The FT Nigeria Oil and Gas Report 2013 is scheduled to come out on Monday 6th of May and will be distributed at OTC and to the Nigerian exhibitors there.

To find out about advertising opportunities  contact Mr Toke Ibru:

tokeibru@hotmail.com  

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The long-awaited marginal field bid round could happen any day from now the Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr Osten Olorunsola has revealed exclusively at the NOGintelligence official launch. Speaking at the event, Mr Olorunsola said that is all set for the licensing round but that it could only begin when President who is the one with the authority under current Nigerian law to do so gives the go ahead. The fields have been mapped out and the data all prepared on the fields, so that the moment the President gives the go-ahead, the new bid round can proceed.

The country has been waiting for a new marginal fields licensing round for more than 18 months and when it seemed most likely, the fuel subsidy furore erupted and the licensing round was put on the back burner.

The new licensing round will be by competitive bids. However, the process will be streamlined, based on some of the lessons that have been learnt from the last bid round. Mr Olorunsola gave the assurance that unlike the last time when it took 18 months, the next bid round will take no more than 7 months from start to finish - he estimates 90 days for submission of bids by applicants and 60 days only for the consideration of the applications.

The Director said the process of the bid round would be fast-tracked but that notwithstanding the short time in which the licensing round is to be concluded, the agency would ensure that the integrity of the bid round is not compromised as utmost openness and transparency would be the guiding principles.

Olorunsola said the next bid round would be better designed to deal with many of the issues that have arisen in the past after the awards. For instance, he noted that the issue of technical partnerships will be given much more attention given that a mismatch of partnerships has led may awardees to end up in litigation with their technical partners, rather than in production.

"We are looking at how to address this issue which has made it difficult for most fields to come on stream. Rather than putting up development programmes for production, most of them are busy fighting each other in court. Majority are now at Ikeja High Court bringing ligitation against each other .We think that most of these operators and their technical partners are nothing but strange bed fellows. Their marriages are what can be described as a marriage of convenience. So we believe before they come to us at all, they should go and marry themselves first," he said.   

He said it was disheartening to know that only 9 out of the 30 marginal fields awarded in 2003 have been brought on stream by their operators, most of them citing technical hitches.

Besides, he said the agency is also addressing the issue of financing by making these marginal field projects more bankable.

"We are looking at ensuring the bankability of these projects. Because most of these fields are low in reserves, we think those fields that are contiguous should be brought together to make them more bankable. This is necessary because no financial institution or bank would want to put down its money where it feels the rate of return on investment (ROI) and Net present Value (NPV) is not reassuring. So, we are going to make it possible for the operators to be able to access fund from the banks," he said.

He said the reputability of the marginal field programme is also to be enhanced by ensuring that those who are performing are given concessions or incentives to get more fields while those that are non performing are made to relinquish their assets.

He said that when the next marginal fields are awarded, operators could be expected to produce a minimum of 10 million barrels of oil (recoverables) out of in place volumes of some 50-60 million barrels, although he believes that with more diligent work programmes, the recoverables could be raised to 30 million barrels.

Mr Olorunsola also made it clear that the marginal fields round would not be dependent on the passage of the PIB. Answering a question many have been asking on whether the bid round is feasible before the PIB, he said the bid round could take place ahead of the PIB. The reason he said is that one of the key fiscal issues is the signature bonus, which with the marginal fields round will be a flat one. He contrasted the position with oil blocks where the key issue is the mechanism for the signature bonuses to be paid, which varies from field to field. This he said, was something that will be provided for in the PIB.

On the PIB, he noted that great progress has been made on the passage of the Bill through the National Assembly as both houses have now concluded their second readings of the Bill and public hearings on the Bill will soon be heard.  

Mr Olorunsola expects marginal fileds licensing rounds to take place much more often, say every to or three years. He says there is not reason why it shouldn't take place with such frequency. 

Out of a whopping $17bn expected to be spent on oil and gas drilling activities in West Africa between now and 2016, a New York-based Research outfit, GBI has predicted that only $1.52bn will be spent in Nigeria.

While $2.26bn is expected to be spent in Egypt, a report on Wednesday revealed that more drilling activities would happen in Ghana and Angola. Rig operators are expected to spend more money on rigs off Angola, where day rates for deep-water is currently around the $600,000 mark and expected to reach a record $700,000 in the not-too-distant future.

"Nonetheless, it is off Angola where the really big bucks are likely to be earned on day rates for deep-water rigs, which are currently around the $600,000 mark and expected to reach a record $700,000 in the not too distant future," the report said.

According to GBI, the potential of West Africa's emerging pre-salt play and big gas discoveries off East Africa will drive an 18 per cent leap in annual drilling expenditure to more than $17bn across the entire African region over the next five years.
 

The forecast, which is up from a drilling spend of $13.56bn in 2012, according to GBI Research, is based on expectations of higher exploration activity across Africa and the Middle East. Rig contractors, particularly those like Seadrill and Ensco operating modern units designed for Africa's deep-water plays, the Business Intelligenece firm said, would cash in on the prospecting surge. As such, GBI estimated cumulative drilling expenditure of $77.3bn over the period from 2012 to 2016. This is up by 22 per cent on $63.5bn from the previous five years.

"West Africa is leading the way as players such as Statoil and Total target regional pre-salt plays after being awarded acreage off Angola where seismic is being carried out to identify drilling targets," the report said.

GBI, however, expressed the belief that Ghana would emerge as a new hotspot for oil and gas exploration in the region after seeing 16 offshore discoveries between 2008 and 2012, including Tullow Oil's landmark Jubilee find - compared with 22 off Angola during the same period.
 

It also expects relative newcomers to offshore exploration such as Sierra Leone and Liberia to figure more prominently on the radar screens of oil companies as drilling activity escalates.

The OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at 105.88 dollars a barrel on Thursday, compared with $106.05 the previous day as it continued to slide from its position the week before when it stood at $107.31 dollars a barrel on the previous Thursday.

There are strong indications that the management of Nigeria's fuel subsidy scheme may be threatened as there is crisis over the reconciliation of sovereign debt notes (SDN) accounts between local banks, oil marketing firms and the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

NOGintelligence gathered that some banks had recently communicated to the PPPRA that there were some 'slight variations' they noticed in the amount they were being paid by the Finance Ministry, which they noted reflected a shortfall in the actual amount of credit they had advanced to oil marketing firms to import petroleum products on behalf of the Federal Government.

The complaint about the shortfall is currently a source of apprehension for marketers who fear that a further crisis in the honouring of the SDN by the government to the banks could worsen their chances of securing funds to execute the quarterly import permits given to them by the PPPRA.

The PPPRA, NOGintelligence learnt, had threatened not to renew import permits not fully executed by oil firms. "Some of the banks are complaining of some slight variations in the SDN repayment they are getting from the Finance Ministry which they insist is not a reflection of the credit they gave to the oil marketing firms to import petroleum products," said an industry source.

The banks say the piecemeal payments they are are less than what the marketers actually borrowed.

However, NOGintelligence learnt that the Finance Ministry might have opted for the piecemeal payment mode as a part of the checks and balances that could make it easier for them to spot overpayments. 

Under the fuel subsidy scheme, banks loan out money to marketers to import products on behalf of the government which in turn refunds the marketers via the banks when the products are certified by the PPPRA to have been imported and delivered to end-users. The government found it was being short-changed by some fraudulent marketers who submitted proposals for the repayment of credits they never took and the government said it had to spend about N1.3trillion last year to foot marketers' fuel subsidy claims.

Marketers say they are owed about N300billion by the government.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, has cautioned the members of the Special Ad hoc Committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to shun the temptation of corruption.

Speaking during the recent inauguration of the 23 man ad-hoc committee headed by the Chief Whip of the House, Ishaka Bawa, Tambuwal also urged the members not to put their personal interests above national interest in the task of producing a workable legislation for the oil and gas industry.

Tambuwal, said the members must realise the enormous interests of the various stakeholders and ensure that they do not fall prey to the antics of groups and individuals who might want to compromise the due process of law making.

The ad hoc committee was charged with the responsibility of conducting public hearings on the PIB and fine-tuning of the Bill for the final consideration of the law-makers.  

Tambuwal stated that the mandate of the committee was to facilitate the delivery to the people of Nigeria and indeed the global oil industry, a legislation that addresses most comprehensively, the hiccups that have encumbered Nigeria's oil sector and constrained optimal operations and returns: issues of environmental degradation, general operational inefficiency, outright fraud as well as insecurity of investment and infrastructure.

"From the tempo of public discourse, it should be obvious to all and sundry that there is high level of interest as well as expectations on the Petroleum Industry Bill from various interest groups both within the country as well as the international community. I therefore need not emphasise on the need for absolute circumspection, diligence, transparency and patriotism on the part of the committee," he said.

"Let me remind all the members of this committee that the assignment before you is critical, sensitive and demanding. It will not be an overstatement to say that the biggest activities in the country's oil sector now is the wait for the Petroleum Industry Act. It means then that you must do a good job," he said. 

He charged them to avail themselves of the rich bank of information that exists on the bill, including the  2008 version of the PIB presented to the National Assembly by  the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua but which was scuttled midway.

He also advised the committee to explore and incorporate the knowledge of the legal regime in other jurisdictions to enrich the process.

"You will do well to place at the back of your minds that you are working legislation not just for today but also for tomorrow and tomorrow's tomorrow. Accordingly therefore, it is important to reflect on the future position of oil in the global economy where the craving for alternative energy sources is on the rise with speedy advances in technology and beckoning possibilities. It is imperative that the law keeps pace," Tambuwal said.

Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee, Hon. Ishaka Bawa, said the committee fully understood its assignment and was not under any illusion as to the enormity of the task ahead.

"The House of Representatives has no fixed or hidden agenda on the Petroleum Industry Bill and accordingly this committee will be so guided in this assignment. In the final analysis, we would have struck a delicate but necessary balance between overriding national interests on the one hand and the need to make our oil industry attractive to foreign investments on the other," he said.

"The need for this balance has become even more imperative since Nigeria and a few countries in Africa no longer have the monopoly they hitherto enjoyed in oil export. The recent discoveries of oil in a number of sub-Saharan countries, especially our next-door neighbours such as Niger Republic, Chad and Ghana, have thrown up new challenges and introduced new dynamics for Nigeria in the global oil industry.

"We must therefore seek to do things differently not only to retain our traditional trading partners but also to attract more investors into the industry," Bawa said.

The Deputy Chariman of the Committte is the Minority Whip, Samson Osagie (CAN: Orhionmwon/Uhunmwode, Edo state). Other members of the Committee are: Chairman of the Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) Muraina Ajibola (PDP: IbarapaCentral/North, Oyo state), and his Deputy, Moshood Mustapha (PDP: Ilorin West/Asa, Kwara state); Chairman Petroleum Resources (Downstream) Peterside Dakuku (PDP: Opobo/Nkoro/Andoni, Rivers State); and his Deputy Yusuf Galambi (PDP: Gwaram, Jigawa state) ; Chairman of the Committee on Environment Uche Ekwunife (APGA: Anaocha/Njikoka/dunukofia, Anambra state); and her Deputy, Abubakar Musa (CPC: Soba, Kaduna state); Chairman of the Committee on Gas, Bassey Ewa (PDP:Yakrr/Abi, Cross River); and his Deputy, Gerald Ironna (APGA: Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta/Oru West, Imo state); Chairman of the Committee on Justice, Ali Ahmed (PDP: Ilorin East/ South, Kwara state); and his Deputy, Emeka Nwaogbo (APGA: Awka North/ South, Anambra state); and Chairman of the Committee on Local Content, Asita Honourable (PDP: Ogba/Ebgema/Ndoni?Ahoada West, Rivers state); and his Deputy, Nasir Ali Ahmed (CPC: Nasarawa, Kano state).

Others Members are Yusuf Manu (PDP: Balanga/Biliri, Gombe state), Hassan Saleh (PDP: Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwo, Benue state), Daniel Reyenieju (PDP: Warri South/West, Delta state), Musa Sarkin Adar (PDP: Goronyo/Gada, Sokoto state), Kadija Bukar Ibrahim (ANPP: Damaturu/Gujba/Gulani/Tarmuwa, Yobe state), Rafeesuat Bamiro, Uzor Azubuike(PDP: Abia North/South, Abia state), Peter Akpatason (ACN:Akoko-Edo, Edo state) and Rotimi Makinde.  

The House of Representatives Committee on Finance has said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is indebted to the Federal Government to the tune of N142.7 billion.    

The Corporation is supposed to remit the said amount from the N6 trillion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) it realised between 2009 and July, last year to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) as demanded by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, the Committee said.

Consequently, the Committee has summoned the Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu to appear before it next Monday and Tuesday in connection with their finances and remittances to the government.

It has also summoned the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) over the N195 billion dividends accruing to the Federal Government, which the Committee says NLNG claimed was in the possession of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Accusing NNPC and its subsidiaries of short-changing the country, Chairman of the Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, said the Corporation was initially hostile to a technical committee set up by the House to examine its records.   

He said: "Our biggest challenge has been the NNPC, but as a committee, we have resolved that whatever we have to do within the confines of the law, NNPC must be made to pay the money.   

"We have said it before that NNPC has never remitted anything under its IGR to the CRF. In 2009, the Corporation generated N2.048 trillion, and made N2.155 trillion in 2010.   

"While N1.9trillion was realised in 2011, by July of 2012, the Corporation made N259billion as its IGR. But between 2009 and 2012, the Corporation remitted nothing out of the N6 trillion it generated to the CRF as demanded by law."

Jibrin explained that to ascertain that what was due to the Federal Government was not lost to either fraud or inefficiency, the Committee set up a technical group to examine the books of the corporation and its 16 subsidiaries.

NNPC has responded to the accusation angrily, saying that the House Committee was intent on embarrassing it.   

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, told journalists in Abuja that the House Committee had by its actions set Nigerians against the Corporation.

Yakubu said the claim by the House of Representatives Committee that it owes the Federal Government N142.7 billion was incorrect.

Yakubu who spoke through the NNPC's General Manager in charge of Media Relations, Omar Farouk, in Abuja, said the Committee had failed to live by its words, adding that it also deceived the NNPC into trusting its credibility.

Explaining the situation, he said: "It is pertinent to note that we appeared before the House Committee on Finance headed by Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin early last month where we clarified our position on the issues raised by the committee. At that meeting, it was agreed that the committee would get the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to raise a team along with some members of the committee within seven days to look at the Corporation's books and we promised to cooperate."

He explained that when the visit did not take place, NNPC sent a reminder to the Office of the Accountant General. A review meeting, he said, with the team finally took place on Thursday, March 7, 2013, when the NNPC's Account Department gave them all the books they asked for and an office to do their work.

According to him, at the end of the day, the team presented their draft observations based on the financial statements of the corporation and its 16 subsidiaries, which they reviewed. but had not concluded their assignment before Jibrin made the public pronouncement that his committee had uncovered a debt of N142.7 billion that the corporation was owing to the Federal Government. He added that this was calculated "to put the NNPC in a bad light." 

Reacting to the factually inaccurate allegations last week by Senator Ita Enang that Northerners

The Warri-based oil-monitoring group also urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke to re-allocate the controversial oil blocks.

In a statement by its President, Nelly Emma; Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer, Stanley Mukoro, the group said the current allocation was unacceptable.

 "The oil blocks should be revoked and reviewed or an equivalent number be given to the people from the Niger Delta region whose lives are being degraded by oil exploration. The owner of the resources must be respected and we may be forced to ask for total control of our resources. We are set to control our God-given resources by ourselves and nobody will drill any oil in the Niger Delta region if this situation we have found ourselves in is allowed to continue," the group said.

The group also claimed that NNPC is awarding the largest contracts running into billions of dollars to the multinational services companies.

"We are not comfortable with a situation where all the major contracts running into billions of dollars are being awarded by the NNPC and its Joint Venture Partners to the multinational oil companies with nothing left for our people who borrowed to build up capacity in the oil and gas industry. In all these projects being awarded, our people are not being encouraged and we dare ask, what is the future of our people? The President and the Minister must act fast to define the roadmap for our people, otherwise we will be forced to take unpleasant action against the multinational oil companies," the group said.

The group said that multinationals were clinching all the juicy contracts, while the northerners were controlling 83 per cent of the oil blocks, leaving the southerners in penury.

Elsewhere, Senator Enang's allegations has caused some furious reactions. Former Kano State governor Col. Sani Bello (rtd), has denied Enang's claims that he was the owner of AMNI International Petroleum and Development Company, operators of OML 112 and OML 117. According to Bello, he is only one of the three principal shareholders of ANMI; he listed the other shareholders as Professor Emma Edozien from Asaba (south-south) and Chief Tunde Afolabi from Ibadan (south-west). He himself hails from Kotangora, Niger State (north-central). According to him, the company has a joint ownership of three principal shareholders with 15 others as nominal shareholders and foreign technical partners own 40 per cent shares of the company. Referring to the allegations based often on erroneous assumptions, he said that although he is the chairman of the company, his shares in the company are not up to 20 per cent and he could therefore not be seen as the sole owner of the company or the oil blocks.

Bello said, "The fact that I am the chairman of the company does not mean I own it. I don't own AMNI. I don't have up to 20 per cent in the company."

Enang had also claimed the former petroleum minister Rilwanu Lukeman was the major stakeholder in Afren Oil when in fact, Egbert Imomoh has as much stake in the company and the largest shareholders were foreign nationals, Ethelbert Cooper and Osman Shanenshah.

The oil and gas industry utilises massive equipment and facilities for commercial oil and gas production particularly in the deepwater offshore terrain. As a result, special consideration ought to be given to the integrity of these facilities to increase their availability, reduce outages and shutdowns and ultimately prevent catastrophe.

To make this possible, there is need for oil and gas companies in Nigeria to employ effective equipment inspection approaches if they are to meet their production targets and reduce losses. One of such approaches is the new Risk Based Inspection (RBI) method.

Commenting on the reliability and effectiveness of RBI in an exclusive interview with NOGintelligence, Emeka Ene, Chairman, Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) said the RBI technology and best practices are relatively new as there is very little published literature in the public domain about how much of it has been implemented in Nigerian oil and gas facilities.

He therefore urged oil companies to consider developing a feasible programme for the right implementation of the RBI adding that global results have been mixed because of poor implementation and variations in implementation methodologies.

The Risk Based Inspection (RBI) methodology is a risk based approach to prioritizing and planning inspections, used in engineering industries, and predominant in the oil and gas industries. This type of inspection planning analyses the probability (or likelihood) and consequence of failure of an asset to calculate its risk of failure.

The level of risk is used to develop a prioritised inspection plan for the asset. It is related to (or sometimes a part of) Risk Based Asset Management (RBAM), Risk Based Integrity Management (RBIM) and Risk Based Management (RBM). 

It is used to prioritise inspection, usually by means of non-destructive testing (NDT), a requirement for major oil platforms, refineries and chemical installations around the world. The resulting inspection plan outlines the type and frequency of inspection for the asset. It is used for industrial pipework, process systems, pipelines, structures and many other types of assets in these industries.

The approach is such that equipment with high probability and high consequence (i.e. high risk) are given a higher priority for inspection than those with high probability but for which failure has low consequences. This strategy allows for a rational investment of inspection resources.

On whether RBI is capable of completely eliminating explosions and shutdowns arising from failures of some of the offshore facilities, Ene said: "It is difficult to expect that by simply implementing Risk-based Inspections, explosions and unplanned shutdowns of oilfield facilities will disappear."

"In the first place, an RBI implementation seeks to reduce these occurrences through elaborate studies. The idea is to identify and tag all potential damage mechanisms and establish their respective probabilities of failure. Tying all these failure mechanisms to an RBI model presupposes that the complete operating environment has been modelled accurately. I doubt that this is the case for a place like Nigeria," he continued.

He said oil companies needed to integrate inspection programmes into field operation process if such inspections were to reduce maintenance costs while improving the life of oil field facilities.

"For the successful implementation of RBI, oil companies must integrate inspection programs into the field operation process by involving all stakeholders including Plant operators, Engineers, Managers and off course the inspecting companies themselves," he said.

"There has to be a local content approach to this process. Besides, on-the-ground competence is a critical element to long term success in sustaining the life of oilfield facilities in a "rough terrain" such as we have in Nigeria," he added.

Asked if the theoretical design age of most equipment is a serious factor to reconsider in view of the extension of the life of the oil fields, Ene said: "Yes, I am aware that the design age of some of these facilities is mostly 25 years. But most have been in use for more than their theoretical age because of the extension of the lifespan of the oil fields. However if you ask me, I don't think that it really matters what theoretical design ages of equipment indicate. What matters most  is the design for purpose. The critical path in most complex oil and gas infrastructure rests with the weaken link in the chain."

"The RBI model ignores fixed timed inspections for fit-for-purpose inspections while evaluating the risks involved. In extending the production life of fields, this common-sense approach also needs to be adopted," he continued.

On what future lies ahead of RBI, Ene had this to say: "RBI is simply a common-sense total approach to keeping complex operating systems working without break down in the oil and gas industry. The concept is robust and potentially could reduce costs and improve long-term profitability for operators. However, it should not be seen as a technology be-all-and-end-all in itself."

"Up-front risk evaluation should form part of the engineering process not just for inspections but for all other variables that impact the oil production process. Pipeline vandalisation issues could be mitigated if these risks and their corresponding solutions are evaluated and integrated into the Field Development plans ahead of time," he concluded.

An illegal refinery, which was discovered in a village in Ondo state has been destroyed by the officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps  (NSCDC), Ondo State Command.

In a statement issued by the NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kayode Balogun in Akure on Monday, he said the facility was located at Iju-osun village in Irele Local Government Area. The village is in a creek beside River Siloko that links Ondo and Edo states. The statement said the action was carried out following a tip-off from some residents of the area.

"The crude oil was being refined illegally on the seashore and later deposited in Iju-osun for evacuation by lorry, buses, and cars to various places through Irele and Ore road. About eight flying boats were seen ready to be loaded, while some were on the sea already loaded. All the items seen at the scene were destroyed," the statement said.
 

The NSCDC statement said that a suspect was arrested with three boat engines, one pumping machine, generator, motorcycle and 20 jerricans of 30 litres capacity each containing adulterated diesel. It said that the suspect would soon be charged to court for prosecution.

The statement said the agency also destroyed an illegal oil depot at Ore in Odigbo Local Government Area. It said officials recovered more than 33,000 litres of adulterated diesel from the depot as well as 500 jerricans of  30 litres capacity loaded with adulterated fuel.

The State Commandant of NSCDC, Alhaji Popoola Bamidele, reiterated the commitment of the Agency to rid the State of illegal bunkering activities and all other forms of oil theft.

An oil servicing company and a subsidiary of the Chrome Group, Kaztec Engineering Limited said it is building a fabrication yard at Snake Island in Lagos. The Technical Director, Chrome Group, Adebanji Babarinde who made this known said the project, which is at an advanced stage is being developed along with its technical partners, Addax Petroleum Limited.  

The fabrication yard in which the company will be fabricating jackets, topsides and equipment will be completed in stages. The first phase should be completed by the end of this year, the second stage by middle of next and the rest by the end of next year. We are working with Addax as our technical partners to develop the facility."

Babarinde spoke on the benefits of the Nigerian Content Act to local companies saying: "The Act is the best thing that has happened to Nigeria particularly indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry. It has just encouraged local participation. It has helped us really. It is because of the encouragement we received from the Act and the people that are driving the Act that enabled us local people to acquire assets that are very expensive. And we are rest assured that once we have these assets, we have the law backing us up to get jobs from the international oil companies (IOCs) and that is helping. We have been engaged in the Addax job for three years."

"If not for the Local Content Act, this job could have gone to foreigners. We couldn't have had the courage to put our money in these expensive assets. I think it is one of the best things that have happened and it is something that should be encouraged. We need the right people there, the leadership is good and committed and they need to continue," he added. 

Speaking on the training and development of the local workforce, he said: "We organise training on safety, which is continuous and very important. We take them through safety training from time to time. If staff's certificate on particular safety training expires, the person undergoes another training to renew it. We have expatriates and our plan is not to keep expatriates forever because that will be  against the Local Content Act. What we do is that for every expatriate we have, one or two Nigerians work with him to understudy him and their progress is monitored."

Speaking on safety issues, the Consultant to Kaztec, Dr. Njideka Kelley, said: "The company is absolutely excellent in terms of compliance with international best practices and standards. What Kaztec is doing to encourage skills development and safety consciousness among staff boils down to our Chairman, Sir Emeka Offor's aspiration in encouraging and building people and ensuring the best minds are our first assets and secondly safety."

Barely a few months after a Dutch Court ordered Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to pay compensation to a Nigerian farmer, there is no reprieve yet for the oil giant as the Imbasikiri community in Nembe, Bayelsa State has threatened to drag the company to court for alleged deprivation of its rights and privileges as an oil-producing community.

In a petition, dated February 25, 2013, which was addressed to Shell's General Manager, Production Swamp 1 and 2, SPDC Eastern Division, the Imbasikiri community accused some officials of the company of colluding with undisclosed individuals  to change the name of their community to  Walterkiri.

The petition, which was seen by NOGintelligence was signed by three Heads of the community, namely: Alfred Imbasi, Eteli Imbasi and Solomon Imbasi.

The petitioners, on behalf of their community, accused Shell of fraudulently naming its Location Nine, which is located in Imbasikiri to Walterkiri, a different community that is over 10 kilometres away from Imbasikiri.  By this action, the petitioners argued that Shell was trying to cause crisis and disaffection between the two communities.

The petitioners urged the management of SPDC to investigate their allegations, recognise Imbasikiri as the host community of Location Nine of its operation and change the name of the location from Walterkiri to Imbasikiri location Nine and also to refer to the map before the siting of the oil company in the Nembe Creek Oil Field.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

18- 20 March

www.osvsummit.com

Aberdeen, United Kingdom

18-20 March

www.offshoresafetysummit.com

OFFSHORE WEST AFRICA

Accra, Ghana

19-21st March

www.offshorewest Africa.com

13TH CIPPE

China Beijing

19-21 March

www.biztradeshows.com

Singapore

20 -21March

www.smalltomidlngsummit.com

11TH OFFSHORE MEDITERRANEAN CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION

Ravenna, Italy 

20-22 March

www.omc.it

3rd ANNUAL OFFSHORE INDONESIA OIL & GAS

Jakarta, Indonesia

25-27 March

www.indooilgas.com

UNDERSTANDING CABOTAGE AND LOCAL CONTENT IN THE NIGERIAN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY (UPSTREAM)
Lagos, Nigeria
25th - 28th March
info@nigerian-shipping.org 

2ND ANNUAL OIL & GAS LOGISTICS SUMMIT

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 

26 - 27 March

www.fleminggulf.com

5TH AFRICAN PETROLEUM CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION

Libreville, Gabon

26- 28 March

www.eapce.eac.int

2ND ANNUAL ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY &HEAVY OIL CONFERENCE

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

27-28 March

 www.fleminggulf.com