‘We are looking at the oil and gas space to forge collaboration between Nigeria and Norway’
Taofik Adegbite is the chief operating officer of Marine platforms, an oil servicing company. He was recently appointed as an Honorary Consul of the Norwegian government in Nigeria. In this interview with Olusola Bello, he enumerates how he would forge closer collaborations between Norwegian companies and their Nigerian counterparts in oil and gas, energy and other sectors of the economy. Excerpts:
Where do you see Nigeria-Norway relations in short and long terms?
For Norway- Nigeria businesses I have not looked into the short and long term plans. What I will look at is how we can create values which would stand the test of time. So that we can bring like I said the advantages of Norway into Nigeria in key areas of the economy as we heard the ambassador say.
Of course traditionally in an oil and gas space, we have a lot to do there and in an energy space such as renewable, aquaculture, marine and maritime sectors.
So the execution strategy would now be how we can do sectorial linkage, how do we do peer to peer review introduction. You know that there are a lot of ambiguities around strategy. But through seminar, conferences and direct linkages we would be able to create values.
We are looking at the oil and gas space. We have seen Equinor, the major Norwegian E and P Company, it has preference in Nigeria, and it is trying to do some sensitisation and awareness in the Nigerian space. It equally has the potential of being operators in the country in Nigerian oil and gas space.
When we look at the oil service space there are many Norwegian oil service companies backing Nigerian service companies. But how do we now formalise these relationships, how do we evaluate these, how do we electrify it so that we can identify areas of improvement. Honestly, how do we tap from the Norwegians experience in the area of local content, so that we can now do a kind of linkage where there would be common wealth creation where a Nigeria company would be able to create value, wealth for its people and the Norwegian company would be able to do same also? They have done local content successfully,
For instance, in the Marine space we are talking about. It would have been a zero sum game if vessels are built in Norway and they are owned by Norwegian, crew by their people and they come here to work and they carry away the profit and every other thing. If the vessels are to be built in Norway, it means the factories in Norway are working, it means the people are prosperous. But if is owned by Nigeria company , it will bring value to the country because Nigerians would be brought on board, it will get revenue and of course the revenue will be retained in the country for common good . So what you have done is that you have created a win situation. Gradually maintenance can be done in-country you. So that they wealth is not just seated in one country to disadvantage of the other. These are the areas I want look into so that values can be created.
In respect of the fishing sector Norway is very mature and is doing very well. We would want to see that sector is repackaged better, do more market penetrations and sensitisations
Are there areas of more collaboration in the Oil and gas sector?
You know Equinor an equity partners in Agbami field, one of the biggest deepwater fields in the country.
In future the Norwegian companies would want to be operators and it is when they become operators that their involvement in the in oil and gas sector would be felt the more. This is what we would like to see a company like Equinor come to be.
Which areas of the economy would you want to bring your influence to bear as an honorary consul of Norway?
Where we are yet to tap into which I see is hydro power and various renewable from Norway to Nigeria. We need to smoothen things in this direction. These are linkages we are looking at with the Lagos chambers of Commerce and the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), so that we can further propagate those ideas in the country.
How can funds be sourced by Nigerian investors to do business with Norwegian companies?
Norway has effective and very robust export guaranty scheme which can help Nigerian importers purchase equipment and materials into the country at maximum 7 or 8 per cents interest rates. This is better. So if your start-up cost is below 10 per cent interest, I think it would really help in the kind of industrialisation Nigeria is crying for.
Norway is part of the Scandinavian countries and it is so interesting that the Export Guaranty Scheme of the country is based on the OECD rate. It is a template for borrowing and it allows for competitiveness among members states. The member countries are gradually being known for their competitive advantages. So if you go to Norway you look at your areas of competitiveness and key into it.
If you look at offshore business, Norwegians do not have competitive edge in tankers, cargo ships, you give this to the Asian countries such as China or Koreans. United Kingdom as you can see in Brexit discussions is moving away from industrialisation to service, you talk about the financing and other areas these are not the core selling for Norway. In the fishing industry we would be talking more about the Nordic countries there you see Denmark or Norwegian speaking to that.
Where is Norway on transition from fossil to cleaner energy?
On diversification from fossil fuel, the irony of this is that a country that produces very huge volume of crude oil has now set a date for itself for its citizens to transit to electric cars. It is a country that is leaving itself off fossil fuel and now looking at exporting renewable and campaigning for cleaner energy. Then of course, there is the like of Statoil which has now changed its name to Equinor. It is more gas focused. One of the projects it is looking into in Nigeria is the Nwadoro gas field development.
Are there areas of more collaboration in the Oil and gas sector?
You know Equinor is an equity partners in Agbami field, one of the biggest deep-water fields in the country.
In the future Norwegian companies would want to be operators and it is when they become operators that their involvement in the in oil and gas sector would be felt the more. This is what we would like to see a company like Equinor come to be.