LADOL, Chinese firm sign partnership deal on offshore development

The Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL) has brokered a major partnership deal with Chinese Offshore Oil Engineering Company Limited (COOEC), one of the leading Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contractors in Asia Pacific, to develop strategic logistics infrastructure across the country.

The offshore agreement which was signed under the watchful eyes of Nigeria’s minister of trade and investment, Olusegun Aganga, was one of the nine key collaboration and development agreements signed between the two countries at the China-Nigeria Business Forum held recently in Beijing, China.

The agreement between LADOL and COOEC is a long-term collaboration to jointly plan and develop strategic infrastructure in key parts of Nigeria so as to enable LADOL achieve its core mission of making Nigeria the hub for oil and gas and maritime activities in West Africa, according to Amy Jadesimi, managing director of LADOL.

The choice of COOEC for the partnership deal, Jadesimi said, is informed by the Chinese company’s pedigree in local content development.

“COOEC’s technology, experience and focus on creating real local content in Nigeria makes it an ideal partner for LADOL that is the only 100 percent indigenous Nigerian logistics service facility developer and operator in Nigeria,” she said.

LADOL, she said, has proven to the maritime and oil and gas sectors that it has a reputation for delivering round-the-clock services in a cost-effective, safe and reliable manner – making Nigeria an attractive location for work that has not been done in the African continent such as large-scale rig and semi-submersible repairs.

She further disclosed that the two companies plan to create 10,000 new jobs and generate hundreds of millions of dollars as revenue for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The strategic importance of Nigeria becoming West Africa’s hub has never been greater. As Africa’s most populous nation, surrounded by countries making their own oil and gas findings and building their own infrastructure, Nigeria must rapidly build and operate the strategic infrastructure needed to make it the hub for West Africa,” she added.