Nigerian Factor, Bane of Collaboration in the Oil Sector …Oilserv CEO

-By Gideon Osaka, just back from Houston, Texas

The much needed collaboration among indigenous oil companies in Nigeria may not happen if the Nigerian factor, a syndrome associated with individual capability, is not eliminated, so as to compete favourably with the international oil companies.

Making this assertion at the just concluded Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, in Houston, Texas, United States of America, the Chief Executive Officer of Oilserv, Mr. Emeka Okwuosa, stated that a situation whereby everybody does things his own way cannot augur well for indigenous companies who want to play big in the industry. According to him, “It is the Nigerian factor. Everyone wants to do things in his own way and it is not the way to go. If you go to houses with 20 flats, instead of one tenant providing energy and everyone connects to it, you will see everybody with his own generator. It is a Nigerian factor. It is about understanding that the way to create value requires working together and not as an individual and we are going to get there.”

Speaking on the inhibiting factors to the movement of indigenous companies into deepwater terrain, Okwuosa stated that technology and capital are vital. He said, “We are already operating in that terrain in reality. When you say deepwater operation, you look at it from two different points of view. Are you looking at exploration and production (E&P), which is ownership or are you looking at services. I will talk from services point of view. Nigerians have been participating in services in Bonga, Akpo, Usan. All these have had Nigerians’ input.

“There are two key issues with participation in deep-water arena. It is about technology and capital. Both will take time normally to scale up. Nigerians are participating but we are only scratching the surface. There is still more opportunities for participation. Now, how do we increase that? We require to assemble capacity and integrate that capacity by working together in other to have synergy and be able to deal with bigger scope. But we are in the integration of FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) which is the issue of topsides. Nigerians are in drilling, pipelines, flow-risers. We are doing a lot but it is very competitive and capital intensive and we have to slowly build it up as soon as we can because we have proven capacity but we need to do more because there is so much out there.” To ensure effective collaboration among indigenous players, the Oilserv CEO advocated for synergy, synergizing between entities like the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, PETAN to be able to handle bigger scope and compete with international service providers.

Also speaking on the OB3 project, he said, “Let’s put OB3 in proper perspective. No pipeline has been built in Nigeria of that size or capacity. You may recollect that in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, we had the likes of Wilbros and others but no Nigerian player in the pipeline industry. Look at all our pipeline infrastructure today. Nowhere has 48 inches pipelines been built. It is not about the pipeline. We have the Gas Treatment Plant (GTP) at Oben, which is part of our scope.

“This is a GTP that is handling two billion standard cubic feet of gas per day (2bscuf/d). This has never existed anywhere in Africa. When we talk about OB3, it is not just about building a pipeline. Don’t forget there are two lots there. We are building LOTB that will take the gas from mid-point all the way to Oben plant, plus the Oben plant itself. Now, our pipeline was finished three years ago, but the treatment plant took a longer time because the location was changed from Oben North to the GTP location and it took us two years to go through re-engineering it and getting the approval. But the story is clear, the pipeline and the GTP are going through pre-commissioning now on our own section. By September, our own lot would have been done, and I can only speak for Oilserv.”