By Ejiofor Alike
Nigeria’s oil and gas sector has recorded another landmark achievement in the area of local content as Nigerdock, a leading indigenous Nigerian oil services company and a member of Jagal Group, has successfully completed the fabrication and the load-out of the topsides of the 90,000 barrels per day capacity Ofon 2 oilfield project being developed by the French oil giant, Total.
Total had in 2012 commenced the Ofon field Phase 2 development in offshore Nigeria with the award of the construction and installation contracts.
The Ofon field is located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 102, in about 65 kilometres off the Nigerian shores in a water depth of 40 metres.
Ofon Phase 2 will unlock the field’s undeveloped reserves to increase production to 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 30,000 barrels, by installing four new platforms: two production platforms, a processing platform and an accommodation platform.
Most of the development is dedicated to recovering natural gas, which will be compressed and evacuated to shore.
Speaking yesterday during the load-out ceremony at the Nigerdock’s Snake Island base in Lagos, the acting Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Patrick Daziba Obah said the epoch-making Load Out event of the Ofon 2 Topside marked yet another milestone in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Obah said the event was another incontrovertible proof that local capacity and capability could be utilised to deliver key projects in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
“I am particularly excited because the Ofon 2 project is the first full Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) project to be undertaken by an indigenous Nigerian contractor. With the successful completion of this project, I am indeed convinced that Nigerdock and other Nigerian fabrication yards have what it takes to take up similar projects even those that are much larger than this,” Obah said.
The NCDMB boss added that the feat being celebrated was – few years ago – thought to be inconceivable and unachievable by a Nigerian fabrication yard.
According to him, Nigeria had proven once again that with dedication, perseverance, right business environment and enabling laws, the country can rank among other successful nations.
“I am proud to say that this laudable achievement is a direct result of the enactment and implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act of 2010 and the overwhelming support that the Government has given and has continued to give to the development of Local Content in the Oil and Gas industry,” Obah added.
Obah, who was represented by NCDMB’s Director in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. Esueme Dan Kikile, lauded Total for believing in the Nigerian Content cause and for giving Nigerdock the opportunity of delivering a high quality project.
“The successful completion of this project underscores the high level of quality that Nigerian companies are capable of delivering. I would like to seize this opportunity to state that we at the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) will continue to support Nigerian Companies in a bid to achieve our key mandate of developing capacities and capabilities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry,” he added.
He encouraged Nigerian companies across all sectors to always strive to develop their human and structural capacities and capabilities, stressing that the focus of local content development is not to compromise quality but to ensure that work done by local companies can compete with that of their counterparts in any part of the world.
In his speech, the Manager in charge of Health Safety and Environment for the project, Mr. Kayode Omojagbara said about 4.2 million manhours without Loss Time Injury (LTI) was achieved in the project.
According to him, the project is significant not only in the life of Nigerdock but in the lives of all Nigerians.
“This is an EPC project but it has a lot of complications. We have done fabrication; we have done pre-commissioning and we have completed a lot of commissioning but nobody was injured. It has been a tough journey but only the tough wins the battle,” Omojagbara explained.
