NCDMB: How Local Content Act Boosted Investment in 15 Oil, Gas Projects in 10 Years

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

At least 15 critical gas projects in the country’s oil and gas industry have been promoted over the last 10 years on the back of the enforcement of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (NOGICD).

General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Ginah Ginah, who made the disclosure, said that 70 per cent of the investments were on midstream and downstream gas-based projects, covering modular refining, gas processing, gas distribution, power generation, manufacturing and others.

He spoke in Abuja at a Nigerian content capacity-building workshop for the media, with the theme: “Enhancing Media Competencies to Support Nigerian Content in a Gas Economy’’.

Ginah said the board took advantage of the provisions of Section 70(h) of the NOGICD Act to partner with 15 firms and investors to develop critical gas projects in the oil and gas sector of the economy.

According to him, the provision of the Act empowers the NCDMB to assist local contractors and Nigerian companies to develop their capacities for the attainment of developing Nigerian content in the industry.

He listed some of the gas-based initiatives as the 1.2 million standard cubic feet per annum Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) composite cylinders plants in Bayelsa and Lagos states by Rungas Limited.

Also included are the 80 million standard cubic feet per day (SCFPD) gas processing plant and a 300 million SCFPD gas gathering hub by NEDO Gas Processing Company in Kwale, Delta State.

Other initiatives, Ginah noted, included the Brass Fertiliser plant by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) Limited  and a 5,000 metric tonnes per day Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) storage and loading terminal facility in Koko, Delta State, in partnership with Triansel Gas Limited.

Ginah added that similar partnerships by the board, led to the establishment of the LPG Bottling Plants and Depots in Abuja and 10 northern states by Butane Energy Limited.

The facility, he said, would include investment with the MOB Integrated Services on a 500 MT Inland LPG terminal construction in Dikko, Niger State.

Also speaking, General Manager, Research, Statistics and Development Division of the Board, Abdulmalik Halilu, said the NCDMB has ensured the 10-year R&D roadmap was anchored on eight success pillars for systematic development.

According to him, this underscored the need for competitive and well-structured research and development systems to guide its operations.

Halilu pointed out that the it was aimed at developing and maintaining healthy pipelines of competent researchers and translating research results into products and services that would be deployed for industry application.

“There is a need for research and documentation dialogue providing a networking platform for project promoters, researchers, and regulators to dialogue on imperatives of enabling R&D ecosystem to National development,” he stated.

He listed five R&D centres of excellence sponsored by the board to include the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa, Federal University of Technology, Owerri and Modibbo Adamawa University of Technology, Yola.

Also speaking, a resource person at the event, Chido Nwakanma, stressed that to report the oil and gas sector effectively, the media need to delve more into the new era of data-driven journalism.

“It means to use databases, spreadsheets and other forms of structured or fielded data in news coverage and story development. It means breaking assignments into data points and organising them for customised manipulation,” he noted.