneer Executive Secretary of NCDMB expressed delight that some of the oil and gas projects that had been pending for nearly ten years were now being developed and expressed hope that existing local capacities would be maximized in the execution of those projects.