NNPC restates commitment to development of local content in oil and gas industry
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has restated its commitment to the development of Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry.
Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the Corporation,made the remarks during the Load out Ceremony of the Umblical Flow-lines and Risers (UFR) for the Egina Deep Offshore Project by Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited, in Port-Harcourt on Thursday.
“The successful commissioning of the UFR module will guarantee the drilling of the first oil from the 200, 000 barrels per day Egina field by the first quarter of 2018’’ the GMD stressed.
According to him, what is being celebrated is the efficacy of the Nigerian Content Act and the NNPC is strongly committed to the successful implementation of all provisions of the Act.
He commended Saipem on the successful completion of the Egina UFR project which also involves the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and pre-commissioning of 52km of oil production and water injection flow-lines; 12 flexible jumpers; 2km of oil export line; 20km of gas export pipelines alongside the installation and commissioning of 80km of steel tube Umbilical and mooring FPSO and Offshore Loading Terminal. (OLT).
NicholarTerahz, the Managing Director of Total Exploration and Production said the Egina project was the largest contributor to the development of the Nigerian content in the oil industry being the largest offshore project currently going on in the country.
He noted that the employment opportunities and technology transfer the project had generated contributed significantly to the nation’s economy.
On his part, the Managing Director of Saipem, Guido D’Aloisio, said the performance of Nigerian engineers on the project was commendable, adding that the country would be proud of it.
“The Egina project is a big sample to show that Saipem will continue to be the biggest player in Nigeria and Africa Oil and Gas sector. Also, Fourteen Man Hours without any casualty is a significance achievement for us at Saipem.
“Egina UFR is Nigerian project; done by Nigerians and engineered by Nigerian companies. Saipem is proud of this landmark event as the company marks it 50 years existence in 2017. We have been part of history in the Oil and Gas business in Nigeria.”
The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, SimbiWabote.
Meanwhile Maikanti Baru has advocated the activation of project performance measurement and proper benchmarking mechanism across all tiers of public sector expenditure in a bid to jumpstart the economy and reduce unnecessary wastages on projects. Delivering a paper titled ‘Performance Measurement and Benchmarking as a Pillar of Value for Money in Public Expenditure’ at the 2016 edition of the National Council of Finance and Economic Development in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance (NACOFED) in Abeokuta he noted that the time has come for Nigeria to employ efficient management systems for the country to record growth and development.
“We at NNPC are at the forefront in performance measurement and benchmarking value for money in the oil and gas industry. The Project Sanctioning and Approval Procedure (PSAP) and Business Intelligence (BI) are some of the initiatives we have adopted for benchmarking performance measurement in NNPC,” Baru noted.
He stated that as a nation, the quest for project performance measurement must reflect proper benchmarking to drive efficiency and effectiveness in all operations.
Olusola Bello