[size=14pt]Nigerian content: Fenog’s $40m response[/size]
Written by Sylvester Idowu Thursday, 18 August 2011

Sylvester Idowu reports on efforts by an indigenous oil servicing company, Fenog Nigeria Limited to drive the local content Act of the Federal Government by acquiring PD 500 HDD Rig making it the largest in Africa.

WHAT I simply want to do is to congratulate Fenog as a company and to congratulate Mathew Tonlagha and Zenith Entrepreneur and say that Nigerians should really be proud that things like this are happening in the country. I know that 18 years ago it would not have been possible and attractive for a Nigerian to go out and say he wanted to buy this kind of equipment because he would run out of business even before starting. But I thank God that with the new vision of the President on the Local Content, Nigerians can now boldly say we want to participate, not as agents, not as leasers and borrowers of equipment, but as owners of equipment. So, we thank God and congratulate you over and over again”.

This was the statement of the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Engineer Ernest Nwakpa during an inspection of facilities and commissioning of a multi million dollars Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) rig 250 and 500 of an indigenous oil servicing company, Fenog Nigeria Limited in Warri, Delta State .

Nwapa, who visited the firm, in company of the representatives of the oil majors, was so impressed by the effort of Fenog Nigeria Limited in taking the challenge to drive the Local Content Act of the Federal Government that he reassured the investors that efforts would be made by Federal Government to ensure patronage of such firms.

Fenog Nigeria Limited, an independent engineering company known for design and construction services to both oil and gas, companies and government agencies was founded in 1992 and has carried out major constructions in so many engineering fields particularly in the oil and gas sector. To be a major player in the oil and gas sector, the company recently acquired PD 500 HDD rig at a whopping 40 million dollars. This is in addition to the two PD 250 HDD rigs already in the stock of the company.

With the acquisition of the PD 500 HDD rig, Fenog Nigeria Limited is now the biggest and largest HDD company in Africa, the fourth largest HDD company in the world and the first ever to achieve 1.7 km River Crossing (Escravos River Crossing).

PD 250 and 500, according to industry officials, are designed to take oil pipelines across the river and drill as well as laying up to 5.5km per stretch of pipes measuring between six to 70 inches in diameter up to a depth of a maximum of 100 metres.

Engineer Nwakpa, having toured Fenog facilities, including the 40-acre jetty and some major equipment later commissioned the machines to the glory of God and benefit of mankind. He said one of the reasons his team visited the company facilities was to show that the Nigerian content was real and that it had come to stay.

”One of the reasons we decided to come out here is to show that this thing about Nigerian content is real and it has come to stay. And it is not just a Nigerian content but it will ensure that the law is followed. For most of us who have a lot of opportunities on our hands need to see and be convinced that Nigerians are now getting serious to get in there and be part of the system. And this technology is cutting edge as you can see from the demonstration the company is keeping up with technology.

“The last equipment that they had is an equipment that was so technologically advanced but nothing compared to what they now have which is self loading, automated and self monitoring. It is a kind of system that Nigerians will use to transform its pipelines system. As we all know most of the pipelines across the country, especially in the Niger Delta were laid decades ago. Some of them are 30 years old. So while Fenog is focusing on all these new pipeline construction jobs, there are still new jobs that we have not even seen because the oil and gas industry will really have to look into the decaying and ageing pipelines and that is work opportunity”, he told Journalists shortly after commissioning the equipment.

He said further, “This is amazing and it is something Mathew Tonlagha has been telling me about and I did not know that it has gone this far. This is a facility that is located at the Warri River close to the harbour and I did not know that they had so much going on here. What we want to see is a plan for getting it off the ground, a plan to get to work. There are things for you to do, there are things for the government to do and there are things for the community to do. You know what we suffered in this area is lack of confidence that investors can come, put money and get returns from it.

“Now, indigenes and members of this community (Niger Delta) are putting their own money and I believe that this investment is safe. So what people like Mathew want from us now is to help drive the industry to begin to use this facility and that is why we came here, not only as the Nigeria Content Board but with people who are in facility and procurement from the oil companies, and are supposed to see some of these things to know if they are really happening and not just something like story telling. And you know with computers these days you can model something and show it like a picture.

But now we have seen and we can touch and feel it. We can even imagine how this place was before the sand filling and this is a lot of work. We have also seen the design and what we need to do is to go back and continue to work with you and see how we can demonstrate that with efforts from both sides that it can become a reality.”

The NCDMB boss said President Jonathan was looking for the opportunity to employ Nigerians and that in the oil and gas industry, the first priority was to make sure that the input from the oil and gas industry was sourced from Nigeria, both the human resources, materials and goods adding “so manufacturing is an issue we are confronting squarely. Equipment that are brought into the country must now begin to have their components made in Nigeria. That is the new direction the board is pursuing. What Fenog and many industries require to go through is to make sure they have work and there is a frame work for that. And what I can reassure you is that the Honourable Minister, Petroleum Resources, Mrs Alison Dieziene Madueke, has directed me as the Executive Secretary of the board to come up with strategies, with incentives, and with programmes that will make sure that Nigerians invest in the oil and gas industry and foreigners invest in Nigeria.”

He noted that when foreigners in partners with Nigerians do things in accordance with the law, the industry will provide and guarantee work opportunities for them to have work stressing therefore “ I want to assure you that the Honourable Minister is fully behind your effort and when I go back I am going to report to her that we have a wonderful capacity and we must work to give you opportunity to get work in this facility. I think that what we are seeing here is something that can only grow bigger because of the tenacity of your Chief Executive I do not think that he will relent.

“The thing that gives us confident that this Nigeria Content Programme of President Jonathan would be sustained is that Nigerians are using the hard earn money to buy those equipments, and if you should spend money to buy equipments, I don’t think anybody will tell you to keep you equipments idle while we use equipments owned by foreigners. That is something we do not have apologies for because Nigerian government has taken a firm decision that Nigerians must play a role in this industry, and that indigenes of the oil producing communities should be seen as being part of the business in the oil and gas industry and there is nothing less that you can expect from the board”. An overwhelmed Director of the company, Mathew Tonlagha explained to the monitoring team that with the acquisition of the HDD technology, the issue of vandalism will be a thing of the past because the equipment will put pipelines behind hand rich since it can to two metres to 100 metres depth.

“Let me tell you, this HDD Technology will secure the pipelines and you will not have any vandals because this Technology is going to put the pipelines behind hand rich because it can go to two to 100 metres depth so it is very much secured”, he explained the advantage of the machine.

The PD 500 HDD Rig, he said, is the latest technology in the world noting that it is a modern, reliable technology designed for deep (6M-70M) installation of pipeline, sewa, telecommunication lines and heavy duty cables without trenching over roads, railways, rivers and even across facilities without damages or disturbance to traffic or usage of these facilities.

Mr. Tonlagha said the company acquired the equipments “at this time because we are growing up in technology and people have the feelings that Nigeria cannot do it better. We need to let the Federal Government know that some of these major projects that are given to oil majors can be handled by FENOG Nigeria Limited and that was why we started with the PD 250 which we have used to cross a lot of rivers.”

He therefore solicited for patronage noting that what Fenog needed now is patronage from the Oil majors in line with the local content effort of the Federal Government and appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Deazani Allison-Madueke, and the management of the oil majors to ensure the successful implementation and actualization of Nigerian Local Content Act.

The Fenog Boss said that is the only way the huge investment of the company in procuring the modern oil and gas industry equipment and machineries could be justified adding “local companies like Fenog Nigeria Limited should be encouraged to participate actively in the oil and gas industry. When we are encouraged, development will spread to all parts of the oil-rich Niger Delta region and our army of unemployed youths will be employed.

“We are investing so much in equipment because we trust President Goodluck Jonathan, the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and the Local Content Secretary, Engr.Ernest Nwapa, we trust all of them because we know that they can deliver and they have given us hope that the Local Content Law will work.”

http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/features/26823-nigerian-content-fenogs-40m-response