BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
The Federal Government has challenged African countries to revamp indigenous companies and retain greater value from their natural resources while strengthening the energy sectors.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri stated this on Wednesday in Abuja, when he received a delegation from the Republic of Congo, led by its Minister of Hydrocarbons, Mr Steve Onanga, on a working visit to understudy Nigeria’s local content development.
He assured that Nigeria would share its experience in local content development to fast-track the development of indigenous capacity in Congo and increase value retention from petroleum resources.
“If Nigeria can do it, I believe Congo can do it. Nigeria believes that the solution to Africa’s energy poverty largely rests with Africans developing their own capacity and resources,” he said.
He stated that Nigeria had more than 20 to 30 competent indigenous service companies operating alongside international service companies in the industry.
The coexistence of local and international service companies created opportunities for Nigerian firms to expand their technical capacity and provide services across the sector, just as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, was funded by contributions from industry operators rather than direct government funding.
Lokpobiri pointed out that the industry is expected to contribute one per cent of contracts to support the administration of local content development, adding that indigenous companies account for more than 60 percent of Nigeria’s daily oil production.
The Minister noted that the development represented significant progress in Nigeria’s more than 15-year local content journey, which began with the enactment of legislation to promote indigenous participation in the petroleum industry.
He added: “Indigenous companies currently account for more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s approximately 1.8 million barrels of oil equivalent daily production, including condensate.
“Some years ago, some of the International Oil Companies, IOCs, divested their onshore and shallow-water assets to indigenous operators.”
Lokpobiri hinted that the milestone strengthened the capacity of Nigerian companies to operate across the oil and gas value chain and retain more value within the country, stating that the divestment of some assets by IOCs to indigenous operators created opportunities for Nigerian companies to grow their technical and operational capacity.
He hinted that the IOCs had largely retained operations in the deep offshore sector, while indigenous companies had increasingly taken over operations in the land, swamp and shallow-water areas.
Onanga informed the Minister that the Republic of Congo is seeking to strengthen its local content framework by learning from Nigeria’s experience in developing indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry.
He informed that the delegation’s main objective was to understand how Nigeria had developed its local content policy and apply relevant lessons to improve the sector in Congo.
“Our wish is to improve local content in the Republic of Congo, and that is why we are here in Nigeria. We came here to learn from what Nigeria has done, share experiences and see how we can improve our own sector in Congo,” he added.
The delegation comprised officials in charge of upstream and downstream petroleum, local content, gas, energy and engineering, as well as representatives of the country’s national oil company and indigenous companies.
Onanga stated that the visit was an opportunity for Congo to learn from Nigeria’s achievements in local content development and strengthen cooperation between the two African oil-producing countries.
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