Nigeria Content enthusiasts excited over TGIL’s fabricating machine

Nigeria Content enthusiasts and indigenous oil and gas service firms came together in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, to unveil a unique fabricating machine, WFL M120, said to be the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.

The machine has the capacity to manufacture rare components with complex geometry such as wellheads, Christmas trees, crankshafts, and other parts needed in the industrial sector.

WFL M120 is now situated at Kilometre 16, Port Harcourt – Aba Road, at the expansive premises of Thomas & Grace Investment Limited (TGIL), a fast-rising oil and gas engineering company that bids for a bigger size of the industry.

The unveiling was part of the official commissioning of the sections of Thompson & Grace Investment Limited, Machine Shop, Fabrication Shop and Institute of Technology. The event attracted top oil and gas corporations, investors, banks, Nigeria Content officials, and many others.

Ernest Nwakpa, oil and gas engineer and executive secretary of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), after leading oil engineers and investors to inspect the unique machine on Friday, April 24, 2015, described it as the birth of a baby boy nurtured by the best nutritionists, certain to grow.

“There is evidence of commitment to national development. Everything we preach at the NCDMB is here; focus in human development, ownership of assets and partnership, among others,” he said, saying that no original equipment manufacturer (OEM) could afford to give it out anyhow, as the WFL M120 would for once offer hands-on training opportunity better than a simulator.

He said what he saw were high-value assets that must be kept busy and should keep over 200 workers active, as “we are in for exciting moments. The future of this country is bright.”

Officials from the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) agreed that what they saw at Thompson & Grace was the first of its kind in Africa, promising to lend support by ensuring its constant utilisation as costs would soon crash in the oil industry.

Kurt Steyrleuthner, representing the manufacturers of the WFL M120, thrilled the audience when he said the early doubts harboured by the company when TGIL came for partnership four years ago had disappeared because he found Nigerian engineers and technicians very intelligent and capable.

“We found great experience in Isaac Thompson Amos, the managing director of the Nigerian company,” he observed.

He said the fear was about quality of personnel to understudy the foreign technical experts but had found technologists who knew their onions too.

According to him, team would still support Thompson & Grace engineers despite the expertise on ground, and predicted that M120 would make waves in Africa’s oil and gas sector.

In a highly elated mood, Isaac Thompson Amos, president/managing director, said the company’s journey was strewn with challenges and setbacks which had now turned to lessons and stepping stones,

mentioning a time an oil corporation denied the company a highly needed contract just because of its name was associated with a pharmacy business.

He evoked empathy when he revealed the invasion and robbery of the company’s only N5 million set aside to buy land for its permanent headquarters, stressing however that the company had emerged as a leading voice in engineering and fabrication of high-tech components only available before now overseas.

Udom Inoyo, executive director (human resources) with Mobil, represented by Victor Nduonofit, head of Port Harcourt operations, said Mobil was fully aligned with the Federal Government policies, especially the Nigerian Content policy. He said Mobil just won BusinessDay’s Local Content award for 2014, an indication of the company’s determination to boost Nigeria’s economy.

He talked of doggedness on the part of Thompson & Grace, but appealed to state governments to attract investors and businesses to their areas, and urged the company to assess its business models to ensure that the rare machines were put in full use.

Ignatius Chukwu