NCDMB Pledges Support for Firms with Local Capacities in Oil Industry

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

The Executive Secretary NCDMB, Felix Ogbe made this commitment  in Port Harcourt, Rivers State 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, a statement from the organisation said.

The executive secretary said the visits were to assess the companies’ facilities and determine how the Board can galvanise the industry to patronise them.

He underscored 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 emphasised 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 Bola Tinubu.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of Brightwaters Energy Limited, Mr. Scott Gregory, thanked the Executive Secretary for leading the visit while highlighting that Brightwaters, formerly Willbros carried out Nigeria’s first pipe coating in 1962.

He recalled that the facility had 3,000 employees some years back, executing various spheres of oil and gas projects. 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.

He 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.

The Chairman of Tenaris Nigeria, Dr. Ernest Nwapa welcomed the NCDMB’s team to PCNL’s facilities. He 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 10 years were now being developed and expressed hope that existing local capacities would be maximised in the execution of those projects.