The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has directed the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to work with operating oil and gas companies to evaluate existing machine shops, dock yards, fabrication yards and other facilities which can be upgraded to meet industry specifications.
The minister gave this directive recently when she led chief executive of international oil companies on a facility visit to SCC Pipe mill in Abuja, the first in the series of planned physical assessments of key local content facilities across the country.
While noting that many existing facilities which could be harnessed at reduced costs to support industry operations locally were underutilised, Madueke instructed that recommendations from the evaluation should get to her office before July 2012.
She commended the model used at SCC pipe mill whereby the facilities set up originally to manufacture water supply pipes were upgraded to service the industry.
The minister also explained that the cumulative orders from the operators in the industry have not only ensured that the company retained about 350 Nigerian workers, but now have the potential to grow the workforce to 500 based on projected work flow.
While counting the gains so far derived from the Content Act, she informed that the market share of indigenous vessel owners had risen from less than $200 million in 2009 to $1billion while local fabrication tonnage has also risen by 40 per cent to 54,000 metric ton per annum over the same period.
She stated that ongoing establishment of Longitudinal Submerge-arc Welded pipe mill in Yenagoa by Yulong Steel and planned longitudinally welded steel Mill in Abeokuta by Vigeo Steel will create over 10,000 direct and ancillary jobs and retain $700m in the Nigerian economy.