The Petroleum Resources minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, said at the weekend that recent award of term contracts for crude lifting, mostly to indigenous companies, is part of the Federal Government’s objective to encourage effective local participation in the oil and gas industry.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Alison-Madueke who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) Board, stated that over 60 per cent of the 2014 to 2015 annual term contracts for the lifting of Nigeria’s crude oil was decidedly awarded to local firms after a painstaking pre-qualification process.
The Minister said the balance was shared among some international trading companies, refineries and to some countries with bilateral trade agreements with Nigeria.
“When we unveiled the Nigerian content law a few years back, the overriding principle was to grow indigenous capacity in an aggressive manner and I am happy to report that today, in the oil and gas sector, Nigerian content has been placed on the path of irreversible progress,” the Minister said.
Alison-Madueke noted that the award to local players is in line with the aspiration of President Goodluck Jonathan for effective transformation of the petroleum industry.
She said the advent of the Nigerian content law has encouraged indigenous investment in critical infrastructure.
She added: “We have seen robust indigenous investments in Marine vessels of various categories and wholly owned Nigerian vessels have increased astronomically through the years. These vessels are the Category one and Category two types. Investments in reception, storage and distribution facilities such as jetties, depots, trucks, vessels and modern retail outlets have more than doubled over the past few years, and this has helped to increase the nation’s sufficiency level in petrol,” the Minister said.
Alison-Madueke remarked that as at the last count indigenous investments in the sector have created over 40, 000 jobs across the hydrocarbon value chain.
“We have witnessed increased local investments in asset, in land, swamp and offshore rigs which are vital performance indicators in business growth in Nigerian service companies. As we speak Nigerian companies are forging partnerships for deep water rig ownership and are evolving strategies that will increase rig ownership among local players.’’
