Africa energy service providers, Ministers require deliberate action plans to develop oil fields in the continent -Wabote, NCDMB ES

Oredola Adeola

African oil and gas service providers and Ministers have been charged to develop a deliberate action plan to partake in the development and maintenance of oil fields in the continent, amidst relatively high crude oil price levels and upswing potentials experienced from 2021 to date and the geo-political dynamics playing out in the global energy industry.

Engr. Simbi Wabote Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), highlighted this at the 7th SAIPEC Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference in Lagos.

According to him, the deliberate action plan is part of the proposed strategies that are required to unlock the continent’s hydrocarbon potential and promote cross-border collaboration among governments and businesses.

Wabote emphasized the need for peer review mechanisms and sharing of experiences and ideas on industry sustainability and growth between sub-Saharan Africa’s Ministers of Petroleum and African oil and gas service.

The NCDMB Executive Secretary in his paper presentation entitled “Sub-Saharan Africa Local Content Collaboration Strategies,” said the action plan under consideration centres on legal framework, funding, infrastructure, human capacity development, and research and development.

Wabote highlighted initiatives and grounds covered by the Nigerian Government through the NCDMB in local content development and how other African oil producers could benefit from these.
A legal framework, as he pointed out, is an enabling legal or regulatory framework, a basic requirement “to drive and develop local content sustainability.”

He added that this framework would be the critical instrument “to forge a collaborative Africa local content strategy.”

That requirement, he observed, has been taken care of by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which he noted “created the world’s largest free trade area by integrating 1.3 billion people across 54 African countries, with the objective of tapping into a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over $3 trillion.”

Wabote also cited Dangote Integrated Refinery and Petrochemical Company, with an installed capacity of 650,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd), which he noted would “afford Nigeria and other African countries the partnership opportunities for sourcing petroleum products and fertilizer.”

Other critical infrastructure cited were Lekki Free Trade Zone, SHI-MCI FPSO Fabrication/Integration Yard, Lagos, West African Gas Pipeline Project, the ongoing AKK gas transmission pipeline, and NCDMB’s seven Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks (NOGAPS), two of which are due for commissioning in 2023.

Speaking on funding for the entire framework, the NCDMB boss expressed satisfaction with the progress made towards establishing an Africa Energy Bank to address financing challenges of Africa’s oil and gas projects in an era of declining investments in fossil fuels.

He, therefore, noted the importance of human capacity development to the growth of the energy industry in Africa.

According to him, successful implementation of local content in Africa can only be powered by humans – either through intellect, skill set, or both. He insisted that research and development is similarly pivotal to the successful implementation of local content.

Executive Secretary however used the occasion to invite business organisations from the sub-Saharan region interested in the manufacturing of equipment, components, and spares relevant to oil and gas operations to apply for spaces in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industrial parks at Emeyal II in Bayelsa State, and Odukpani, Cross River State.

The NCDMB boss also used the occasion to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Technical Secretary of the National Content Monitoring Committee of Senegal (ST-CNSCL), the agency that is responsible for the coordination and supervision of the development and implementation of the local content strategies in the Senegalese oil and gas sector.

EnergyDay gathered that under the terms of the MoU, NCDMB will offer ST-CNSCL strategic advice and guidance in the areas of laws, frameworks, knowledge exchange, procedures for baseline study, data collection on capacities that exist in Senegal, design of the strategic plan for local content implementation in Senegal and other capacity development initiatives.