Gas
Engr Simbi Kesiye Wabote: Five Years of Impact at NCDMB
Kenneth EZE
LAGOS-IT is no longer news that Engr Simbi Wabote has clocked five years in office as the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).
This very strategic Agency, is one that has direct contributions to Nigeria’s economic future almost more than any other Agency of government.
Executive Secretary NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote
Now, what has gotten the entire oil industry busing with excitement and optimism is the silent manner in which the workaholic engineer had gone about transforming the Board and using it to impact Nigeria’s oil industry in the short period that he has been on the saddle.
He is generally believed to be using the NCDMB as a catalyst to boost domestic contribution to the economy through improved human capacity and more local content for the oil and the heavy-duty industries, which translate to higher earnings from the erstwhile foreign dominated Nigeria’s oil and heavy-duty industries.
In fact, many consider his impact at the NCDMB a critical part of Nigeria’s industrial revolution.
For this, he has earned accolades and honour from several quarters including former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Bayelsa Media Awards.
Jonathan in acknowledgment of the giant strides of Wabote at the NCDMB, showered praise on him for what the former president termed “his sterling performance in office”.
In the words of Jonathan, “The Board under Simbi is doing well. He has been in the oil industry for quite some time, he knows exactly what to do and he is committed. We encourage him to do more.”
The general notion is that because Jonathan signed the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Bill into law in 2010, he should be in tune with the spirit and letter of the law, and is therefore in the best position to assess the implementation.
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Appearing to share the views of Jonathan, the organisers of the Bayelsa Media Awards honoured Engr Wabote with the Most Impactful Chief Executive in the Niger Delta award.
During the awards presentation in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the organisers identified some of the qualities that swayed their judgment to include Engr Wabote’s effective implementation of the Board’s mandate, which resulted in deployment of specific interventions with the potentials of catalysing investments, closing human capacity gaps, addressing infrastructural needs and creating thousands of jobs for the youths of the region.
They averred that his efforts did not just stimulate the local economy but contributed in no small way to restoring peace in the oil rich geopolitical zone, where prevalent poverty and deep feeling of deprivation had fostered youth restiveness.
Attempting to cast vivid figures of the impact of his tenure, Engr Wabote told a gathering of newsmen in Lagos, recently, that his focus on the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act yielded growth in Nigerian content to the capital intensive oil industry from 26 per cent in 2016 to 42 per cent as at December 2021.
To sustain this, the NCDMB under Engr Wabote launched the Nigerian content 10-Year Strategic Roadmap in 2017.
With the strategic roadmap, the Board targets 70 percent Nigerian content by 2027, and is optimistic it would ensure the creation of 300,000 direct jobs in the oil and gas industry and linkage sectors.
The Board also hopes it would enable the retention of $13 billion out of the estimated annual $20 billion spend in the oil and gas industry in addition to establishment of major fabrication yards and manufacturing hubs in-country.
In all these, the Executive Secretary said what gladdens his heart is encouraging indigenous oil companies to compete effectively with their foreign counterparts in the oil and gas sector. Local players now contribute up to 15 per cent in this segment, he pointed out.
Engr Wabote cited local oil industry players who have grown to be playing in the big league, “to the point that our indigenous operators such as Seplat, Aiteo, Eroton and others are now responsible for 15 per cent of our oil production and 60 percent of our domestic gas supply.”
He listed other major accomplishments of the Board to include establishment of two world-class pipe mills and five impressive pipe coating yards, the ability of Nigerian firms to fabricate more than 250,000 tonnes of steel per year and ownership of more than 40 percent of marine vessels used in the oil and gas industry by Nigerians.
The Board, under Engr Wabote’s leadership has also demonstrated strength in human capacity development, research funding, encouraging women investors and stimulating indigenous investors by facilitating funds from the financiers.
In counting the gains of the over 10 million man-hours of training the Board achieved under his leadership, he made it clear that that was why “our indigenous workforce was able to sustain oil production at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.”
On gender sensitive actions of the Board, Engr Wabote pointed out that “the Board floated a $50m special loan product for women in the oil and gas business to enable empowerment of the womenfolk in the industry and established another $30m Working Capital Fund to support oil and gas service companies. Both the Women and Working Capital funds are managed by Nexim (Nigerian Export-Import) Bank.”
Following his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari, Engr Wabote assumed office as Executive Secretary, NCDMB, in September 2016. He took over from Patrick Daziba Obah who occupied the position in acting capacity, after Denzil Amagbe Kentebe was removed in February 2016.
Announces ambitious expansion plans
Platform Petroleum says the company is targeting a billion-dollar investment as it announces an ambitious strategic plan to bring 3 marginal fields into production by 2025, with a target of 10,000 barrels of oil and at least 50 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 2024 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, USA, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, Chairman of Platform Petroleum said that the company has scheduled a roadshow in London this June 2024 to raise extra funding to finance their ambitious expansion plans.
“The upcoming roadshow aims to attract equity partners and prepare for future opportunities, targeting a billion-dollar investment. We are seeking partners ready to invest in Nigeria’s oil and gas potential.
Our goal is to showcase the country’s vast opportunities and its potential to international investors” Lulu-Briggs said.
Platform Petroleum’s roadshow in London will highlight the company’s efficient production, upgraded flow stations, increased capacity, and achievements in nearly zero emissions.
With about one percent gas flare currently, Platform aims for zero gas flares by the last quarter.
“Nigeria is a vast market, and Platform Petroleum is thinking big. With the government’s ambitious plans, such as the Lagos-Calabar coastal line, Platform is poised for growth; pushing itself to the next level, building on a strong foundation and following Seplat’s successful precedent”, Lulu-Briggs said.
Despite being a small company, he emphasized that Platform Petroleum has demonstrated significant success and efficiency, showcasing that smaller oil and gas entities can indeed achieve remarkable feats adding that he believes that the company deserves recognition and more assets.
“Platform Petroleum is ambitious, aspiring to become a tier-1 company akin to international oil companies (IOCs) or a tier-2 company like Seplat. Interestingly, Seplat originated from Maurel & Prom, Shebah Petroleum, and Platform Petroleum, and today stands as a major player in the industry.
This history underlines Platform’s potential for substantial growth”, Lulu-Briggs said.
Furthermore, the Platform Petroleum Chairman said that the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) is a crucial event for promoting Nigeria’s significant market potential.
“Partnering with the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) at OTC is key to attracting investment. The current proactive government understands the necessity for economic growth, and Platform is prepared to leverage every opportunity in the oil and gas industry to contribute to this expansion”, he concluded.
Precious ADELOLA
The NNPC/Aiteo Joint venture has announced the introduction of Nembe Crude Oil Grade, a new crude oil grade into the international crude oil market.
The announcement of the Nembe Crude Oil Blend, produced by Aiteo, the Operator of the NNPC/Aiteo Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 Joint Venture (JV), was made at the ongoing Argus European Crude Conference in London, on Tuesday.
OML 29, an asset located onshore Nigeria, is operated by Aiteo Eastern Exploration & Production Ltd, Africa’s leading indigenous hydrocarbon producer, following a historic acquisition from Shell in 2014.
NNPCL Boss, Engr. Mele Kyari
The Nembe Crude was previously blended with the popular Bonny Light grade and exported via the Bonny Oil & Gas Terminal.
The unique selling point of the Nembe Crude Oil grade with an API gravity was highlighted by both the Aiteo E & P and NNPC Limited Leadership at the Argus Conference in London.
The Nembe Crude Oil grade also has a low sulphur content and low carbon footprint due to flare gas elimination, fitting perfectly into the required spec of major buyers in Europe.
Two cargoes of 950,000 barrels each of the Nembe Crude Oil grade have since been exported to France and the Netherlands. With its attractive Assay of API 29 and low sulphur content, the Nembe Crude Oil grade commands a premium to the global Brent benchmark.
With the NNPC-Aiteo OML 29 JV back on-stream, Nigeria now boasts of an additional crude oil export of 2 Cargoes at 950,000 barrels each per month and 1.2 Bcf of export gas monthly.
This remarkable achievement signals the commencement of activities at Nigeria’s newest crude oil terminal, the Nembe Crude Oil Export Terminal (NCOET), which was licensed in line with the extant laws and Crude Oil Terminal establishment regulations.
The terminal was conceived as a Floating Storage and Offloading Vessel (FSO) with a storage capacity of two (2) Million Barrels and the ability to offload crude oil to any export tanker from AFRAMAX to Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC).
It has a loading capacity of 25,000 barrels per hour and will be exporting over 3.6 million barrels of Crude oil monthly at full scale of operation.
Currently, hydrocarbon production from OML 29, which was hitherto constrained due to evacuation challenges owing to the security issues around the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) corridor, has now been resolved through a collaborative and creative approach that led to the innovation of the Alternative Crude Oil Evacuation Solution.
The Argus European Crude Conference 2023 in London is a gathering of energy majors, refiners, NOCs, traders, financial institutions, and other representatives from across the global oil markets. The event also provides a critical opportunity for business leaders to connect, discuss, share and learn from one another.
Modupe Asudo
Major players in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria led by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) have covenanted to optimise operations by reducing contracting cycle to not more than 180 days.
A statement issued by the company disclosed that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was endorced on Monday in Abuja at the company’s head office.
Other parties to the the contract include, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, (NCDMB) and international oil companies.
Biztellers reports that an optimised contracting cycle was expected to improve the ease of doing business, reduce cost and drive efficiency, which would eventually translate to production growth, increased revenues, and ultimately improved profitability.
In addition, the MoU was expected to contribute significantly to the double-digit economic growth rate agenda of the Federal Government and generate value for all stakeholders, including investors, companies, host communities and Nigeria.
Notable elements in the framework of the MoU, going by the statement, included a reduction of the contracting cycle for open competitive tender, selective tender, and single sourcing tender to 180, 178, and 128 working days respectively.
This was in contrast with the current best effort performance of 327, 333, and 185 working days respectively.
According to Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, signing the agreement portends exciting times for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, in addition to standing as a bold testimony that the company was plunging into the future of hope, productivity and success.
Kyari, represented at the occasion by Executive Vice President, Upstream, NNPCL, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, pointed out that with oil and gas as the bedrock of Nigeria’s economy, there was need to get the contracting process in the Industry right so as to get the economy back on track.
In his remarks, Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, described the MoU as a way forward and a critical step towards enhancing the nation’s crude oil production.
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