Oil services firm commends local content laws implementation

An oil services and fabrication company, Obijackson Group has commended the implementation of the Local Content Law by the Federal Government, which creates opportunities for indigenous oil and gas companies to excel.

Simeon Tor-Agbidye, the Assistant General Manager (AGM), Group Business Development, Obijackson group gave the commendation in an interview with journalists on the side line at the just concluded Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference (NOG) recently.

Tor-Agbidye said that a subsidiary of the Obijackson Group – Energy Works Technology Limited, is fabricating part of the topside facilities of Total’s Egina floating 200,000 barrels per day production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

He said that the Local Content Law has recorded great success in creating home grown skills in the country’s oil and gas sector of the economy.

He said that the Nigerian Content Act had opened the floor for indigenous companies to prove that they were capable of playing competitively in the international oil and gas scene.

The company boss noted that Nigerian companies have the capacity to carry out contracts efficiently like other foreign companies dominating the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy.

According to him, it clearly means that the Nigerian Local Content Act is a success because Nigerian companies, technicians and engineers have acquired expertise, and built capacity that has increased indigenous participation in the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector.

“With the Local Content Act, we have made significant progress as a nation and assumed a position of dignity amongst International Oil Companies (IOCs), and other players in the sector, who are the beneficiaries of our first-rate services,” he explained.

Tor-Agbidye said that before the implementation of the Local Content Law, Nigerian companies who had the competency in the oil and gas business were marginalised, but the situation was gradually changing now.

He said the level of the implementation of the Local Content Law has been quite impressive, stressing that the compliance level by the International Oil Companies (IOC) has been satisfactory to a reasonable extent.

He explained that the Nigerian Content Act had been effective, useful and well cut out because it was long overdue.

He said that the Local Content Law had come to stay and the IOCs were effectively obeying and implementing such laws.