FENOG Nigeria Limited is among the few indigenous companies in the country that is so far making the present Federal Government Local Content Policy Initiative a reality. This policy initiative was put in place to revolutionize the Oil and Gas sector of the economy. The Local Content Initiative of the Federal Government aims at boosting indigenous participation in this all-important sector of the economy.
When the bill was signed into law on April 22, 2010, the expectation of some Stakeholders in the Oil and Gas sector was that its implementation would probably not see the light of the day. But this expectation was proved wrong by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) as it was ready to implement this policy initiative to the letter.
While few indigenous companies were skeptical at the outset to key into the policy, FENOG Nigeria Limited, a leading engineering procurement and construction services company, championed the local content policy initiative. The company has so far invested so much in the procurement of latest innovative technology and equipment within this short period of establishing the policy. The recent in its fleet are the procurement of HDD PD 500 Rig and Offshore Laying /Derrick Barge among others. This unprecedented step taken by FENOG made NCDMB Boss, Engr. Ernest Nwapa, to pay an official visit to the company’s corporate headquarters in the oil-rich city of Warri, Delta State to see things for himself and also as a form of encouragement for the good work being done.
In his remark, Engr. Nwapa who was amazed at the state-of-the-art facilities he saw on ground, eulogized FENOG for a job well done.
“WE are not bothered by the desperate moves of some International Oil Companies (IOCs);foreigners cannot come and dictate to Nigerians. I think that what we areseeing here today is something that can only grow bigger because of thetenacity of your Chief Executive and I do not think that he will relent. This is something FENOG has been telling me about and I didn’t know that they have reached this level. What FENOG expects from us now is to help them drive multinational oil companies to begin to use these facilities and that is why we came here not only as NCDMB but also to witness it for ourselves,” Engr. Nwapa said.
This singular giant stride taken by FENOG led to the award of a Multi-Billion Naira, Amukpe- Escravos 67km Pipeline Contract by Pan Ocean Nigeria Limited. The pipeline contract is to deploy the latest pipelaying technology using HDD PD 500 Rig which have the capacity to lay pipes of up to 4-70m depth below the earth surface, making the age long issue of pipeline vandalism a thing of the past in Nigeria.
According to FENOG’s Executive Director, Mr Matthew Tonlagha, the Pan Ocean 67km Amukpe-Escravos Pipeline Project, is using continuous HDD technology over 67km being the first ever in the whole world.
“The continuous HDD technology designed by our own Engineers is very good for our environment; it is something that is well secured and a big ENEMY of pipeline VANDALS. You do not need security to go and guard the pipeline and so because Pan Ocean Oil Corporation wants the security of their pipelines they awarded this contract to FENOG Nigeria Limited. And we are doing very well, we employ people from the community; train them very well to know the project so that they can work with us. As I am talking to you, we have trained a lot of Nigerians from various communities as part of the people operating the HDD rig. This is a new technology that is coming to this country. Also, in the process of executing the project for Pan Ocean Oil Corporation, many sub-contracts have been given to the host communities to empower them”, Mr. Tonlagha said..
Mr. Matthew Tonlagha rained praises on the Executive Secretary/CEO of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Engr. Ernest Nwapa for the support to FENOG saying: ” Engr. Nwapa has helped us to come this far, he has contributed greatly to the success story of the expansion in FENOG and we are more than grateful to him. Words are not enough to express our appreciation to him.”
Mr. Tonlagha revealed that the earlier two PD 250 HDD RIGS had recently completed the first ever HDD job in the country for Chevron Nigeria Limited Escravos River Crossing project in Delta State laying pipes of 24″ diameter across Escravos River. The project covered up to a distance of 1.7km, being the longest distance ever covered for HDD project across the globe. The PD 250 HDD Rigs have also completed other river crossing projects for ZAKHEM/ Nigerian Gas Company/NNPC, they include; Egwa 1 river crossing ( 24″ x680m), Egwa 11 river crossing (24″ x 950m), Poro Creekriver crossing (24″ x 440m), Apala Creek river crossing ( 24″ x 400m) and Warri River crossing (24″ x 600m).
Speaking on the recent successful River Crossing of Chanomi Creek on Escravos/Warri/Lagos Gas Pipeline, , Mr. Matthew Tonlagha said that it took FENOG exactly twenty-one (21) days to carry out this rare achievement to the nation, saying that the firm delivered on time even before the deadline given by the Federal Government and the NNPC.
In his words, “Recently, during the visit of the Group Executive Director,Gas and Power , NNPC, Dr. David Ige during his inspection of the Escravos/Warri/Lagos Gas Pipeline Project that we are handling, I promised NNPC and the Federal Government that we in FENOG will double our efforts in completing the project because of the vital nature of the project to the country. As soon as the NNPC officials led by Dr. Ige left our site, we increased our manpower and equipment and the good news now is that on Monday,April 16, 2012; we successfully completed the River Crossing of the Chanomi Creeks.”
“The Chanomi Creek River Crossing is a very big project and if not because of our HDD Technology that we deployed for the project, it would have been difficult to complete that kind of project in are cord time. Because of our HDD Technology we did the project for three weeks; each pipe is 45m depth, we made it so because the Chanomi Creek is a route for all ships and because of future dredging too, hence we buried the pipes to that extent,” the FENOG boss stated.
According to him; “Right now, we have met the Federal Government demand on the Chanomi River Crossing, we have completed it and it is just to hook it up with the pipeline. I want to urge all and sundry to support the Local Content Policy of the Federal Government.”
During a recent visit to FENOG site in Chanomi Creeks, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, Dr. David Ige, Group Executive Director, Power and Gas of NNPC said that; “A good example of what we have done is to work closely with FENOG. And as many other local companies that are willing to show capability to work, we are ready to work with them. And NNPC, if you could recall, champion the local content agenda because we believe for the long term survival of our own company NNPC as well as the industry at large, it is important that we begin to domicile capability in Nigeria. And so we will support any indigenous company like FENOG. FENOG is not just a contractor anymore; FENOG is now a partner to NGC and NNPC.”
The other area which FENOG has carved a niche in boosting the Nigerian Content is in the Procurement of an offshore Pipe laying /Derrick Barge (Akpevweoghene). The Barge which is one of largest offshore pipeline barge in Africa has a capacity to lay pipes from 2″- 60″ in both shallow and deep water. It can also be used for offshore jackets and well head installations. The barge crane can lift a weight of 900tons.
“The FENOG Off shore Pipe laying Barge, Akpevweoghene, is presently anchored in our jetty at Ugbuwangue in the oil city of Warri. It is ready and waiting to be engaged by International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria”, Tonlagha said.
“We have invested so much in the sector due to the trust we have in this Local Content Policy by the Federal Government and monitoring of its implementation by NCDMB.We have just acquired HDD PD 150 Rig, we are still expecting more of the HDD Rigs before the end of the year. So, we are calling on the multinationals to appreciate the effort by making use of our equipment”, he appealed.
In the area of Community Social Responsibility(CRS), FENOG Nigeria Limited has so far empowered numerous unemployed youth in this part of Niger Delta region. This ranges from employment, skill acquisition, training and involvement of local contractors in their area of operations as sub-contractors in most of these projects being executed by the company. FENOG Dry dock yard/Jetty when fully commissioned will employ about 500 unemployed youth thereby keeping faith with the President Goodluck Jonathan Amnesty Programme in the oil-rich Niger Delta Region.
