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H U M A N CA PI TA L D EVE LO PM E N T:

Much Ado about Progress in Nigeria’s Oil Industry Wabote charges Nigerian Content Managers on Core Values, in-country capacities Shell Seeks Re-orientation of Nigerian Undergraduates to Enable Innovation, Use of Emerging Technologies Nigeria Needs Massive Supply of Private Capital to Develop Infrastructure - ICRC Senegal Discovers 3bn barrels of Light Crude in Five Years, Launches Bid Round

“MGV is set to build a deep shipyard for Nigeria’s oil, gas and Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9 Majorwaves maritime industry”

MD PETROSEN

MG VOWGAS

Mamadou Faye

MD, Godwin Izomor

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Editor’s Note

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or decades, our educational system has not come to terms with the demands of the petroleum industry. Our graduates come out of school ill prepared to take on the industry which requires special skill sets.

Sometimes, it takes up to 4 years of specialized training to prepare these graduates for the task, if selected by any of the IOCs or multinational service companies.

Publisher Joshua Bretz Managing Editor

Today, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has a policy of investing 60 per cent of all its training on young Nigerians to acquire the skills they need to secure jobs in the industry. However, it will be great for other agencies of government to follow suit so the nation’s young population can feel the impact. Ultimately, the tertiary institutions and multiple centres of excellence ought to tweak their curricula to reflect this model.

Jerome Onoja Editor Margaret Nongo-Okojokwu Business Development

According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), investment inflows into Nigeria dropped by $460mn in Q3 2019. Reactions by government has so far been apt.

We saw a shrewd negotiator (as described by Mr Wale Tinubu of Oando), in the person of GMD NNPC call out to IOCs at NAPE conference in Lagos, offering some sort of consideration over talks. There just might be a policy on the table to allow the stunned investors enough time to adjust to the amendment of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act 2004.

Stanley Etim Taiwo Olamilekan Amicable Aluu Production Solomon Obande

Also, we saw President www.majorwavesenergyreport.com Muhammadu Buhari receive a high-powered delegation from an oil major, Total. If anything, the Total boss and his entourage have gotten sovereign guarantee and goodwill from the number one citizen of Nigeria. And no one needs a crystal ball to tell that FID on NLNG train 7 will happen in the coming weeks. That’s a way to secure $17bn and 40,000 jobs for the nation.

Toma Stephen Eta Ogah Research Analyst Simon Olanipekun

Extending the zest with which Engr Simbi Wabote and his team have pursued Local Content into other sectors of the economy will definitely see the right indices soar. Imagine the benefits in power, telecommunications, ICT, logistics, among others. Nigeria’s $500bn GDP will transmute to trillions of dollars in no time. The nation is drawing closer to making this dream a reality as the chairman, House Committee for Local Content recently informed us that all hands are on deck to first repeal the NOGICD Act, then to push for speedy assent of the more robust bill for all sectors. He gave a timeline of 2020 to actualize this. With particular reference to the recent amendment of the Deep Offshore Act, we know how fast a bill can become an Act when it is revenue generating.

Correspondents: Lagos Ikenna Omeje Abisoye Vincent Emeka Enunwah Daniel Terungwa

For Simbi and his team who’ve kept an open book policy, this will only be a case of scaling up an already proven model.

Port Harcourt Arit Dan

Ms Anita Omoile is reversing the trend on human capital. She’s not looking at forging alliances with technical partners to bring in expatriates. The Deep Blue Energy boss believes it’s time to export acquired expertise. Several countries are behind Nigeria in terms of technical services in the oil field. She’s growing the numbers of retired veterans of the industry who wouldn’t mind giving some hours weekly in exchange for foreign currencies. See details inside.

Emmanuel Akporhouno US Omaya Joko UK

Merry Christmas!

Kunle Kazeem

Jerome

Majorwaves Energy Report is published by Majorwaves Communications, 25B, Adebayo Doherty Street, Lekki Phase 1. Lagos Phone: +2349035477966 Email: info@majorwavesenergyreport.com www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9 5

INDUSTRY NEWS And we are increasing that. We would double our capacity in the next three years. So for us, both as a nation and as a company, our key efforts are geared towards diesel substitution by gas.”

Corroborating with other panellists, he said that the solution to cut down gas emission lies with efficient use of gas, gas flaring capture, reforestation and smart agriculture. According to him, between 2009 and 2019, Nigeria’s gas flaring reduced by 45 percent, which happened not necessarily because of www.majorwavesenergyreport.com policies, but for the market that the country’s power generation policy has created. “And as everybody has said, within the oil and gas space, I think the solution to environmental stewardship lies with gas, efficient use of gas, and Mr Austin Avuru and other panellists at the ongoing ADIPEC 2019 Conference gas flaring capture for power generation.

And that’s also the role we play. “Nigeria is committed to zero flaring in the next five years. It looks ambitious, but I will tell you that the last ten years between 2009 and 2019, our gas flaring has reduced by 45 percent. And most of this didn’t necessarily come through policies, though there are policies to

By Jerome Onoja penalize flaring. What has happened is that a domestic market for gas has ov 13, Abu Dhabi, UAE: Seplat boss said, “Seplat Petroleum been created with the power generation T he C h ief E xe cutive is a Nigerian independent producing policy. “For us at Seplat, for instance, if Officer of Seplat Petroleum some 120,000 barrels equivalent of oil I’m selling a million Btu of gas for Development Company, and gas per day, listed on the board of $3, it’s stupid to flare it. So there is Mr. Austin Avuru has said that the London Stock Exchange and Nigerian now a commercial imperative to capture company is currently responsible for Stock Exchange in Lagos. Our otherwise flared gas and put it to use one-third of gas to power generation production is roughly 50-50 ratio of and make money out of it. “So, over in Nigeria, and that they would oil and gas. “It’s always an interesting the last ten years, we have had a larger double their gas production capacity conversation. The world needs energy reduction in flared gas than the previous in the next three years. He stated to survive, but the world also needs 30 years. And over the next five years, this in Abu Dhabi, United Arab a clean environment to survive. So, we think that we would completely Emirates while speaking on a panel it’s finding that balance between eliminate gas flaring; diesel substitution for “New Strategies to Accelerate the delivering the energy the world needs to gas generation is being worked on Industry’s Response to Environmental and being environmentally protective, and the efficient use of that follows; Pressures” at this year’s Abu Dhabi that’s what this discussion is all about. then, there are other environmentallyInternational Petroleum Exhibition “For us in Nigeria as a country, we friendly efforts, like reforestation that are and Conference (ADIPEC). Answering are committed through the Kyoto ongoing. “Deforestation in Nigeria has questions on what Nigeria as a major Protocol to a 20 percent reduction been a big issue. So, smart agriculture, producer of crude oil and Seplat as in greenhouse gas emission by 2030. and reforestation through tree planting a company are doing in respect to But to put it in context, Nigeria’s are initiatives put together by the protecting the environment, he said total greenhouse gas emissions is only government and pushed by the private that Nigeria is committed to a 20 0.3 percent of the global total. So, sector, including independents like us. per cent reduction in greenhouse our energy mix fortunately, even at Though the nation contributes a paltry gas emission by 2030 through its the starting point is friendly. It’s 15 0.3 percent to the global emission, we commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. percent hydro and 85 percent gas would further reduce that by 20 percent to power. There is no coal power in come 2030. So that’s where we are, Nigeria. both as a company and as a country, Avuru stated emphatically that Nigeria,” he said.

Nigeria’s emission is only 0.3 percent of the total world’s emission. He “However, there is non-grid electricity also noted that the country’s energy generated by diesel generators and The theme of this year’s ADIPEC is “Oil mix is 15 per cent hydro and 85 that’s where as a matter of policy, the and Gas 4.0.” The conference which per cent gas to power. He, however, substitution of that diesel generation commenced on the 11th is expected to informed that there is non-grid with gas generation is a major national end on the 14th of this month. It is based electricity, generated by dieselpolicy; and Seplat as a company plays an annual event which provides one powered generators. And as a result, a key role in that. We deliver some of the most important platforms for the country has formulated a policy 350 Mscf of gas per day into the the oil and gas industry players to do aimed at shifting from diesel to gas domestic market; most of it for power business and exchange information. The generation, adding that Seplat as a generation. “We are responsible for conference attracts energy ministers, company is playing a key role in this one-third of gas to power in Nigeria global CEOs and leading decision makers regard by delivering 350Mscf of gas today as an independent (company). across four days of business discussions per day into the domestic market. The and knowledge exchange.

SEPLAT to double gas production capacity in 3 years – Avuru

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Avuru to Retire as CEO of Seplat Come July 2020 www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

By Ikenna Omeje

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he Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Mr. Austin Avuru, will be retiring from service

by July 31 2020, after 10 years of leading the company. He will be replaced by Mr. Roger Brown, who before now was the Chief Finance Officer of Seplat.

In an announcement signed by the company’s Secretary, Mrs. Edith Onwuchekwa, which was sent to both the Lagos Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, the company stated some of the achievements recorded under Avuru’s leadership to include growing the gross production from 22,700 boepd as of December 2010 to 111,368boepd as of December last year; the acquisition of 45 percent stake in OML 53; and the establishment of its subsidiary, ANOH Gas Processing Company Ltd in partnership with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). “In these 10 years, Mr. Avuru led the development of a strong organization, the deployment of agile systems, processes and stakeholder relationships that allowed the organization to grow rapidly from a gross production of 22,700boepd as at December 2010 to peaks of 111,368boepd gross production as at December 2018 through major drilling campaigns and major new Oil and Gas plants development. “The acquisition of 45% of OML 53, post Company’s IPO of 2014, created an opportunity

in partnership with NNPC, to spawn a mid-stream subsidiary, ANOH Gas Processing Company Ltd currently progressing what will ultimately be a 300MMscf/d of Gas, 22,500bdp of condensate and 1,200boepd of LPG processing Company. All these could not have been achieved without Mr. Avuru’s leadership skills, personal dedication and hard work, at the head of the Company,” the company stated. Giving a brief profile of the CEO designate, the company said,”Mr. Brown joined Seplat in 2013 as the CFO and played a key role in the successful dual listing of the Company in 2014. Similarly, since joining the Company, he has played significant roles in various asset acquisitions by the Company. “Mr. Brown brings to the CEO role, a deep knowledge of the Company in his 6 years as the CFO and a member of the Board. He has strong financial, commercial and M&A experience as well as proven people skills which will be an asset as the Company embarks on the next phase of its growth plan.

“Prior to joining SEPLAT, Mr. Brown was an advisor to the Company since 2010 while he was the Managing Director and head of EMEA Oil and Gas at Standard Bank Group.

During his time at the bank, he was instrumental in providing advice and deploying capital across the African continent in the Oil & Gas, Power & Infrastructure and the renewable energy sectors.”

DPR Launches Digital Devices for Quality, Quantity Control

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he Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has launched two new devices for quality and quantity control in Kano and Jigawa states.

The Comptroller Operations, in charge of Kano and Jigawa states, Alhaji Musa Tambawal, launched the devices at the opening of a two-day public awareness campaign on safe handling of petroleum products in Kano last month..He explained that the dynamism of the oil industry, made it necessary to introduce the digital quantity measuring device and on-spot Product Quality Analyser. According to him, “This is necessary to ensure that the exact quantities of products are being dispensed to consumers at public petrol stations.” Tambawal disclosed that based on available accident statistics by the Department, most of the fire incidences that occurred during harmattan season were recorded during products discharging.

He added that investigation had shown that there were presence of electrostatic charges and lack of underground earthen system as the main cause. He urged Petroleum marketers and service providers as well as license holders in the two states to ensure prompt revalidation of their operational license.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, OPEC Secretary General

Alternative Energy: China Raises Coal-fired Power Capacity by 42.9 Gigawatts in 18 Months

Rise in China’s coal power

... As OPEC predicts a five-year diminishing supply

By Jerome Onoja

C

hina has raised its coalfired power capacity by 42.9 gigawatts, or about 4.5 percent in 18 months to June, connecting new projects to the grid at a time when capacity in the rest of the world, particularly Europe shrank, according to a study published on Wednesday November 18. Reuters reports that China also has another 121.3 GW of coal-fired power plants under construction, U.S.-based research network Global Energy Monitor said in its report, nearly enough to power the whole of France.

This may be China’s way of addressing its energy challenges without exposing its economy to further volatility associated with crude oil. However, it also tells the present level of supplies to its economy is inadequate and that it could reach for new deals that would up the global level of demand and eventual supplies from some OPEC member states. According to the study, the increase followed a 2014-2016 “permitting surge” by local governments aiming to boost growth while formerly suspended projects have also been restarted, Global Energy Monitor said. In the rest of the world, coal-fired power capacity fell 8.1 GW over the same period. To cut pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, China has promised an “energy revolution” aimed at dramatically reducing its reliance on coal. It cut coal’s share of the country’s total energy from 8

68% in 2012 to 59% last year, and researchers predict it will fall to 55.3% by 2020. Absolute coal consumption, however, has continued to increase in line with a rise in overall Chinese energy demand. And environmental groups have accused Beijing of relaxing its efforts on coal, pointing to remarks in October

by Premier Li Keqiang, who urged China to make greater use of its coal “endowment” by building clean power plants. China approved new 40 coal mines in the first three quarters of 2019, and it has continued to make use of “green” financing to support coal-related projects. China’s total coal-fired power capacity stands at more than 1,000 GW. Global Energy Monitor said it needed to close more than 40% of that to meet greenhouse gas reductions required to keep global temperature rises well below 2 degrees Celsius. It urged the government to strengthen policies discouraging coal plants, support low-carbon power and move toward clean energy, while an investor body warned of the risk of building new coal-fired plants.

Over 40% of China’s existing coal fleet is already estimated to be loss making,” said Stephanie Pfeifer, chief executive of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change. Though costs are now as low as fossil fuels, some Chinese policymakers worry renewables like wind and solar are unreliable, and there are concerns that decarbonisation will hurt the

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

country’s coal regions. Some also believe that future energy shortages could hurt China’s attempts to address its slowing economy, said Yang Fuqiang, senior advisor with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S. environment group.

“Right now there is a big argument about whether China needs more coalfired power or not,” he told Reuters.

“They think the fourteenth five-year plan (2021-2025) will stimulate economic development and they are a little afraid there won’t be enough electricity to support the economy.” The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will supply a diminishing amount of oil in the next five years as output of U.S. shale and other rival sources expands, the exporter group said, despite a growing appetite for energy fed by global economic expansion. OPEC’s production of crude oil and other liquids is expected to decline to 32.8 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2024, the group said in its 2019 World Oil Outlook published on Tuesday. That compares with 35 million bpd in 2019.

Rising climate activism in the West and widening use of alternative fuels are putting the strength of long-term oil demand under more scrutiny. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cut its medium- and long-term oil demand forecasts in the report. OPEC supply has been falling in the last few years under a pact with Russia and other non-members to support the market. The resulting higher oil prices have bolstered non-OPEC output and OPEC is expected to restrain output in 2020.

INDUSTRY NEWS

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

NNPC Secures $1.16M US Grant for 1,350MW Abuja Power Plant

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he Niger ia n Nationa l Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) have concluded arrangement to sign a $1.16 million grant as part funding for the NNPC-Abuja Independent Power Project (IPP) modelled to generate 1,350 megawatts of electricity to alleviate the power challenge in the country. This was disclosed at a business meeting between the Management of NNPC and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency at the NNPC Towers, Abuja, where both parties agreed to close out the deal on 1st December, 2019. The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, said that the plan by the corporation to build the 1,350mw power plant in Abuja was part of the national strategy to monetize the abundant natural gas resources in the country.

A statement signed by the Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr.

Samson Makoji stated that the USDTA grant was to complement the ongoing feed project in order to make the Abuja IPP initiative more bankable for strategic investors’ participation. “As a state-owned oil company and enabler organization, we know that our investment in the Abuja 1,350mw IPP will increase energy supply level with great impact on the nation’s economy. Therefore, the USTDA grant is timely to make it a bankable project that would attract foreign direct investment into the country”, he said. The GMD assured the U.S. team that every money given as grant to the corporation will be fully utilized and accounted for.

“

This company is focused on making our systems and processes transparent and accountable and that is why we are engaging world class institutions with good track record in execution of our projects”,

the GMD explained. He called on the USTDA to look beyond feasibility studies to actual delivery of the project, stressing that the power plant project has a lot of viable investment opportunities for all investors. In her remark, the Country Manager, Power Africa and the leader of the USTDA delegation,Jullian Foerster, stated that her organization was determined to work with the corporation to sign off on the grant not later than 1st December, 2019.

She said that USTDA was open to other business opportunities in the coming year, 2020, noting that NNPC’s strategic role as a key player in the oil and gas industry made the U.S. Agency to “jump at the opportunity to work on this deal” of providing support in the form of a grant.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

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Sahara Group Highlights ‘Collaboration for Global Impact’ in 2018 Sustainability Report

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ahara Group has released its 2018 Sustainability Report which provides details on the economic, environmental, social, governance and risk impact of the energy conglomerate’s businesses globally. Themed “Collaborating for Global Impact”, the report details Sahara Group’s activities and projects in 2018 which traverse partnerships and collaborations, investments, expansion into further international markets and outreach linking Sahara’s employees with the global landscape.

“Our people have been pivotal to the growth and global impact of our organization by effectively establishing, managing and sustaining these international collaborations.

It is critical to our sustainability that we attract and retain the right talent to achieve this feat,” said Pearl Uzokwe, Director, Governance and Sustainability while presenting the report to the media. Uzokwe said Sahara expanded its talent pool from 3,281 employees in 2017 to 3,630 in 2018, noting that the Group enhanced the recruitment and selection processes of pre-existing programmes to cultivate a workforce capable of growing and sustaining the business impact. She said Sahara had since reviewed its safety mechanism for greater efficiency, with the overarching target being a zero-fatality rate across the Group’s plants and workplaces. “We will continually channel our resources towards embedding a culture of safety and compliance,” she added. According to Uzokwe, Sahara lent its voice to

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the rule of law in 2018 with the participation of Oluseyi Ojurongbe, (Manager, Sahara Foundation) at the conference on “The Role of the Private Sector in Fostering Justice, Peace and Sustainable Institutions” at the Bingham Centre for Rule of Law in the Hague. She said Sahara also seconded Babatomiwa Adesida to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Fund (UNSDG-F) to streng then private sector participation and collaboration in the attainment of the SDGs. UNDP and Sahara Group join forces following the signing of Memorandum of Understanding to promote sustainable energy and SDGs in Africa.

“Since our partnership with the UN through Babatomiwa’s secondment, we have remained a committed partner to the UN and provided support to the development and implementation of the SDG Fund’s private sector and philanthropy engagement in Africa,” she noted. She said Sahara Group in the period under review promoted awareness of the activities of the SDG Fund by attending Private Sector related events in Canada, South Africa, India, Nigeria and Rwanda and developing a toolkit on the contribution of sports to the achievement of the SDGs. “In line with our global thought leadership role in the energy sector, we joined world leaders and other stakeholders to underpin the importance of collaboration in

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

safeguarding the future of Oil at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) 7th International Seminar in June 2018 in Vienna.

Speaking as a panellist in one of the sessions, Executive Director, Tope Shonubi reinforced the need for cooperation towards achieving transparency, market balance, safety and environmental protection.”

Uzokwe said Sahara Group increased investment in communities and countries where it operates by over 40% from N250 million in 2017 to N350 million in 2018. This consisted of regional projects with global collaborations. In a similar vein, Sahara commenced partnership discussions with the UNDP geared towards the attainment of the UN’s SDG 7 (provision of access to clean and affordable energy) in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire. This will be finalized in 2019. She stated that in 2018 Sahara acquired and expanded its operations in the infrastructure and downstream value chain in Zambia and Tanzania thereby increasing the Group’s international outlook and operation in the Eastern African region with a key focus on introducing greater efficiency and improving intraAfrican trade.

“We believe in the power of partnerships and collaboration for greater leverage and impact and remain committed to actively seeking out alternative and innovative means to achieve our goals and the global goals,” she concluded.

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INDUSTRY EVENTS

NNPC boss entreats IOCs over PSC Amendment Act

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

“there’s room for commercial considerations” -Kyari

By Jerome Onoja

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he Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian Nationa l Petroleu m C orporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, has called for a roundtable discussion with the foreign oil companies on the recently assented Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract (DOIBPSC) Act 2019. Although, the offshore production sharing contracts (PSCs) was meant to have been reviewed since 2008, many are of the opinion that the new law would discourage investment in deep offshore and that the oil companies would move to other countries in protest.

Kyari, who was the special guest of honour at the ongoing 37th Annual Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) in Lagos, identified unresolved fiscal policies and investor apathy, among others, as the cause of the lull in exploration for oil. There’s a need for government to balance its resolve to claw itself out of the present state of slow economic growth with the current global trend. The reality is that, there are other investment destinations within and outside Africa begging for these investors to explore. If the administration maintains a hard line posture, it could be on the losing end. With intent to clarify issues around the new petroleum legislation, Kyari said the legislation will help investors plan effectively, take right decisions,

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recover cost, and understand which margin is open for business. “Since 1999, we have been trying to work on a new legislation for the oil industry to no avail and this has negatively impacted the oil sector because a lot of investors are just sitting on the fence watching the direction the country will embrace. I assure you all that all issues around the fiscal regime should have been sorted out latest by middle of 2020.

“I don’t see why some players in the industry should over-react when we can always be approached with feedback. Really, there’s room for commercial conversation and considerations. We must work together and see that we have a good slate for the petroleum legislation, so that this country can be the next level for investment. I believe that beside the Act, investing in this country is the right thing to do,” he added. On this year’s theme “Expanding Nigeria’s petroleum landscape: Digitalisation, innovation and emerging new technologies”, Kyari said it is apt considering the current realities in the industry and that digital innovations will boost exploration efficiency and oil sufficiency. He said: “In today’s free data world, there’s really nothing to hide because ultimately the information that is available to the next partner will help in refining opportunities, finding more oil and making more money. If we have to key in as an industry, we can latch on the latest technologies to deliver.”

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

Worthy of note is that there is a time value to the oil resource. The gradual shift to renewables is real and will definitely take its toll on global demand particularly around the OECD economies.

However, Kyari said he didn’t believe oil would become insignificant by 2040. He said: “There will still continue to be need for fossil fuel.

Though, there is competition against fossil fuel, especially coming from renewable but that cannot replace the place of fossil fuel. Crude oil will still remain relevant beyond international agencies’ forecast of 2040. Increasing population and growing demand will always remain a factor, which implies there will still be at least an oil consumption of 100 million barrels per day by 2040.”

Kyari said: “Our target is to hit 40 billion barrels by 2023, but not until we go back to exploration, we may not achieve that target.

Despite the fact that oil production is ongoing, the additions are not matching production. With lack of exploration, the country will be on the verge of depleting its oil reserves, which currently is 37 billion barrels.

“The lull in exploration activities by oil companies was responsible for the inability of the country to meet the 40 billion barrels reserve target it set some years ago. The inability of oil companies to go into fresh exploration activities was due to lack of a fiscal regime for the industry.

INDUSTRY EVENTS

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com Shell Seeks Re-orientation of Nigerian Undergraduates to Enable Innovation, Use of Emerging Technologies

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nergy giant, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has outlined re-orientating the thinking of undergraduates in Nigerian universities as one of the critical actions to challenge them on the use of emerging technologies.

This would help drive innovation and allow Nigeria to actualize the National Association of Petroleum Explorationists’ (NA PE) 37th Annual International Conference and Exhibition’s aspiration of expanding Nigeria’s petroleum landscape through digitalization, innovation and emerging technologies. Country Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, and Managing Director, SPDC, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, said, “Shellhas collaborations with the academia in Nigeria and now has two successful centres of excellence that promote the emergence of industry-ready graduates at university level.” Osagie told the NAPE conference (which included the GMD, NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari), in Lagos, that the Centre of Excellence in Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Benin established in 2012, the Rivers State University Centre of Excellence in Marine and Offshore Engineering established in 2017, along with SPDC’s six Professorial Chairs and the Sabbatical & Internship programmes in key areas, grow skills within Nigerian universities for the industry. Okunbor (represented by Shell General Manager, Exploration, Mr. Dan Agbaire) said, “Every year,

since 1980, 10 Nigerian professors and 25 research interns commence oneyear research programmes in SPDC and share their findings with SPDC in fields such as biodiversity, petroleum engineering, geophysics, impact assessment, community health and oil and gas exploration, contributing to providing critical industry input into higher education in Nigeria.”

He described these programmes as examples of necessary steps to enable the NAPE aspiration of expanding Nigeria’s petroleum landscape through digitalization, innovation and emerging technologies. Okunbor called for the right investment climate, to enable the expansion of Nigeria’s petroleum landscape and enable the increase of Nigeria’s oil production from the current average of 2.3 million b/d to 3 million b/d and boost the country’s proven oil reserves to about 40 billion barrels through further exploration and appraisal. He said, “The right investment climate would also include strengthening our regulatory bodies, giving priorities to research and further enabling the industry’s financials. I believe that where the investment climate is right, digitalization and deployment of emerging technologies will enable incremental value creation over the coming years.”

“I believe that if we appropriately apply the valuable information and lessons from this conference, our industry will experience a giant leap in transformation. It will support our aspiration of expanding Nigeria’s petroleum landscape, he said.”

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In Shell, digitalization is more than technology. It is also about people and ensuring more agile ways of working”, he continued. “We employ leading data scientists who unlock value from the vast amounts of data that Shell has access to in a responsible manner whilst maintaining customer trust.”

“Across all our businesses, we look for opportunities where we can replicate and use this at any scale.

We look to use applicable standard technologies (unless there is a competitive advantage to building proprietary solutions) to change the way we search for and produce oil and gas, design wells, provide energy, or buy goods and services”, he said.

Okunbor said the use of advanced infrastructure and partnership with some of the world’s biggest cloud providers, give the company the capacity for powerful data analytics.

He said, “We are leaders in deploying artificial intelligence and are using it in areas ranging from seismic analysis to drilling and predictive maintenance.

All of these we do because we know that digitalization has a big role in delivering all our strategic goals.”

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We can do more. The industry can do more. This future is more in our hands than we think”, he said.

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INDUSTRY EVENTS

NNPC committed to local content, growing oil reserves sustainably

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Mr. Roland Ewubare among other panellists at the ongoing ADIPEC 2019

By Jerome Onoja

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he Niger ia n Nat iona l Petroleum C orporation (NNPC) has said that local content is critical for development in the oil and gas sector and the nation’s economic growth.

Reiterating its alignment with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), it added that this adoption will grow indigenous participation in the sector’s value chain, enhance job creation, value creation and development of in-country capacities. Chief Operating Officer (COO), Upstream for Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Roland Ewubare, said this at the ongoing Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition Conference (ADIPEC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Ewubare noted that the universe will be unleashed if local content can be the focus. “Local content is not lip service. If you think about the volume of contracting Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) in Exploration Production, a significant value is lost to the country.

“Therefore, the more Nigerians we can bring on board, the more incountry competence will be harnessed.

This will increase talent development, employment, and revenue generation,” he said. Regarding growing the nation’s oil reserve, the COO said NNPC is targeting a 67 per cent incountry support projection on other inland basins, since the Egina project.

He added that further exploration is broad-based, not just localised to the Chad basin or the Benue trough.

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Group photograph after panel session

“As announced, we will migrate towards the Anambra basin and other inland frontier basins. This reduces the risk of concentration on the Niger Delta and contributes to energy security because every geographical region has its own repository of hydro carbons under explorations and production.

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This sense of ownership helps to build trust and security,” he added.

On the forecast of global oil decline, he expressed confidence that in a universe of 7 billion people, oil

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and gas will always be relevant. He added that there is no magic yet for its replacement as a primary source of energy. Ewubare said: “Yes, there will be some regions that will migrate towards renewables. But don’t forget that growth in terms of absolute numbers and economic expansion comes primarily from Asia and Africa.

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In long term, those areas are not where the use of electric vehicles has gotten close to significant levels. So, I have no worry about the future of oil. It is bright and robust.”

INDUSTRY EVENTS He, however, noted that NNPC’s primary aspiration is to move Nigeria swiftly to full energy security and use energy as a tool to reduce disparity in prosperity.

“The conversation here was about the transition to a greener future as it were. Nigeria is a country of over 200 million people and whatever we do has an impact in Africa and the rest of the world.

We also realise that we have an economy to grow. This means that while we are mindful of the larger issues of the environment, we have

to address issues that concern our immediate development.

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NNPC has the renewable energy division. We have all kinds of initiatives in place around solar, ethanol, and biomass. Most of the initiatives are in the incubation type stage. You cannot be an oil company today and not see yourself as an energy company. Renewables are part of the need,” the COO added.

Interview session with Mr Ewubare

Buhari Orders Completion of Ajaokuta Steel Company – Minister

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r Olamilekan Adegbite, the M inister of M ines and Steel Development s ay s P r e sident Mu h a m m adu Bu h a r i h a s g iven m a r ch i n g order s to h i s m i n i str y for t he c o mplet io n o f A jaok ut a S t e e l C o m p a n y. A d e g b i t e disclosed this in A buja during a n i nter ac t ive s e s s ion w it h newsmen on the proposed Nigerian solid minerals downstream workshop schedu led to hold D ec. 2.

g iven us f u l l back i ng i n this a s sig n ment. “ T he supp or t given by the president include p o l it i c a l b a c k i n g to e n s u r e that Ajaokuta work s a nd by the g race of G od it w i l l work soon,” he sa id. T he m i n ister also said part of the directives

by Buhari was for the sector to solve long intractable problems bedev illing the solid minera ls sector a nd to ensure Niger ia cou ld rely on t he s e ctor to d iversi f y its economy.

T he minister who spoke th roug h h i s Specia l Adv i ser on Specia l D uty, M r Su n ny E koz i n sa id the mi n istr y had been working ’round the clock to actua l ise the ‘presidentia l directives’. “For the past three months, we have been doi ng ever y thing pos si ble to ensure we ma ke prog re s s a nd we a re happy to let the nation k now that the president ha s

He sa id a fter a r ticulating the problems for the pa st three mo nt h s , t he a d m i n i s t r at i o n was on the path to harnessing the potentia l that a bounds i n t he m i nera l s s e ctor for t he benef it of the people i n the cou nt r y. Ade g bite ex pla i ne d that one of the step s ta ken wa s the cur rent proces s of developing the Niger ia n D ow nstrea m M i nera l Pol icy.

According to him, the policy is first of its kind in the histor y of the countr y. “ T he dow nstrea m minera l pol icy w i l l tr igger the nation w it h a cle a r d iver si f ic at ion blue pr i nt i n a su st a i n a ble m a n n e r, e s p e c i a l l y fo r t h e reva mpi ng of Ajaokuta steel compa ny. “A nd a lso effective ha r ne s si n g of t he a bu nda nt m i ner a l s endow ment spr e ad acros s the 36 states a nd the F e d e r a l C a p i t a l Te r r i t o r y (FCT). “As part of the process lead i ng to the reva mpi ng of the enti re sol id m i nera l s s e c t o r, w e a r e s e n s i t i s i n g key st a keholder s, e sp e cia l ly la rge i nvestors of th is novel initiative for the development of sol id mi nera l dow nstrea m va lue cha i ns. “ T his w i l l help to create massive jobs, wealth a nd i ndustr ia l isation. (NA N)

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INDUSTRY EVENT “There is still Yet-To-Find opportunities all around in those mature domains, especially for deep prospective and also the Ultra Deep Offshore domain, where little or no exploration activities have been carried out to date,” he added. On the advantages of new technologies he said,“It is expected that by 2035, the deep offshore oil and gas production which currently stands www.majorwavesenergyreport.com at less than 14Mboe/d worldwide should attain the level of about 32Mboe/d. “For the last 15 – 20 years, exploration activities have been conducted in the deep offshore in water depths of around 2,000 meters and most current developments are generally at a maximum depth of around 2,000 meters. “Following innovations with new technologies, Total has been able to explore deeper with an exploration well drilled offshore Uruguay in 2016, at 3405 meters water depth, at that time the world’s deepest sub-sea well,’’ he said. Giving his opening remarks, the President of NAPE, Mr Ajibola Oyebamiji,said that with the phasing out of cheap- to- discover oil and gas, new technologies are making there are still billions of barrels of oil exploration possible in areas and trillions cubic feet of gas that have before now were difficult to not been discovered by Nigeria yet. explore.

The Total boss who spoke on “How will technology change the oil and gas sector He said:”With the era of over the next decades” said that Nigeria cheap -to-discover oil and gas had not fully explored its oil fields even gradually coming to an end,new in the matured areas not to talk of the digital technologies are coming front basin areas yet to be explored. on board aiding the imaging According to him: “The dependence on and discovery of new oil and conventional technologies that have been gas fields that were hitherto used in the past will surely not be the undiscoverable while reservoirs only solution to harness the Yet-To-Find at deeper depths concealed (YTF) oil and gas potential, especially under thick layers of shakes in Nigeria. “Those technologies were that were previously undrillable good then, they worked well in the past due to high temperatures and we are all happy with the results. and pressures have become However, the days of easy oil and gas accessible through improved discoveries are gone. drilling technologies in complex structural and stratigraphic traps.

We need innovations in order to “Technological change,in turn,is continue and come back to the era the main driver of the global of more frequent giant discoveries trend in oil and gas industry as was obtained before 2012.” and is of particular importance for government,policymakers and all stakeholders to have the He emphasised the need for the necessary knowledge of how country to take advantage of emerging such technological changes can and innovative technologies that are be deployed and sustained in Health, Safety and Environment ( developing countries(Nigeria HSE) compliant in the exploration of inclusive).” The theme of this crude. “The belief by some school of year’s conference, which was the thought might be that in Nigeria, we 37th edition of the conference was have totally mastered exploration in the “Emerging Technologies and the onshore, in the conventional offshore Nigerian Oil and Gas.” and even somewhat in the deep offshore domains, but this is certainly not an accurate hypothesis.

Oil Prices: Cost Reduction Has Become Imperative in Oil Industry - Google MD

By Ikenna Omeje

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he Nigeria Country Manager of Google, Ms. Juliet EhimuaChiazor has said that as a result of the decrease in the prices of crude oil in recent years, cost reduction is now critical in the oil and gas industry. She stated this while delivering a paper on “How Can Companies Maximize the Effectiveness of Digitization and Internet of Things (IOT): Cost Reduction and Operational Transparency?” at the 2019 Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) conference, held in Lagos Last month. She said,”We know that in the last few years there has been a huge drop in Oil prices in the industry and as a result of that, cost reduction has become very imperative.

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Various forms of research, including research by Kingsday state that the effective use of digital technology in the oil industry can reduce expenditure and operational expenses by 20 percent. It also recorded that ineffective maintenance is costing the industry $60 billion annually.”

The Google boss noted that proper data analytical will not only help the Industry in terms of cost reduction, it will increase production uptime.

Also speaking at the conference, the Deputy Managing Director, Total Exploration and Production Nig. Ltd, Engr. Ahmadu Kida Musa said that

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Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

“

PHOTOSPEAK

SOAN

Shipowners Association of Nigeria #LISE

Mr Emmanuel Onyekwena

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com Award of Excellence presented by Shell to Tolmann for constant delivery of training spanning over 10 years to SPDC without Loss Time Injury (LTI).

Federal Government’s Fiscal Policies on LPG Has Led to over 30% Cost Reduction for Infrastructure Development - NLPGA President By Daniel Terungwa

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he President of the Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, Mr. Nuhu Yakubu, informed guests and the general public that the current policies and deliberate incentives of the Federal Government on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has led to over 30 percent cost reduction for infrastructure development.

He stated this in his opening remark at the 2019 Nigeria LPG Summit, held in Lagos from 26th to 27th of November, 2019. Yakubu noted that the removal of 5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on LPG and 25 percent to 30 percent Import Duty waiver on the importation of LPG equipment and appliances, has given investors a reason to invest in the Nigerian LPG market.

In his words, “The removal of 5 percent VAT on LPG and 25 percent to 30 percent Import Duty waiver on LPG equipment and appliances, has ushered in the best time, season and reason for investment pull into Nigeria’s LPG market.” Speaking on the theme of this year’s summit, Mr. Yakubu emphasized that “The theme of this year’s conference & exhibition, “LPG: Harmonizing Development and Growth in Nigeria and Africa”, demonstrates understanding of the need for consensus building across board between government MDAs and sector operators and the critical next steps for the LPG industry in Nigeria to enhance and grow the business. He further stated that the 2019 edition of the Nigeria LPG Association Conference and Exhibition is a joint collaboration with the globally renowned and widely recognised LPG Summit organizers the “LPG Summit Group” based in Singapore, as an expression of the association’s determination to embrace and deepen

best practices in the evolution and switch to LPG in Nigeria. “We are confident about this collaboration as it produces the synergies, growth strategies, and positive objectives as outcome of this important LPG event,” he added.

Speaking to Majorwaves Energy Report, the Executive Secretary of the association, Mr. Olakunle Taiwo Oyebanjo, bemoaned low patronage of LPG in Nigeria as only about 10 percent of Nigerians use LPG for cooking, noting that the association is working on promoting safety standards.

According to him, when safety standards are adhered to, LPG is safer than other sources of fuel. He stated that the association will partner with the media come 2020 to massively sensitize the masses on LPG and the numerous benefits to be derived from its usage.

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NCDMB Exec Sec visits PTI, Promises Support to Facility Upgrade

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he E xe cut ive S e cr et a r y of the Niger ia n C ontent Development and Mon itor i ng Boa rd (NC DM B), Engr. Kesiye Wabote visited the Petroleum Training Institute in Effurun, Delta State recently to a s ses s the state of faci l ities i n the i nstitution a nd deter mi ne areas the Board could assist to upg rade its operations.

I n his rema rk s, the E xecutive S ecreta r y stated that the v isit was in furtherance of the d i r e c t ive by t he M i n i ster of State for Petroleum Resources, C hief T i mpre Sylva dur i ng the recent M i n ister ia l Retreat for active collaboration between the a gencies w ithi n the m i n istr y.

He promised that NC DM B wou ld col la borate closely w ith P T I and add value with a view to br i n g i n g P T I b ack to it s glorious days. He recalled that PTI was set up to develop middle level manpower and technicians f o r t h e o i l a n d g a s s e c t o r, add i ng that the i nstitution provided most of the production te c h n i c i a n s , i n s t r u m e nt at i o n a nd other sk i l led person nel i n t he i ndu st r y b efore it b e ga n to decl i ne. Respond i ng to the requests made by the Principal of P T I, P rof Sun ny Iy u ke, the E xecutive S ecreta r y confir med t hat t he dema nd s cut acro s s some i nter ventions of the NC DM B a nd wou ld be looked i nto.

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He however charged the management of PTI to articulate the demands properly and make them speci f ic, w ith pa r ticu la r reference to the esta bl ishment of a centre of excellence within t h e i n s t it ut i o n . N ot i n g t h at NCDMB was already promoting C entres of E xcellence on a nu m b e r o f a r e a s , Wa b ote a d d e d t h at “ it w i l l b e n i c e i f P T I w i l l a r t icu late wh ich a rea it wa nts to focus on so we ca n ma ke it a foremo st centre of excel lence.” He a lso promised to support P TI’s plan to establish a modular refiner y which would serve as a teaching aid to students. He argued that i f Niger ia had focus sed ea rly on re sea rch a nd development w ith rega rds to ref iner ies, the p et roleu m s e ctor wou ld have been to keep its three refineries work i ng opti ma l ly.

According to him “Our refineries are suffering because we do not have p erhap s t he technical know-how to fix them a nd the ma npower to resea rch and innovate things and to keep them r unning.” On the area of capacity building, Wa bote said t he st ate of t he faci l it ie s i n P T I w ill inf luence the Boa rd’s de ci sion to c ont i nue to s end c a n d i d at e s fo r t r a i n i n g a n d re -t ra i n i n g to P T I or i f t he faci l itie s wou ld f i rst need to be upg raded to the desired level. Earlier in his speech, the P r i ncipa l of P T I, P rof Sun ny

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Iy u ke stated that the M i n ister of State for Petroleu m had cha rged NC DM B a nd P T I to col la borate i n ca r r y i ng out re sea rch a nd development on the use of loca l mater ia ls for p r o du c t i o n o pt i m i z at i o n a n d to produce loca l ly for mu lated d r i l l i n g f lu i d s fo r e n h a n c e d r e c ove r y. A c c o r d i n g to h i m, the M i n ister a lso cha rged the two bod ies to ser ve a s a data bank and training centre for the Nigerian oil refining and human capacity building; to ca r r y out re sea rch a nd development on technology to curb smuggling of petroleum products acros s the nation’s borders and to develop enabling governance framework and reg ulator y environment on C lean Development Mechanism (C DM) Technolog y for Niger ia that w i l l generate em i s sion credits throug h projects in various sectors of the oil a nd ga s i ndu str y a nd reduce g re en hou s e ga s em i s sion a nd f la r i ng. O ther a s sig n ment s f rom the M i n ister, Iy u ke sa id, included building and operating a 2500 barrels per day modular ref i ner y i nteg rated w ith f lu id c a t a l y t i c c r a c k e r (F C C), t o p r ov i d e l ow l eve l m a np owe r certification and training for the foca l a rea s of the oi l i ndu s t r y a nd to b e i nvolve d i n ba sic sk i l l s development prog ra mmes.

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Local Content ‘’ll Cut Nigeria’s Crude Production Cost -Sylva

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he Federal Government will the new NC DM B str uctu re w i l l deepen the implementation attract a f lu r r y of oi l i ndu str y of the Nigerian Oil and Gas activ itie s to Bayel sa State. He I ndu st r y C ontent D evelopment noted that ”the problem we have (N O G I C D) A c t b e c a u s e i t had over the yea rs wa s that is a n effective strateg y for the reg ion where oi l production l owe r i n g Ni ge r i a’swww.majorwavesenergyreport.com high crude ta ke s place d id not have proper oil production cost, the Minister s t r u c t u r e s to p r o m ot e l ot s o f of State for Petroleum Resources, eve nt s . T h at why you s e e o i l C h ief T i mpre Sylva ha s sa id. a nd ga s events goi ng to A buja a nd L a gos. But when you have a bef itti ng faci l ity here, goi ng The Minister stated this recently for wa rd there w i l l be a lot of at t h e c o n c lu s i o n o f h i s f i r s t oi l a nd ga s related activ ity i n work i ng v i sit to NC DM B’s head the Niger D elta.” office in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, its new 17 storey headq ua r ters bu i ld i ng a nd other project sites.

T he Minister commended the E mpha si z i ng that G over n ment’s NCDMB for the numerous pr ima r y ta rget in the sector a c h i e v e m e nt s i t h a d r e c o r d e d i s to s i g n i f i c a nt l y r e du c e t h e i n t h e i m p l e m e nt at i o n o f t h e unit cost of producing per barrel NO GIC D Act. He s a id, ”I a m of cr ude oi l, Sylva stated that q u ite i mpre s sed w ith what they ”l o c a l c o nt r a c to r s te n d to b e have done in a very short time of c h e a p e r t h a n e x p at r i at e s a n d existence. The new headquarters i nt e r n a t i o n a l c o nt r a c t o r s a n d bu i ld i ng i s a te sta ment to that that’s why we want to encourage i mpre s sive p er for ma nce a nd of L o c a l C o nt e nt a n d g i v e m o r e cou r se, you have the 10 mega opportunities to local contractors. watts i ndependent power pla nt.

By exten sion we w i l l reduce the It is a modular plant that can be cost of doing business in the i ncrea sed up to 25 megawatts.” oi l a nd ga s i ndu str y i n Niger ia.

I n h i s rema rk s, t he E xe cut ive “L oca l C ontent i s pa r t of cost Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi reduction strateg y. T hat’s why Ke siye Wa b ote c on f i r me d t hat I came here, to encourage L o c a l C o nte nt i mp l e m e nt at i o n more loca l pa r ticipation i n the lowers the cost of cr ude oi l activ itie s of the i ndu str y.” T he production, pa r ticu la rly i n the Minister also lauded the NCDMB lon g r u n. He l i ste d ot her key for epitom i z i ng its ma ndate by elements that contr i bute to u si ng a n i nd igenou s contractor h ig h cr ude oi l production cost to develop its new headquarters. i n Ni ger i a to i nclude s e c u r it y He described the edifice as world a nd i n f r a st r uc t u r a l ch a l len ge s cla s s a nd a clea r demon stration as well as protracted contracting of the capacity of Niger ia ns cycle. He a f f i r med that severa l cont ractor s. Such sup erlat ive Niger ia n oi l ser v ice compa n ie s per for ma nce on projects wou ld h a d exe c ute d s e ve r a l p r oj e c t s pave way for the enga gement of at costs much lower tha n thei r other local contractors in the oil i nter nat iona l cou nter pa r t s. He and gas and construction sectors, a lso cla r if ied that countr ies li ke he sug ge sted. ”W hen you have B r a z i l , M a l ay s i a a n d N o r w ay seen one contractor perform this that had practiced L ocal C ontent good, you a re encoura ged to i n thei r oi l sector for decade s patronize more local contractors.” had long enjoyed sig nificant cost H e e x p r e s s e d c o n f i d e n c e t h at reduction in their per barrel cost.

Wabote also explained that Local Content serves as an opportunity cost for the Federa l G over nment to empower its citi zen s a nd get them i nvolved i n the activ itie s o f t h e o i l a n d g a s i n d u s t r y.

H e a d d e d t h at L o c a l C o nte nt g ua ra ntee s secu r ity of supply i n the industr y, recalling that local s e r v ic e c o mp a n ie s a nd s k i l le d Nigerians personnel ensured that op e r at i o n s o f t he o i l a n d g a s industr y continued apace dur ing the heig ht of re stivene s s i n the Niger D elta reg ion a few yea rs ago, when most foreign companies a nd thei r sta f f had pu l led out.

P r ov i d i n g d et a i l s o n t h e n ew NC DM B faci l ity, the E xecutive S ecreta r y reiterated that it w i l l be ready i n D ecem ber 2 019 but r e l o c at i o n o f s t a f f w i l l b e i n phases. He stated that the project r e c o r d e d hu g e i m p a c t o n t h e lo c a l com mu n it y. Accord i ng to him, ”when we sta r ted, we took a bout 50 youth s f rom the host com mu n it ie s a nd t ra i ne d t hem i n c a r p ent r y, m a s on r y, l ay i n g of ti le s a nd other sk i l l s. Today, those youths a re work ing on the facility a nd because of the sk ills they have acquired, the contractor w ill take them to other projects.

“I n ter m s of C or p orate S o cia l Re spon si bi l ity, we worked w ith the contractor a nd bu i lt a tow n h a l l for t he Swa l i c om mu n it y which we commissioned last year.

Many members of community also supplied sa nd, g ra nite a nd other inputs. They have been an integral pa r t of the con str uction.” T he Executive Secretary also informed t h at NC DM B h ad develop e d a sustainability plan for the facility, wh ich i ncludes renti ng out some of the f loors to reputable oil and g a s o r g a n i z at i o n s . ”C u r r e nt l y we have two appl ication s f rom operati ng compa n ie s.”

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Wabote charges Nigerian Content Managers on Core Values, in-country capacities

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he Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development a nd Mon itor i ng B oa rd, (NCDMB) Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote has charged Nigerian Content Managers working for oil and gas operating and service companies to imbibe the core values of the Board, which includes Passion, Integrity, Professionalism, Creativity, Patriotism, and Team Spirit.

The adoption of those values would grow indigenous participation in the oil and gas value chain and enhance job creation, value creation and development of in-country capacities, he said. He gave the charge at a retreat organized by the Board at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State recently for Nigerian Content Managers, Focal Persons and Personnel and other critical stakeholders of the oil and gas industry. According to him, “nobody can succeed as a Local Content Practitioner if the person does not love his or her job. You must first believe and have passion for the Local Content concept before you can practice it effectively.” He explained 20

that the Board organized the event so that Nigerian Content managers can reconnect and pay attention to their own capacity development as against their regular roles of building the capacities of other industry players.

Speaking on Integrity, Wabote remarked that the word does not necessarily connote corruption but on how an individual organizes his or her daily life. “If you can keep to your time, to your word, people will know you as a man or woman of integrity”, he stated. He also enjoined Nigerian Content Managers to have integrity as part of their corporate culture considering the volume of transactions they handle and never to allow pecuniary gains or personnel interests to becloud their sense of judgement.

Dwelling on Professionalism, the Executive Secretary counselled the focal persons to be adept with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act, which he described as the number one reference book for any Nigerian Content Practitioner. He insisted that the NOGICD Act is not

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

meant for lawyers alone and advised the practitioners to read, or refresh their understanding of the Act before the 10th anniversary which comes up in April 2020.

“As professionals, you need you to be familiar with the rule books, the guidelines, and the processes of your trade. You must be knowledgeable about the state of the industry, the in-country capabilities and the existing gaps,” he added. He stated further that part of the reason the Board organises facility visits to service companies and manufacturing facilities is to enable Nigerian Content managers to see for themselves the capabilities that exist in-country and what is doable. The workshop attracted a huge attendance and participants bared their minds on the challenges and grey areas concerning aspects of the Board’s operations covering compliance monitoring, Nigerian Content Intervention (NCI) Fund product types and aspects of the NOGICD Act.

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NAOC, NCDMB hold workshop for oil sector contractors

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Niger Benue Transport Coy a Model on Strategic Innovation

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he Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Kesiye Wabote has commended the Niger Benue Transport Company (NBTC) for keeping the company operational for over 50 years and changing its business strategy to meet emerging opportunities and trends. He spoke recently after visiting the company’s facilities in Warri, Delta State, noting that the company had achieved a rare feat in Nigeria. “It is difficult to see a company last this long in our clime.

“I hope to see NBTC live for 100 years and acquire the Royal Seal,” he added. He commended the owners and managers of NBTC for accomplishing the company’s transition from a trading company into an oil servicing firm, with assets and operations in marine vessels, fabrication, ship repairs and ancillary businesses. Wabote said NCDMB will support NBTC to continue to take advantage of the changing times to provide increased value in the sector.

He stated that NBTC had huge potential, noting “that there are

opportunities for us to harness in this particular facility to increase Local Content penetration, particularly in servicing the oil and gas sector.” He added that “there is also huge potential to create jobs for the teeming youths around Warri and its environs, and also actively support the offshore business that is emerging in our economy today. I think that with focus and the right kind of support, they are prepared to go places and provide services.” The Executive Secretary explained further that the Board had a strong interest in the marine sector because of its importance to the operations in the oil and gas industry.

He recalled that the marine sector was dominated by foreign players before the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act was signed into law in April 2010. He noted that local participation in the sector was about four percent at that time, before the Board begun to encourage Nigerian investors to participate and that led to a marked increase in local participation in the marine sector to 40 percent, with potential to grow further.

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he Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and its joint venture partners with the support of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) have organized a two-day workshop on compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. The workshop, held in Port Harcourt recently, sought to enlighten contractors on the regulations, policies and laws that are applicable in the oil and gas industry and encourage compliance. Delivering the keynote address, the Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Wabote represented by the General Manager, Projects Certification and Authorization Division (PCAD), Engr.

Paul Zuhumben commended NAOC/ENI for hosting the workshop annually. He stated that the Board developed the Nigerian Content 10-Year Strategic Roadmap hinged on five strategic pillars and four enablers, to enable it achieve the desired goal of growing the Nigerian Content level in the industry from the current 30 percent to 70 percent in 2027.

According to him, “domiciliation of value adding activities is one of the key objectives of the Board. We are excited that operators and service companies now heed our call to develop human capacity of Nigerians through workshops like this.” Engr. Zuhumben charged the participants to familiarize themselves with the Nigerian Content Act and the Board’s 10 Year Strategic roadmap.

In his welcome address, the Vice Chairman/ Managing Director of NAOC, Mr. Lorenzo Fiorillo, represented by the General Manager – District, Mr. Alessandro Tiani, said the workshop was organized to develop the capacity of Nigerian owned companies to actively participate in the oil and gas industry and achieve the objectives of the NOGICD Act. He further stated that this year’s workshop is the 6th edition and was designed to re-educate the contractors on the provisions of the NOGICD Act in order to raise their level of compliance as well as empower and enhance the capacities for favorable bids and execution of projects in the industry. In his remarks, the Head of Government and External Relations, Oando, Mr. Adeyemi Oreagba, who represented the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Wale Tinubu, commended NCDMB for the giant stride it made in the implementation of the Act. He assured that Oando will continue to collaborate with the joint venture partners to support the promotion of Local Content, community contractors and vendors in doing business in the oil and gas industry.

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PHOTOSPEAK

PETAN Oil Industry Awards and Dinner 2019

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Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

NAPE 2019 Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists

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ADIPEC 2019

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SPOTLI SPOTLIGHT

M G V O W G A S LT D

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

MG VOWGAS LIMITED, corporate winners of the 2015 and 2019 ‘’ International Safety Award’’ by British Safety Council is a wholly Nigerian owned company with an international outlook. The Company was incorporated in 2006 for the purpose of providing a wide spectrum of Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) and Fabrication Services to the Nigeria Oil and Gas industry. It has developed capacities in the areas of fabrication of pressure vessels, pipeline services, offshore construction and other engineering support services.

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MGV has grown rapidly in the last ten years and set an enviable track record of excellent performance in the services it offers. With a state-of-the-art fabrication yard having equipment on an area covering about 85,000 sqm land area, 334m jetty length, it is reinforced for 1700 Tons/Sqm load bearing capacity and deep water loading capability of 10m/8m high/low tide respectively.

The fabrication yard has an ample stacking area measuring about 32,168sqm and is managed by a team of highly skilled/experienced personnel with diverse engineering background and varying years of experience.

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MG Vowgas is certified to the ISO 9001:2015, ISO 45001: 2018 andASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) with various codes (S, PP, U, U2, R) for pressure vessel manufacturing

FAQ

(s) with

Mr Godwin Izomor

MA N AG I N G D IR EC TOR O F MG V OWGAS LTD

1. What are some of your milestone achievements you’ll readily reckon with in terms of fabrication and EPCI as a whole?

- MGV has recorded various milestones in the industry among which are: • One of the First truly indigenous company to be ASME Certified (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) with various codes ( S, PP, U, U2, R ) for pressure vessel manufacturing www.majorwavesenergyreport.com • The company with the Biggest Dish Head Press Machine in-country 2. As regards true value addition, are there technologies you have domesticated in Nigeria or en-route to domesticating?

- MG Vowgas is pioneering the domestication of in-country Dish Head production for pressure vessels in Nigerian in-line with the NCDMB 10-year strategic roadmap and in-country value retention.

3. What remarkable plans do you have in store for training, re-training and building capacities of your workforce?

No true company survives without Training and re-training, MGV has massively invested on international and local Human Capital Development for our staff, MGV has also concluded plans to roll out graduate internship programme for fresh engineers in Q1 2020.

4. What’s the next big thing from MG Vowgas?

Due to the largely untapped maritime industry and current rapid economic and trade growth across West Africa, MGV intends to build MGV is set to build a deep shipyard for Nigeria’s oil, gas and maritime industry.

“MGV is set to build a deep shipyard for Nigeria’s oil, gas and maritime industry…”

-G O D W I N

IZOMOR, MD

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COVER STORY

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

Human Capital Deve Much Ado about Progress in Ni

By JEROME ONOJA & AMOS IKE

S

ix decades after the discovery of crude oil in the country, the Nigerian petroleum industry has struggled with significant growth partly due to manpower shortage and inability of the industry to promote sustainable human capacity development on a significant scale. This article highlights the impacts of low human capacity development on the Nigerian petroleum industry and the role the Federal Government, industry regulators and operators are playing to reverse the trend.

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Human capacity development is fast becoming a cliché in the Nigeria petroleum industry, and is also transforming into a drainpipe on the financial resources of the country.

Over the years, billions of dollars have been spent by oil and gas companies and the Federal Government on human capacity development programmes in the petroleum industry, without tangible results in skills and capacity improvement.

The skill gap among indigenous professionals has left the industry in such a state that it continues to depend on expatriates for jobs that should have been executed by Nigerians,

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

as dictated by the provisions of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act. The resort to human capital importation, which is against the local content law, has been touted as a consequence of lack of parity between national education curriculum, inadequate training interventions and dearth of skills and competency requirements of the local oil and gas industry. Meanwhile, Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) located in Effurun, Delta State was established in 1973 by the federal government of Nigeria as a prerequisite for the membership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),

COVER STORY

Dr Bello Gusau

According to him,

“

interventions in research, development and human capital run into billions of dollars annually from all players, but these interventions are undertaken by each player in accordance with its determination and needs.

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

elopment: igeria’s Oil Industry to train indigenous middle-level manpower to meet the labour force demands of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. It is highly probable that, if the country had pursued the PTI initiative rigorously, with the necessary funding and attention it deserves, the level of indigenous manpower available to cater for the industry today would have been appreciable.

Nigeria could have matched Brazil who currently boasts of a local content index well over 60 per cent.

Specifically, Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, Dr. Bello Gusau, blamed the slow pace of

He noted that most exploration and production (E&P) players in Nigeria offer different scholarship programmes, while the PTDF, which is statutorily mandated to build human and institutional capacity in the oil and gas industry, as well as state governments and other government agencies, also engage in similar programmes.

human capacity development in the Nigerian petroleum industry on the fact that

“

there is no coordinated approach to the development of these capacities, not even the educational aspects of the capacity.

“

There is hardly any acceptable data base of the skills or a hand book of the educational development requirements to fill identified human capacity gaps.

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COVER STORY While government agencies in the oil and gas, education and national planning sectors are all engaged in different aspects of determining education and skills requirements, private players in the industry are also doing the same to the extent of their needs and operational requirements,” he averred. He also argued that human resource development is the most important project that drives the growth and development of the sector, noting that rapid advances in artificial intelligence, automation and human-machine interaction had not obscured the primacy of people in the running of oil and gas business. According to Gusau, the human is central to the development, performance and sustainability of resource and tools deployed in the industry. Efforts must therefore be stepped up to recruit more talented oil and gas graduates to the industry and to increase interest among current employees in order to sustain the existing human resource pool. Corroborating the views of the PTDF boss, President of Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN), Dr. Mayowa Afe, maintained that

“

there are jobs in the Nigerian oil and gas sector but the country lacks competent manpower to take up these jobs.

Afe, who is also Managing Director of Danvic Petroleum International, noted that the shortage of indigenous manpower was the major reason why oil companies still bring in experts from abroad to take up jobs that could have been handled

by Nigerians.

According to him, there is a gap between the university and the industry, adding that the industry requires a minimum standard for graduates and if the university graduate does not meet that requirement, he cannot be engaged in the sector.

He said, “This gap is what we want to try and bridge by providing quality training to university lecturers, 28

as some of them have not been Nigerians to be competent enough to trained for years while technology fit into what they want, they will is evolving on a fast pace. These go out to bring in people that we people are the ones training those refer to as experts. And one expert who come out from the universities that you bring into Nigeria can take to seek for employment in the oil the employment of about 10 people and gas industry. “This is why because you must provide the best many oil companies are involved in for him or her. This causes capital training and retraining of workers, flight, which has to be stopped.” He which was not so in the past. For called on the Federal Government in the 1960s, when you come out and the National Assembly to compel of the university, you can become and discourage companies operating www.majorwavesenergyreport.com useful immediately you join the oil in the country from conducting and gas industry. trainings for their personnel outside the shores of the country.

Dr Afe Mayowa

“

But now, you have to train and retrain employees, at times for up to three or four years before they can become useful in the employment.

“This is a worry for us and we want to harmonise all our strategic partners to ensure that we give out adequate support to the universities to provide the best of training to our students so that when they graduate, they will be excellent and fit-for-purpose graduates. “It is also important that our university curriculum is reviewed to reflect the realities of today and the needs of present day employers. This will help increase the employment potentials of our graduates.” Commenting on the effect of low manpower development on the industry, Afe said, “The lack of adequate manpower has a huge effect on the sector. Companies like ExxonMobil and Shell are here to do business and not to start training Nigerians. “If you do not get

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

According to him, conducting such trainings outside the country was hurting the Nigerian economy and was encouraging massive capital flight. He said, “The country is losing tremendously. The reason is that Nigeria has to be very patriotic.

For example, the economy of Dubai and Ghana are being boosted by Nigerian companies taking Nigerian trainings and personnel to Ghana, with Nigerian instructors and participants to Ghana for training.

Most times, these people go for shopping, not for training.

“This is something that government must stop because that action gives boost to the economy of Ghana and the only, simple reason people do that is because they want to get estacode and our economy is bleeding because of that. “I think the House should find a way of stopping some of these things. This is because they are killing the Nigerian economy.

The negative effect is tremendous on our economy.” Afe averred that like China and India, Nigeria should be able to export her abundant human capital to other parts of the world, saying that efforts should be made by all stakeholders to raise the bar for education and training, particularly in the oil and gas sector.

However, a number of efforts are ongoing to address the manpower shortage in the Nigerian petroleum industry, and this is being spearheaded majorly by the PTDF, the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) and the NCDMB, with support from OGTAN and some operators in the oil and gas industry. Recently, the NCDMB and Danvic Petroleum International Nigeria secured a $1.2 million seismic interpretation software and geosciences workstations for six Nigerian universities to promote knowledge in oil and gas exploration in Nigeria.

COVER STORY

Graduate welders with executives of PTDF and NCDMB

thereby reducing their exposure to The six universities are the Niger Delta violent and criminal activities. It University, NDU, Wilberforce Land, would also enable them validate the Bayelsa State; Federal University of skills and knowledge of the country’s Technology, Owerri, Imo State; and lecturers for effective training and Federal University www.majorwavesenergyreport.com of Technology, teaching of future geoscientists, Minna, Niger State. Others are as well as deepen Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, specialization with a Kaduna State; Federal University of widely used automated Technology, Akure and the University tool in the oil and gas of Maiduguri, Borno State. market. The partner a lso empha si zed The software and geosciences that it is important workstations were provided for that our university the institutions of learning by curriculum is reviewed E x xon Mobi l, S outh Atla ntic to reflect the realities Petroleum, Sapetro and Chevron. of today and the NCDMB partnered with Danvic needs of present day Petroleum and her overseas partner, employers, and would dGB Earth Sciences, Netherlands in help increase the this venture. dGB Earth Sciences employment potentials provided the OpendTect seismic of our graduates. interpretation software free of charge, which amounted to over $1.2 I n add ition, t he million. NCDMB also sponsored the NCDMB had training of 18 lecturers from the six also commenced universities on the use of the software international certification program and as part of support for improving for 20 marine personnel. The cadets education in the area of geosciences/ are already on board foreign vessels geology. The decision to train the and would stay for 12 months, which lecturers was in view of the fact would qualify them to be awarded that the knowledge of the software the Certificate of Competence (COC), by the university lecturers, would with which they can work in the certainly lead to the enhancement of Nigerian waters and overseas. The the training of students in geology programme, the NCDMB said, would and geophysics. This is geared address the deficit of trained cadets towards making the students more in the maritime and oil and gas employable and relevant to the needs industries and reduce the dependence of the oil and gas industry after on foreign personnel in the marine graduation. Danvic Petroleum and operations. Similarly, the NCDMB its partner undertook to provide partnered with AOS Orwell and subsequent upgrade at no cost to the Lagos State Electricity Board the universities, and would continue on the Smart Electrical Engineering to give the necessary support to Training program for 100 selected the university free of charge after engineers. The first set of 50 had training the lecturers. completed their training at the Lagos Energy Academy, while the first It was projected that at the end of selection test for the second batch the training programme, Danvic, its was held few weeks back in Port partner and the NCDMB would have Harcourt. been able to increase the employment potential of students after graduation,

The six months specialised training provided participants with solid foundations in electrical and electronics theory and practices and combines classroom and on-the-job (OJT) training and is certified by Siemens. As part of their exposure to the industry, the trainees were recently received at Miccom cables where they spent hours learning rudiments of cable manufacturing.

Speaking to journalists shortly after, the chief operating officer, COO of Miccom Cables explained that the trainees had spent hours at the facility learning the basics of cable manufacturing.

Mrs Bukola Adubi noted, “It was interesting to see the reaction from the trainees, including graduates of electrical engineering who had studied about these tools in schools but never saw these things in reality. “For us at Miccom Cables, we understand the skill gap is wide in the industry and we are committed to contributing our own quota to improving the situation.

Miccom Cables offered its facility to educate NCDMB trainees on stranding conductors

“

We have taken our voluntary participation in the training scheme by NCDMB as our own way of being socially responsible; it’s our corporate social responsibility to the trainees, who are also citizens of this country.

And beyond that, we look forward to the possibility of hiring one or two of them,”

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COVER STORY

Bukola Adubi

she further added. As a result of ventures like these, the NCDMB stated that from 2010 till date, it has reduced the number of expatriates in the Nigerian petroleum industry by 80 per cent, noting that today, Nigerians now occupy key positions and deliver critical services in the industry. Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Wabote, declared that before Nigeria started implementing the NOGICD Act, oil welding activities were done outside the country, as Nigeria did not have world-class welding facilities and trained welders. Today, he said we are able to fabricate about 60,000 metric tonnes per annum in Nigeria, which never existed before, while the country has about five world class welding yards today, which can compete with any of its peers outside this country. He said, “Today, 95 per cent of service companies in the oil and gas sector,

“

be it onshore and swamp drilling activities; well intervention; well simulation activities and all that, are being done by Nigerians.

These were the exclusive preserve of multinational companies

like Schlumberger, Haliburton and what have you; but Nigerians have taken all those responsibilities in the land and swamp areas in terms of drilling.

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no longer be necessary in the long “When we talk about operations of run. The PTDF, however, stated the upstream sector; in the past it was that it would continue to sponsor the multinationals that was operating few specialised courses that are not all the fields that we have. Today, we available in Nigerian universities. The truly have Nigerians who are now expectation, according to the PTDF, operating those fields. “Today, they is that the financial and technological account for almost about 25 per cent capacity of Nigerian institutions to 30 per cent of oil production in the would be increased in order to meet country, not to talk about domestic the objective of in-country capacity gas production. Today, marginal fields building. Apart from the Overseas are also being produced by Nigerian Scholarship Scheme, the PTDF companies, adding molecules to oil is also redirecting the training of production.” Onwww.majorwavesenergyreport.com its own part, the Nigerian welders from foreign training institutions to authorised training bodies in Nigeria that have been certified by the International Institute of Welding to conduct different levels of welders training and certification under PTDF Welders Training and Certification Programme.

Engr Simbi Wabote

“

PTDF stated that over the last 10 years, it has spent over N90 billion in upgrading the capacity of some Nigerian institutions across the country.

However, it bemoaned the fact that due to the country’s dependence on the Overseas Scholarship where it sponsored scholars abroad to acquire masters’ and doctorate degrees, these upgraded institutions in Nigeria have not been put to effective use in training PTDF scholars. It noted that with the current realities of the national economy, this is the time to engage these Nigerian universities for the training of our scholars, expressing optimism that with the massive upgrade of the infrastructure and faculty of some oil and gas training institutions in Nigeria, particularly the universities, the need for general award of overseas scholarship will

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Female welders graduating from PTDF training

The Fund will as a result establish two high-tech welding training centres to meet the welding training needs of the industry. This is expected to reduce the high expenditure on welders training abroad. The international oil companies have not been totally left out in the industry’s pursuit for upskilling the Nigerian workforce. Total Exploration and Production is readily linked with its funded Institute of Petroleum Studies (IPS), located in the University of Port Harcourt. The quality of graduates of this programme is one of the finest in the industry and was established in 2003 by Total as an international collaboration between the University of Port Harcourt and the prestigious French Petroleum Institute - Institut Francais du Petrol (IFP).

Post graduate students from the IPS on practical experience tour at BOG

COVER STORY With IPS, Total is sharing its industry experience with the University of Port Harcourt.

As of date, more than 12 Total Nigeria employees are engaged in teaching and providing hands-on training at the IPS. In addition, students of the institution have the privilege to undertake Industrial Work Experience at the company’s industrial facilities. Shell has maintained its internship programme with indigenous service companies under the umbrella of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN); a programme which it Bank-Anthony Okoroafor began seven years ago. With this scheme, young graduates are sent the internship is still running” he to PETAN companies to gather said. In addition to these private On-the-Job training experiences efforts which are in silos, a number for a period of one year. During of Nigerians had secured on-thethis period, the trainees are entitled job trainings on projects like the to some level of remuneration by Sonam, Bonga, Egina and several the sponsor, Shell.

At the end of www.majorwavesenergyreport.com trains of the Nigerian Liquefied each cycle, the host companies Natural Gas (NLNG) Furthermore, are at liberty to either retain or the NLNG Train-7 is expected to release the trainee based on his/ deliver 100 per cent engineering of her performance and the company’s all non-cryogenic areas in-country. needs per time.

The total in-country engineering man-hours is set at 55 per cent which exceeds the minimum level

assemble over 70 per cent of all non-cryogenic pumps and control valves in-country. Other spin-off opportunities include logistics, equipment leasing, insurance, hotels, office supplies, aviation, haulage, and many more. At its peak, the NLNG Train 7 project is expected to provide over 40,000 direct jobs and over 100,000 indirect and induced employment of over 100,000 workers. Beyond the project, there is also huge scope for local businesses to build capabilities in the maintenance of LNG plants especially in the area of cryogenics. However, to address the human capacity issues in the Nigerian petroleum industry, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari disclosed that, the oil and gas industry is a sector that is driven by high-level skills, and would need constant training and retraining of workers in the Industry to ensure that healthy sectoral competition is sustained.

He stated that the NNPC would continue to use the guidelines of the NCDMB to bridge the skill gap in the oil and gas industry. “We do need to work for our country because the human resource in Nigeria is limitless. We in the NNPC are determined to promote Nigerian Content and we will do this by leading by example. Training and retraining in-country is cheaper, more effective and very conducive,” Kyari said. In addition, the PTDF boss, Dr. Bello Gusau,

“ Mr Bank-Anthony Okoroafor, Chairman of PETAN recently said in an interview, “Look at Equinor and the likes and what they are making out of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) by putting forward the world’s first fully automated oil and gas platform.

“Eventually, the technology will become common place industrywide. If we don’t have adequate training of our graduates, when will they be ready to catch up with the reality the future brings? How will we service these platforms?

“Our companies are open for more collaboration with operators; we don’t pay lip service to these issues of human capacity development.

We are deliberate, and that is why

stipulated in the NOGICD Act in line with our resolve to push beyond the boundary of limitations.

On fabrication, the Train-7 scope is expected to bring many of the country’s fabrication yards roaring back into life with over 70,000 tonnes of in-country fabrication covering condensate stabilization units, tanks, pipe-racks, flare system, non-cryogenic vessels, and many other spools and fittings. The benefits would extend to site civil works on roads, piling, and jetties, 100 per cent local procurement of all LV and HV cables, noncryogenic valves, protective paints and coatings, sacrificial anodes and many other direct procurement from our local manufacturing plants.

Those in the service industry would not be left out with the target to

called for the creation of a single national platform for the coordination of all collaborative activities geared towards the development of education, and human capital by relevant players in the industry.

This, he said, would ultimately lead to the provision of the skilled human capital resource requirement of the Nigeria oil and gas industry and to the sustenance of local content through quality education and training.

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Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

INFRASTRUCTURE

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Dangote: First Phase Construction of Apapa Port Road to be Ready By December

A

liko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group, says the first phase construction of the road leading from the seaport in Apapa to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Toll Gate will be completed before the end of December 2019.

Dangote was speaking during an inspection of the construction site with Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. According to the billionaire businessman, the 40-kilometre road will have a lifespan of 100 years upon completion. In his remarks, Emefiele commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the executive order 7, which opened the opportunity for private companies to intervene in infrastructure.

He also advised corporate bodies in the country to take advantage of the presidential order to raise infrastructure bonds at concessionary rates to support the federal

government in its desire to develop infrastructure in Nigeria. “It is a good thing for this country. When we talk about the Ease of Doing Business, you can imagine a situation whereby people have been complaining about the ease of transporting their goods out of the Apapa port,” he said during the inspection on Saturday.

While commending Dangote for taking the initiative, Emefiele expressed hope that the road would ease the traffic challenge on the route, particularly for trucks conveying cleared goods from the ports.

He further commended the Dangote Group for using local content, saying “this is 100 % local content.

Alhaji Dangote uses his cement on this road, the rods I understand are coming from African Foundries that smelted waste steel, which is converted into iron bars and is being used for the road”.

Nigeria Needs Massive Supply of Private Capital to Develop Infrastructure - ICRC

M

r. Chidi Izuwah, the Director-General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), says Nigeria needs massive supply of private capital to be able to develop its infrastructure.

Izuwah said this recently in Abuja at a news conference on the forthcoming Joint Public Private Partnership (PPP) Consultative Forum and Nigeria PPP Network.

The PPP Consultative Forum and Nigeria PPP Network which will be sponsored by Afreximbank is scheduled to hold on Thursday. He explained that the country currently had 69 active PPP projects but stressed that there was a need to have more because the deficit was still huge. Izuwah said all Nigerian port terminals and Garki Hospital in Abuja were under PPP arrangement.

According to him, ICRC is doing its best to accelerate PPP projects to touch the critical sector of the economy.

He disclosed that Ibom Deep Seaport was on the last point of negotiation as the preferred bidder had been identified. “Apart from Ibom Seaport, we also have Bakassi Seaport and Warri Deep Seaport which PPP arrangement was done through ICRC. “Rail line that goes from Itakpe to Warri and then to Abuja is also a PPP project which has been approved by ICRC. “University of Port-Harcourt has a world-class shopping complex built on PPP basis, if you see it, you won’t believe that you are in a campus, you will think you are in Dubai.

“There are a lot of massive projects that the Federal Government is doing with the PPP space,” he explained.

Izuwah emphasised the need to create unified factor and synergy between the states and the Federal Government considering that most foreign investors who wanted to invest in the country only knew Nigeria. The directorgeneral disclosed that the upcoming event which would have some renowned foreign investors from South Africa, would be jointly organised by ICRC, Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation. The Executive Director of NGF, Alhaji Abdulatif Shittu, pledged that the forum would ensure all the states embrace PPP arrangement.

Shittu said already 20 states had established PPP with offices created to enable them to work independently.

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9 33

SOCIAL INVESTMENT

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Dr Dakuku Peterside

Education Needs Everyone’s Support to Develop Nigeria - Dakuku . . A s NIM A SA D ona tes Educational Materials Across Zones The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside has called on well meaning Nigerians and Corporate Organisations to support education at all levels in the country, as education is the major panacea for the growth and development of a country like Nigeria. Speaking in Abuja recently as NIMASA continued its donation of educational learning materials to schools across the country, in line with her robust Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, Dakuku noted that it is in that spirit that the Agency is making its own contribution for the good of the sector.

At the handing over ceremony which took place at the Agency’s Zonal 34

office in Abuja, the Director General, NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who was represented by the Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Mr. Gambo Ahmed at the handover event stated that the Agency is committed to building capacity not only in the maritime sector but every sector that would be of benefit to the economy. He said the Agency feels the gesture would further encourage students in their learning activities especially as they strive to achieve excellence.

“

’It is expected that this will further inspire students to greater heights, an excellence that may possibly help build a career in the maritime sector that could help unlock the vast potentials in the nation’s blue economy’’.

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

The Agency had taken the gesture to the northern zone where some items including latest ICT tools were donated to schools in the North Central and North East Zones. Gambo further disclosed that the donation is being done simultaneously across the six geopolitical zones of the country; in the North East, North West and North Central. Also, the South West, South East and South South. Some of the schools who received the donated materials include Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School, Minna, Niger State, Government Secondary School, Wase LGA, Plateau State and Government Secondary School, Kashare, Akko LGA, Gombe State.

Other schools in the region are scheduled to receive their share of the educational materials in the following days. Some of the distributed items include, desktop computers, laptop computers, UPS systems, white boards, exercise books, scientific calculators, textbooks amongst others.

SOCIAL INVESTMENT

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

OML 58: 40 Women Benefit from Total’s Capacity Building in Rivers

T

ot a l E x p l o r at i o n a n d Production Nigeria Limited, TEPNG, on Friday affirmed her commitment towards reducing its carbon footprint in the country, through the use of renewable and cleaner forms of energy. Total disclosed this in Port Harcourt at the maiden NNPC/TEPNG-sponsored capacity building programme, where 40 women from OML 58 communities were trained on the use and production of organic cosmetics.

Speaking on the theme ‘Let’s Go Organic’, Total Deputy General Manager, Community Affairs and Development, Mr James Urho, assured that the company’s vision is to become “The Responsible Energy Major”. Urho, represented by the Capacity Development Manager, Total, Mrs. Erica Ukey-Omodu, said the 40 beneficiaries of the programme were trained for two weeks on the vast resources of nature and how to maxmize the use of these natural ingredients to produce environmentally friendly cosmetics.

“This is a TEPNG’s capacity building initiative aimed at aligning with one of our group’s objective to work relentlessly towards reducing our carbon footprints not only in our operational sites but in every sphere of our activities. “Total has as its vision, to become “The Responsible Energy Major”. We are principally an oil and gas exploration and production organisation but with a difference.

“

We are passionate about the environment and are striving to bequest a better planet to those who are coming after us. This underlines our foray into areas that encourage the use of renewable and cleaner forms of energy.”

Total further assured it will continue to sponsor the programme for many more years, with the hope to see financially empowered women who will be ambassadors of the success stories that will come out of the programme. “We are focused especially on training or women in this programme because you are the closest to mother-earth and we have heard it said time and again that when you train a woman, you train a nation.

“Apart from the fact this training is teaching you to befriend planet earth, it is also showing you how you can tap into earth’s infinite and infinite resources to achieve self sustainability and financial independence. “This is only the beginning of your journey as I told you at the start of your training, we intend to identify very serious ones amongst you, for the next level. I also told you that the market for your products was very large and you would hardly be able to satisfy even the demands of your immediate neighbourhoods not to talk of Nigeria. In this wise, you are encouraged to form partnerships, pool your resources together, think

big, start small and grow. “TEPNG will be available to empower those of you who show promising capabilities in every possible way. Even as you grasp tenaciously at the practical essence of this training please remain conscious of our environment and strive to reduce, reuse and recycle the raw materials for the good of our planet’s finite and infinite resources,” Total said.

The beneficiaries were given starter packs which include hand blender, moulds, measuring scales, camwood, scrubber, soda ash, spatula, bee wax, sunflower oil, coconut oil etc. Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Tasie Ijeoma Juliet, said it was 14 days of wonderful experience, as they were taught how to use organic food items to produce cosmetics, for a healthy environment.

“I never knew that we can use the food and spices we eat for the beautification of our body. Now I have learnt how to use papaya to make soap, rice to make shampoo; moringa, coconut, cucumber, carrot to make body wash, face scrub, soap, body cream etc, not just for my family but to produce for commercial purposes. “We are not just going to be entrepreneurs, but employers of labour. On behalf of OML58 communities, may God bless Total E&P for this lifetime opportunity

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MARITIME

Nigeria to Mainstream Maritime Sector for Economic Development - Amaechi

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

Dr Dakuku Peterside

National Maritime Transport Policy Key to Development - Dakuku

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he Director G eneral of t he Ni ger i a n M a r it i me Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside has stated that a national policy on maritime and cooperation amongst stakeholders in the industry would go a long way in placing the sector in a pedestal that would lead to economic growth.

This was as stakeholders on the invitation of NIMASA gathered to review the Draft National Maritime Transport Policy (NMTP) to ensure it is elaborate enough to drive the growth of the maritime sector and as well stand the test of time. Speaking at the opening of the session, Dr. Dakuku who was represented by the Agency’s Head, Planning Research and Data Management Services, Mrs. Ronke Thomas said that it is in the usual way of the Agency in engaging stakeholders especially as it concerns documents that would benefit the sector. According to the DG “ in our usual way of ensuring that the sector is stakeholders driven, we feel this document would benefit all the players in the industry and that is why we have gathered you here to make input on this document so that we will be on the same page when it is time for the implementation of the content” he said. Also speaking at the event Barrister Mike Igbokwe SAN said that there was the need to have a liberal protection of what he termed the Nigerian local shipping industry. He said documents such as the NMTP would ensure that the Nigerian local shipping industry is protected from being stifled by 36

unfavourable competition from international shipping company. In her view, the Secretary General of the Abuja MoU, Mrs Ufom Usoro noted that the document should be reviewed with particular focus on the National Transport Policy (NTP) which is at the final level of approval by the Federal Executive Council.

The former NIMASA DG pointed out that having been a member of the committee that drafted the NTP, that there was the need to make reference to the document while reviewing the NMTP. She advised that the NMTP should focus more on objectives of the Maritime Sector and not the Agencies that regulate the sector. In the same vein Barrister Temisan Omatseye also a former DG of NIMASA said that the NTP is at an advanced stage, he disclosed that there is even a strategy already in place for the implementation of the document. He advised that the NMTP should be embedded in the NTP which will make it more comprehensive and elaborate.

It should be noted that this is the latest in the collaborative efforts championed by NIMASA in the maritime industry. The session had in attendance key stakeholders such Andrew Isichei and Mrs. Obiageli Obi of the Nigerian Chambers of Shipping.

Others are Barrister Chidi Ilogu, Ms. Funmi Folorunso, Otunba Kunle Folarin as well as representatives from the Maritime Workers Union, the Nigerian Merchant Navy amongst other attendees.

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he Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi has disclosed that the Federal Government of Nigeria will ensure the maritime sector gets into the mainstream of economic strategy as it will engender economic growth and prosperity. The Minister who affirmed this in his keynote address at the opening of a twoday Regional Workshop on UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework: A process to mainstream the maritime sector organised by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in conjunction with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Lagos said that the Maritime Transport Plan and Strategy when fully completed will also provide a robust enabling framework for achieving Nigerian maritime objective and foster Public, Private sector collaboration and interregional cooperation.

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This workshop is an essential step in a continuing shift i n strateg ic t h i n k i ng about the sustainable development of our nations and will no doubt provide an opportunity for stakeholders here present to develop the much needed cooperation framework in addressing the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)”, Amaechi said.

MARITIME

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Speaking further, the Minister who was represented by the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside stated that as the African Continent forges ahead with phase II negotiations for the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), the maritime sector remains critical to seamless trade and effective economic integration between African nations. Group photographs of delegates at the opening of a two-day Regional Workshop on UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework: A process to mainstream the maritime sector organised by NIMASA in conjunction IMO and UNECA) in Lagos.

Accordingly, he said “our approach, therefore, towards the realisation of the SDG is contingent on our joint effort and ability to put in place the much needed cooperation framework in collaboration with critical stakeholders using the maritime sector as a veritable tool to promote agricultural development, food security, industrialisation and economic transformation of our nations, the region and the entire continent”. He used the opportunity to commend the IMO, UNECA and NIMASA for putting together the workshop, and expressed optimism that with the level of participation at the workshop, the objectives of developing blueprint and agreeing on

a common approach in mainstreaming the maritime sector into the SDG and national plan of states will be achieved. On his part, the NIMASA DG, in his welcome address stated there is the need for the leaders of the various countries in the continent to understand the workings of the maritime sector, as maritime transportation plays an important role in a nation’s economic development.

He emphasised the need to help the leaders understand why it is important to mainstream maritime sector in economic plan and economic strategies of the various countries.

“As a country, we align with the initiative of the IMO to mainstream maritime transportation and the maritime sector to the economic planning of our various nations and also in the strategic planning. Not only are we going to mainstream maritime transport to the economic strategies of our various countries, there is being a shift from looking unto other countries for assistance to working with other countries, international partners in a cooperative and collaborative manner”, Dakuku stated. Also, the NIMASA DG stated that Nigeria is currently pursuing an economic diversification programme, with a long term plan. “We are working from the known to a future we deserve, and we have taken a number of steps; we have clearly

identified where we want to be as a country, we have identified pillars upon which we want to build that glorious future we are working towards”, Dakuku averred.

The Director, Technical Cooperation Division of the IMO, Mr. Juvenal Shiundu in his remarks gave the assurance that the IMO is committed to assisting member states on the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda.

He said, IMO’s commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is manifestly reflected in its General Assembly Resolution (A.1126) adopted at its 30th session in 2017, which includes among others, invitation to Member States, partner organizations to coordinate and work with the five United Nations Regional Economic Commissions to ensure that the maritime sector is reflected in regional programmes. The two-day workshop is to create a forum for all the key players and stakeholders involved in the C ooperation Framework process to meet, establish the necessary contacts, which will be needed for future collaboration and for the inclusion of maritime in the mainstream of their economic strategies towards economic growth.

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ENERGY WOMAN

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nita Omoile is the CEO of D eep Blue Energy Services L imited ( DBE SL) , a 10 0 % Nigerian oil reso urce an d solu tion s mana gem en t c o m p a n y, s e t u p to p r o v i d e s o l u ti o n s to challenges experienced by oil service provid ers in the s u b - S a haran A frican region . S om e o f www.majorwavesenergyreport.com i ts o f feri n gs i n c l u d e tra i n i n g, cap a ci ty d ev elopm en t, e xpa tria te placem en t, an d clien t rela tion s hip b etween local an d forei gn b usiness en ti ties . S he ha d an accelera ted growth in the oi l an d gas industry with a career that spans over 2 5 years o f work e xp erience wi th in di geno u s services f irm s an d in terna tional oil companies ( IO C s) .

Within the 10 - year period she spent at Foster W h e e ler, a 1 2 0 - y e a r o l d m u l ti n a ti o n a l e n g i n e e r i n g a n d c o n s t r u c t i o n c o m p a n y, she was able to remarkably drive its growth and expansion in Nigeria and Sub Saharan A fri c a . D uri n g th e 2 019 e d i ti o n o f A b u Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition an d C on ference (A D I PE C) , s he gran ted Majorwaves Energy Report an interview.

E x cerp ts b y Jerom e O NOJA : Plea se tel l us a bout Deep Blue Energ y S er v ices a nd why you’re here?

We’re i n A DI PE C to ba sica l ly showca se ou r exper tise, which we have developed si nce the la st de c ade s. We b el ieve i n Ni ger ia, wh ich i s one of the f i rst countr ies w ithi n A f r ica to have sta r ted the exploration of oil a nd a lso tra ining of i nd igenous loca l exper tise.

We’r e n o w a t t h a t p h a s e where we have the a bi l ity to actually export some of those expertise that we have gained over the la st decades.

W hat a re some of these ex p er t i s e b ei n g refer re d to here?

Mainly technical engineers that have over the years learnt f rom the majors. T hey have a l s o b e en a ble to work on insta llations since the 6 0 s or late 50s when Nigeria actually s t a r t e d e x p l o it i n g o i l . Fo r Nigeria, the local content drive ha s been on for a l most two decades. And within those two decades, we’ve actua l ly seen a lot of tech n ica l exper ti se b e i n g d e ve l o p e d l o c a l l y by loca l i nd igenous players. We a re cur rently competi ng a nd

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work i ng i n Niger ia for the IO C s. A lot of these IO C s a re actua l ly operati ng elsewhere i n A f r ica a nd the M idd le E a st. S ome of these countr ies w ithi n A f r ica a nd the M idd le E a st do not have t he i n b or n t a lent s t hat we a l ready have. I n some ca ses, t h e s e i n d i v i du a l s w it h t h e expertise are near retirement a g e i n N i g e r i a . S o w e’r e hoping that being in A DIPEC g ives us the oppor tun ity to, i nstead of a lways look i ng for foreig n pa r tners com i ng i nto Niger ia to work, actua lly see how we ca n help a lso w ith s o m e o f t h e u n e mp l oy m e nt i s sue s we have loca l ly by exporting some of our talents.

S o fa r, what ha s been your exper ience today?

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

It ha s been ver y good. We’ve actua l ly had i ntere st s f rom some of the companies within the M idd le E a st. T hey wa nt u s t o p r o v i d e s e r v i c e s fo r t h e m a s we h ave d o n e fo r I O C s i n N i g e r i a . We h av e a lso had some of the ser v ice companies wanting to partner w it h u s i n te r m s o f b e i n g a ble to complement a nd add v a lu e . E ve r y b o d y ’s t a l k i n g about inclusion and diversity.

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So it’s about time that we also key into it, and see how we can export or show to the world what Nigeria has to offer, instead of always sitting down waiting for people to come down to meet us.”

ENERGY WOMAN We’r e t r y i n g t o c h a n g e t h e na r rative. Niger ia ca n sta r t up something. Nigeria can be local, yet g loba l a nd i nter nationa l i n del iver y.

Give me a n idea of what some of these sk i l l set that you a re lo ok i ng at exp or ti ng a nd h o w y o u i nt e n d t o i n c r e a s e the num bers of these resource persons?

of col la boration i n this m i x?

Wel l, we’ve had some i nterest f rom some compa n ies i n E g y pt a nd the M idd le E a st that wa nt to be cer ta i n of what we ca n offer. We’re wa iti ng to see the resu lts this w i l l generate.

Okay, how have you ma na ged this pursuit a s a woma n?

Wel l, I do have some people I L ook at the whole va lue cha i n mentored. One of the thi ngs I in the Niger ia n oi l a nd ga s say as a salesperson is that you s e c t o r, o n s h o r e o r o f f s h o r e , need to f i rst conv i nce yoursel f you’re looking for commissioning t h at you h ave t he a bi l it y to eng i neers or su bsea eng i neers actua l ly sel l that product. S o, o r s t r u c t u r a l e n g i n e e r s . We look i ng at me a s a woma n have a lot of these sk i l l set i n do e sn’t re a l ly c ome i n. It i s Niger ia. I f you look back to a more of me prov id i ng a needed couple of ye a r s, t he proje ct s s e r v i c e . I f t h o s e p o i nt s a r e have not rea l ly been comi ng. www.majorwavesenergyreport.com t a ken c a r e of, my cl ient s or S o you actua lly hav ing some of w h o e v e r I ’m d o i n g b u s i n e s s these sk i l led people leave the w ith is no more look i ng at me oi l a nd ga s sector a nd go i nto a s a woma n, but a s a ser v ice the ba n k i ng sector. T hese a re provider that is actually meeting ta lents that we shou ld not let t h e d e m a n d r e q u i r e d. T h e n, wa ste away. what you have is a n automatic i nclusion, that is, a tick i n the box. It mea ns I a m prov iding a They left because there are ser v ice to a n IO C i n Niger ia. no oppor tun ities for them, They left because there are is The fact that I am local becomes and what we have locally a n inclusion. Being a ble to or les s crowded no more opportunities for them,a nd prov ide a ser v ice is what keeps saturated.” and what we have locally is you in business. This gives your client an opportunity to say, “I more or less crowded and got a woma n but the ser v ice saturated.” provided met up to the standard I wa nted”.

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There is need to create an avenue to s e e h ow we c a n a c t u a l l y expor t personnel or impor t the ser v ices i nto the countr y to do the jobs loca l ly. You’ve hea rd of low cost eng ineering centers l i ke I nd ia a nd C hi na.

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There’s really no reason why we cannot have low cost engineering services in Nigeria, whereby people from Europe or thereabout can subcontract some of the engineering jobs to companies within Africa; just the way the Indians and the Chinese do.”

Sha l l we be seei ng some sor ts

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We are in the oil and gas sector where safety is very important. Because of that, it is not the gender that should give you the job but the ability to deliver.”

W hat counsel do you have for fema le pupi ls who a re stay i ng away f rom ST E M courses?

You a re you r on ly l i m it at ion i n l i fe. W hatever you say you ca n not achieve, it is sa id that you cannot achieve it. But once you b el ieve i n you r s el f, a nd know that you have the ability, the sky is the beginning for you.

ca reer, you’re the C EO of your compa ny. D id you exp er ience a ny thing like a hindra nce o r h ow d i d y o u m a n a g e t h e toug hest opposition you had i n your busi nes s ca reer?

Interestingly, I have never seen my gender a s a n ob st acle or a s a rea son why I have gotten anything that I have gotten. Like I said, belief in oneself and the a bi l ity to del iver a lways opens t he do or for you. S omet i me s bei ng fem i n i ne ma kes it ea sy for people to underestimate you, which I thi n k is more l i ke a plus for you. I thi n k it mea ns that before you wa l k i n, the exp ectation i s low. T h i s w i l l cha nge because of how you’re a b l e t o d e l i v e r. T h e p e r s o n that you’re work ing for is ver y happy that they gave you the oppor tunity. I don’t see gender a s a n ob s t a cle. I r at he r s e e your a bi l ity to prove yoursel f a s the only limitation. Because if you don’t believe in yourself, you w i l l not be a ble to even prove whether you’re good for a ny thi ng.

For a woma n, there’s a lways the is sue of work l i fe ba la nce.

How do you ma na ge it?

W hen we ta l k a bout d iversity and inclusion, we need to actually look at the fact that the world is changing. People right now a re more concer ned a bout wo rk l i fe b a l a n c e t h a n t h ey have before. They want to make sure that the work environment gives them time for themselves.

S o i n look i ng at that, it’s not just only as a woman. You need to m a ke t he workpl ac e mor e i nclu sive for ever yb o dy. L i ke i n my orga n i s at ion, we have a cr èche for work i ng nu rsi ng mothers. A s time goes on, a lot of people w ill see that it is not just a bout the cr èche but that the woma n is comfor ta ble a nd know that her child is safe. For the young mi l len n ia ls a nd the G eneration Z, we a lso need to have that f lex i bi l ity. S o, it is not just a bout hav i ng a n off ice but doing the job from different locations. T he resu lts is what counts i n the end.

Going through the ranks in your

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ACROSS AFRICA

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com

AfDB and Green Climate Fund Provide $154m to Install 100MW of Clean Energy in Zambia

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he African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) have formalized a $ 154 million support for a plan to deploy 100 MW of green energy in Zambia.

This investment comes in a context where the country is facing a severe drought, which affects the national electricity production, more than 90% of which is hydroelectricity. Under the five-year funding framework, the two partners will work with the Zambian government to put in place a guaranteed buy-back system for electricity generated by the projects that will be developed under the program.

In the details $ 150 million will be a debt that will be used to finance P3s (public-private partnerships), most of which will be small-scale solar projects.

The remaining $ 4 million will be used to support public and private sector players who will gain expertise in this area, says the specialized PV Tech website .

The drought that has been raging since the beginning of the year mainly affects agricultural production. According to AFP, water shortages have pushed two million Zambians to the edge of famine .

Source: Agence Ecofin

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Total, Eni and Sonangol Bid for Angolan Oil and Gas acreage

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ngola’s oil, gas and biofuels agency (ANPG) announced the names of companies that submitted proposals for 10 fields in the Namibe and Benguela basins, which concluded on Wednesday. The bid round signifies an opportunity to enter these frontier basins during its early stages of development. The announcement follows a series of roadshows in Luanda, Houston, London and Dubai held in September, which attracted more than 500 industry players. The roadshows included presentations of the 10 blocks, which cover a total area of 55.387,88 km2. The ANPG offered nine blocks in the Namibe basin; 11, 12, 13, 27, 28, 29, 41, 42 and 43, block 10 is in the Benguela basin.

All these blocks currently have no hydrocarbon production.

Angola’s National Oil Company, Sonangol, has submitted proposals to explore nine blocks; proposing a 20% operational stake in six blocks, 35% in two blocks and 40% in the remaining block. Eni Angola submitted a proposal for one block; proposing a 60% operational stake in partnership with Sonangol, while Total EP

Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9

Activities Petroleum proposed a 46% operational stake in one block, also in partnership with Sonangol. This was Angola’s first public auction since the pre-salt layer blocks auction of 2011 and the first of a series of licensing rounds to take place under the ANPG. The bidding round followed a strategy set out under Presidential Decree No. 52/19, which was released last year, in an effort to boost exploration, maximize reserve replacement and increase Angola’s oil and gas production. The licensing round was guided by Angola Law No. 10/04 of November 12, 2004 (the Petroleum Activities Law, as amended

by Law No. 5/19 of April 18, 2019), and Angola Presidential Decree No. 86/18 of April 2, 2018, which states how public tenders and bids should be carried out. ANPG holds the mineral rights for the exploration, development, and production of liquid and gas hydrocarbons in Angola.

Source: Africa Oil & Power

ACROSS AFRICA Crew Members of Tanker Chartered by Exxon kidnapped off Equatorial Guinea

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ast month, the Equatorial Guinean Oil Ministry announced that seven members of the crew of a supply ship for the local oil industry have been kidnapped by pirates. For the moment, no claims have been released. The seven kidnapped people are part of a group of 15 crew members. The statement explains that the other eight hid at the time of the attack. The crew consisted of nationals from South Africa, the Philippines, Serbia and Cameroon. The supply vessel was chartered by Exxon Mobil from the oil services company Swire and had left the Zafiro oilfield 12 miles offshore and was heading for Luba, a port city on the island of Bioko. In the first nine months of this year, the region recorded 82 percent of the world’s crew abductions, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), an offshore crime watchdog. Source: Agence Ecofin

Senegal Discovers 3bn barrels of Light Crude in Five Years, Launches Bid Round

By Jerome Onoja

www.majorwavesenergyreport.com South Africa, during the Africa Oil Week, for deep offshore exploration, with the aim to attract oil companies to the country to invest. According to him, what is happening in Senegal in the oil and gas space makes the country the newest in Africa. Faye believes that there are still a lot of discoveries to be made in the country, hence, the reason for the new enegal has discovered about 3 round of licencing. “Last week we were billion barrels of light crude and in Cape Town, South Africa to launch 30 trillion cubic feet of gas in five what we call Licencing Round of the years, and has launched its first bid open blocks - the deep offshore. The round the Managing Director of Petrosen, objective of this process is to have new the country’s national oil company, Mr. oil companies come invest in Senegal’s Mamadou Faye has said. Speaking to deep offshore exploration. Since 2014, we Majorwaves Energy Report in Abu Dhabi, started having quite significant discovery United Arab Emirates, on the sidelines in Senegal. Today, we have discovery that of the recently concluded Abu Dhabi is around 3 billion barrels of light oil and International Petroleum Exhibition and we have 30 tcf of gas discovered since.

Conference, Faye said that the country Today, we think that these are quite new. launched a licencing round in Cape Town,

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It’s the newest in West Africa. And we still have a lot to discover, as a result we launched this licensing round last week,” he said. On the country’s fiscals, he said that hitherto based on the old petroleum law of the country, both the national laws and the regional ones were the same, but currently, the country has a new one which is a bit hard on the fiscal aspect.

He said, “The new law is a little bit hard on the fiscal aspect because today we have a proven body that can generate oil and gas; but the fiscals aren’t bad. The rate of return on medium-sized discovery is around 15-20 per cent. We already have ranking of the countries that we will export the oil to. It’s still quite good compared to what is done elsewhere in Africa.” Senegal, presently hosts about 10 oil and gas exploration and production companies with two being global majors.

Tanzanian LNG Project Faces Possible Delays

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he Tanzanian envisaged liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant project could be delayed further following the temporary suspension of talks on the Host Government Agreement (HGA). The HGA is a legal agreement between a foreign investor and the local government which is designed to reduce financial and political risks posed to investors by sudden changes in national law. The HGA outlines issues pertaining to tax and other revenues to be accrued from the project, participation of Tanzanians in the project and how to deal with various challenges that may emanate during the implementation phase of the project. Initially, the HGA was to be negotiated between April and September 2019. The LNG project manager from Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Mr Felix Nanguka, told The Citizen recently that the temporary suspension of the negotiations was meant to pave the way for completion of a review of the production sharing agreements (PSAs) of existing contracts.

“Some PSA issues seemed to contradict or overlap with other contracts, so Parliament was tasked with forming a special team to review them before proceeding with the

HGA negotiations,” he said. Mr Nanguka, however, was not categorical on when the PSA review would be completed for HGA negotiations to resume. The audit firm Deloitte initially forecast LNG exports to begin in 2027, and bring in annual revenues of about $5 billion (Sh11.5 trillion). National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data shows that natural gas revenues from local sales in 2018 amounted $63.09 million. Tanzania delays oil, gas drilling by two years Mr Nanguka said the government had already approved compensation to people who will have to relocate from 2,077 hectares where the LNG complex will be built in Lindi Region.“The Ministry of Finance and Planning has already approved Sh5.07 billion for compensating 693 individuals.

They will be paid soon.”Shell Tanzania, which manages Block 1 and 3 of natural gas reserves, said it was waiting for the PSA review to ensure that appropriate commercial, technical and legal foundations are laid down before a globally competitive LNG industry is developed in Tanzania.

“The HGA negotiations commenced in April this year and are currently on pause to allow finalisation of PSA reviews within

government,” Shell Tanzania external relations manager Patricia Mhondo said.

“We are continuing to engage with the government and are supportive of the HGA process as it is an important step in agreeing the key commercial, technical and legal principles for the next phase of this important project,” she added. Equinor Tanzania country manager Mette Ottoy told The Citizen earlier this year that actual construction of the LNG plant would start within three of concluding the HGA negotiations. The construction will take four to five years, and the plant is expected to operate for more than 30 years. Equinor and partner ExxonMobil have invested more than $2 billion at Block 2 where over 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas have been discovered. Source: The Citizen

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POWER

Buhari Advocates Strong Regulation of Electricity Market Across ECOWAS Countries

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resident Muhammadu Buhari has advocated for a strong, effective and proactive regulation for the electricity market across member states of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ensure quality performance from service providers. Buhari made the advocacy in his address at the 14th Session of the General Assembly of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), with the theme: “ECOWAS Regional Electricity Market: Today and Future Opportunities” held in Abuja recently.

The President, who was represented at the occasion by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, said for the electricity industry to be taken seriously, penalties must be applied when necessary to instill discipline in the market. He said, “One major area I would also want to highlight regarding electricity and going forward is regulation. Local and regional regulators in the industry must be strong. It must be firm, effective, proactive, technology and knowledgedriven. This is the sure way of deriving quality performance from

service providers.

Project which is 876 kilometers, Regulation must 330kV transmission line from Nigeria be taken seriously through the Republics of Niger, Benin www.majorwavesenergyreport.com a nd p ena lt ie s and Togo and terminating in the appl ie d when Republic of Burkina Faso. “It will necessary to instill discipline in facilitate a huge power exchange in the entire market”. He also tasked the sub region. This and all the other ECOWAS countries to harness, develop projects in the WAPP master plan and share energy resources with the should be vigorously pursued by all primary objectives of improving access stakeholders,” he said. He appealed to steady and affordable electricity. to members of the diplomatic corps, “The huge potential for electricity investors in the electricity market and generation within the region still international finance organizations, remains underdeveloped, thereby to eschew corruption in whatever slowing the economic development form and shape because corruption of the countries and productivity” is an enemy of development and he said. According to him, these productivity. Speaking at the occasion, are clearly indicated by human the Minister of Power, Engr. Saleh development indexes, it is therefore Mamman, said he was impressed with important that WAPP progresses in WAPP’s role of interconnecting 14 the direction of incorporating the member-countries of ECOWAS and countries and developing the energy noted that Nigeria was advancing on resources available across the region projects that would increase regional towards achieving the objectives of integration as well as cross-border reliable and affordable electricity for power trade. According to him, all citizens. He charged the West Nigeria has abundant gas resources African nations to focus on the current and that the Federal Government was reality and bridge the gap in the region strengthening power sector capacity to by embracing renewable energy to generate and export low cost electricity mitigate the impacts of climate change in the region. He detailed projects and added that Africa must strive like the 3,050 megawatts (MW) to produce clean energy, as seen in Mambilla hydro power plant and developed nations. the 330kV Nigeria, Niger to Burkina Faso interconnection project meant to support regional electricity growth The President also commended WAPP and trade. for the launch of the North Core

Decentralise National Grid to Address Inadequate Power Supply, Ex-minister Urges FG

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ormer Minister of Power, Prof.

Bart Nnaji, has called on the Federal Government to decentralise the national grid in order to address the frequent collapse of the national grid and improve electricity supply in Nigeria. Nnaji, who is the Chairman of Geometric Power Limited, stated this, during the Second Distinguish Guest Lecture of Dominican University, Ibadan.

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The lecture was entitled “Let there be Light: Solving Nigeria’s Electricity Puzzle for Sustainability’The former minister said that the national grid should be made into smaller chops for regional supply of electricity. “Each one must be autonomous for better control and invested in by different groups and not one national grid, although there will still be national control that aggregates power and gets power supply from one end of the country to another. “With this, each grid will be able to control itself and there will not be system collapse as we always have it now,” he said. Nnaji said that operating the national grid from the centre could limit the ability of the country to address the problem

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of power supply. According to him, gas supply and transmission infrastructure challenges are also hindering adequate supply of electricity in Nigeria.

The former minister said that government was doing its best, but needed to do more in order to have adequate supply of electricity in the country. He said that there was prospect in power investment in Nigeria, if the country rigorously followed the power roadmap. Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Anthony Adewale, said that the annual lecture was to remember the contributions of some people to the institution.

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Majorwaves Energy Report DECEMBER 2019, Vol 2 No 9