The development comes as huge firms like ExxonMobil and Anadarko Petroleum struggle to wrest control from Nigeria of Block 4 and other portions of the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Zone that were largely won by a Nigerian-owned firm, Houston-based ERHC Energy.
The basis for the revocation of licenses to drill for oil in Nigeran-controlled lands and waters would be their failure to adopt local content regulations long advocated and recently promulgated by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Here is the Financial Standard story:
FG to revoke operating licenses of erring multinational firms
By Samuel Ibiyemi
The Fabrication Group of the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF), which was set up by the federal government to address the issue of local content in the oil and gas industry, has recommended the revocation of operating licenses of multinational oil firms that failed to carry out front end engineering and design (Feed) and other projects in Nigeria from the beginning of next year. The forum has Niger Dock and others as members.
The recommendation is a follow-up to a recent directive by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that these projects and nine others should be executed in-country to ensure the attainment of 45 and 70 per cent Nigerian content targets by 2006 and 2010 respectively, by multinational oil firms in the upstream sector.
Chief Henry Okolo, chairman, NCCF-Fabrication Group said at the international trade exhibition on materials and services in the upstream sector in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, recently that sanction is the only measure that would compel the erring oil firms to comply with the government’s directive on domestication of projects that Nigerian firms have the technical ability to execute in-country.
Okolo said in the oil and gas industry, several countries have all pursued and continue to pursue extremely aggressive national content policies to promote competitiveness, economic and security interests. Some of the countries include Brazil, Norway, Malaysia and Indonesia.
"Nigeria should follow the example of Norway among others, whereby companies which comply with the policy are given the carrot by way of incentives and awards of new projects, while violators are descended upon with the stick, sometimes culminating in the revocation of the operating licenses of such companies by the government", he said.
Okolo, who is also the managing director of Dorman Long Engineering Limited, said the placement of work orders with Nigerian companies particularly with fabrication yards, has yet to materialise at significant levels, despite all efforts and publicity given to Nigerian Content, noting that some multinational upstream oil companies are reluctant to accept Nigerian Content directives issued by NNPC.
"Some engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (Epic) contractors renege on Nigerian Content work scope committed during tendering, once contracts are awarded," he noted. "Our fabrication yards are empty and waiting for job order."
Despite what he described as ‘blackmail’ by some of these firms, he said the government should remain steadfast in the pursuit of the policy.
"Paradigm shift is required from international oil companies as part of ethical and corporate responsibility to Nigeria," he said. "The ‘mind set’ should be more on how do we achieve Nigerian Content targets and not ‘it is not possible’ attitude."
No comments:
Post a Comment