On Tuesday the 17th of February 2015, top management of Kaztec Engineering Ltd led by its Chairman, Sir Emeka Offor were at NNPC office in Abuja to make a presentation of Ofrima-Udele Marginal Offshore Field being fabricated for Addax Petroleum by Kaztec Engineering Limited at their snake Island fabrication yard.
After formal introduction by both parties, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC Dr. Joseph Thlama Dawha gave an opening speech, which centered on welcoming Kaztec management to the NNPC towers. He expressed his happiness with Kaztec especially in the area of competence and local workers involvement, which according to Dr. Dawha “bolsters” the growing confidence in the Local Content Act of the Federal government.
Engineering Facility manager Michael Simpson explaining the Ofrima-Udele offshore field development infrastructure said that the magnitude and innovativeness of the project is “a first” for indigenous Oil & Gas Company. He explained in details how Ofrima-Udele offshore field when completed will be contributing 40,000 barrels per day to the national output which is actually what Nigeria needs at this point in time the country’s crude production is below optimum capacity. The technical and production capacity of Ofrima-Udele oil facility is going to be built with state of the arts equipment which will run on self-automated capacity with the option of switching back to manual control as and when needed. John Niezner, the Managing Director of Kaztec provided extra explanation on the whole worked out plan for the project. He explained that the project could have gulped a whopping sum of over $3.5b but was scaled down to $1.9b covering facilities and drilling. The presentation was followed by both technical and financial questions from the management of NNPC, which were satisfactorily answered by Kaztec team. The visit concluded with the unveiling of Ofrima-Udele model to the management of NNPC; a physical-visual prototype of what the marginal Ofrima-Udele offshore field will look like after completion.
As a follow up and in accordance with oversight function, NNPC management visited Kaztec’s Snake Island Fabrication Yard situated in Lagos to make a visual assessment of activities at the site. Present at the fab yard were NNPC Group Executive Director, Engineering and Technology, Engr. Adebayo Ibirogba, Acting Group General Manager, Engineering and Technology, Mrs. Bolande Ashafa, Dr. Ajayi Adewale the Acting Group General Manager Engineering and Technology, Kaztec Engineering Facility manager, Michael Simpson, John Niezner, the Managing Director of Kaztec, and many other stake holders. According to John Niezner, “the fabrication of Antan project is nearing completion and fabrication for Ofrima-Udele marginal oil field is expected to commence soon”.
Fielding questions from the press, NNPC GED, Engr. Adebayo Ibirogba said “we are here today to see for ourselves what Kaztec is doing in the Oil and Gas industry, in terms of fabrication, in terms of local content and in terms of their own contribution to the effort to indigenize operations to the greatest extent possible, that is why we are here”. Asked why the team took out time from Abuja to visit Kaztec’s fabrication yard when there are other fabrication yards in Nigeria as well, the GED of NNPC has this to say. “First of all Kaztec is a client and they are already doing some works for us and they are angling even for more work. As we all know, we have some great challenges facing us at this time, we have double challenge of declining crude prices and also declining production. So for us (NNPC) we are looking for value added at every point in the value chain, so when we have indigenous fabricators like this, it is very important that we come to see what they are doing and actually access the extent by which they can improve our own business. We want to produce more oil, we want to convert the oil into petroleum products and to serve the Nigerian people and this is our own contribution in transformation agenda”.
NNPC top management team were impressed at the number of indigenous workers involved in the whole project which is in line with local content Acts. Over three hundred local workers are already directly employed with expected increase to over 5,000 and about 14,000 indirect employment are expected to be generated at the completion of the fabrication yard.
Obi Enuka Onochie
Media Correspondent
Chrome Group.