An oil and gas specialist, and the Deputy Managing Director, Deepwater Total Upstream Companies, Mr. Ahmadu-Kida Musa, has said for Nigeria to continue to enjoy investments from international oil and gas companies, sustainable production sharing contracts and gas terms must be put in place.
According to him, if the pace of project implementation in Nigeria was sustained over the next eight years, Nigeria would begin the full integration of Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading vessels within the next seven, eight years.
But the feat would be achieved if the right policies and investor-friendly legislations are put in place by government at all levels,
he said.
“With several large deep-water discoveries still to be developed, such as Bonga South West or Owowo, we know that the resources are there. All the yards that have been involved in the development of the Egina project need activity to maintain their infrastructure and the improved competency levels of their human capital.
“Both government and the Industry have a critical role to play here. In the past three years, to keep the industry alive, all the operators have been focusing on reducing the cost of new deep-water projects in order to make sure that they can sanction projects and bring value at $50 per barrel.
“While the operators are all trying to tighten their belt in line with the realities of the times, it is important that we put in place, sustainable PSC and Gas terms as this is a fundamental requirement for continued investment in Nigeria’s deep
offshore.”
He argued that the development of new projects was critical to maintaining industry capacities, stating that as the industry moves even further offshore, the need for this know-how cannot be over-emphasised.
“Nigeria must move up to a level where it is able to meet the competency needs of other new entrants within the Africa sub-region and be considered as a technological hub for the region,” he
noted.
Musa further stated that through careful legislation and government policies, the Nigerian Content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry could also have great impact in other sectors of the economy, such as the information & communication technology/telecommunication sector, agriculture, engineering and construction, manufacturing, transport and storage, power and finance among
others.
“The next frontier is very broad and filled with opportunities. But it is also lined with a lot of challenges that I believe are surmountable. Let us take the bold steps and decisions that we all require to move into the next phase,” he noted.
Also speaking at the event, the Nigerian Content Development Management Board alleged that oil companies were always making attempts to sabotage the local content initiative of the Federal Government by regularly coming up with spurious reasons to cap the level of engagement of indigenous personnel in their
operations.
The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, spoke of the agency’s struggle to rein in oil companies, pledging that despite the many antics of the companies, the NCDMB would ensure that Nigerian content was protected by the law at all cost.
“The journey is not easy. When you push a positive agenda, there are so many forces you have to contend with. The same International Oil Companies (IOCs) and same companies would use all manner of antics and tell you why it is not possible to do things in Nigeria,” Wabote said at the conference.
