Independence:Chevron Celebrates Nigeria@64,Assesses Impacts

         Mohammed Shosanya

Chevron has celebrated Nigeria’s 64th Independence Anniversary,saying it’s proud of its partnerships and role in developing its natural resources.

In over six decades of operation, Chevron Nigeria has continued to make significant investments in the country that support social and economic development,the company said.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria and Mid-Africa Business Unit, Jim Swartz, explains Chevron Nigeria’s business perspective: “We strive to build lasting relationships to help enable human progress now and into the future.”

According to Swartz, Chevron is one of the largest suppliers of natural gas to the domestic market and is proud of its continued track record of supplying natural gas that meets the specifications required for the Nigerian domestic market.

He stated that in addition to the production of over 7.5 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent by Chevron Nigeria Limited’s (CNL) Joint Venture with Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in Nigeria, CNL has been successful in leading and investing in four major projects that have added significant economic value and reduced flared gas.

The ~700km West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) led by Chevron in partnership with other private and state entities from the Economic Community of West African States, to supply gas to Benin, Togo, and Ghana to boost economic development in the sub-region.

The Deepwater Agbami Floating Production, Storage, Offloading (FPSO) project which has produced over 1 billion barrels of oil.

Chevron also owns nonproducing assets as well as partner with other companies for producing and non-producing fields.

The company commends the Federal Government’s efforts to reposition the oil and gas industry for growth through the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

CNL is committed to operationalizing the PIA and has achieved key milestones, including renewing critical deep-water leases for the next twenty years.  The NNPCL/CNL Joint Venture was among the first companies to convert their leases to Petroleum Prospecting Licenses (PPLs) and Petroleum Mining Leases (PMLs) in accordance with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act.

CNL believes that its business success in providing affordable, reliable, ever-cleaner energy is directly tied to the progress and prosperity of the people we work with and the communities where we operate. For this reason, the company continues to support the Federal Government’s Nigerian Content Development (NCD) policy aimed at building indigenous capacity in the nation’s oil and gas industry.

This policy is driven by the vision of being recognized as the energy company that works best to foster competence and competitiveness among Nigerian indigenous contractors and suppliers by adopting the participatory partnership model.

Olusoga Oduselu, CNL’s General Manager, Policy, Government, and Public Affairs, highlighted CNL’s focus on the development of communities in the Niger Delta through the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU), a community-driven, participatory partnership model for community engagement it pioneered in 2005.

“Through the GMoU, we provided funds to execute hundreds of projects in the communities where we operate in the Niger Delta region. This has led to social investment projects benefitting over 600 communities in the Niger Delta area. We are leveraging our experience with the GMoU in the implementation of the Host Community Development Trust (HCDT) provisions of the PIA”, he stated.

“In 2010, Chevron established the Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), a non-profit organization working with partners to complement the GMoU, to build peace and address macro socio-economic issues in the Niger Delta region.  PIND’s programs have continued to create social and economic impacts through the twin pillars of economic development and peacebuilding, leading to increased productivity, jobs, and reduced conflict,” Olusoga said.

Chevron Nigeria’s social investment footprints extend beyond its areas of operation. In the area of health, Chevron built and donated a DNA Molecular laboratory to the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, a facility that supports medical research in Nigeria.  In the midst of the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, Chevron donated a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratory to Warri Central Hospital to support the Delta State Government in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company has also implemented health initiatives such as the Roll Back Malaria programs, Prevention of Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV/AIDS, and awareness programs on River blindness.

Star Deepwater Petroleum Company Limited (a Chevron company) and its parties in the Agbami field have been investing in fighting tuberculosis (TB) by building and equipping chest clinics to support the treatment and care of TB patients in Nigeria.

Currently, 28 chest clinics fully equipped with standard X-Ray machines, male and female wards, treatment rooms, laboratories and gene expert machines have been completed across the country to support the health system. The Agbami parties have also donated one medical diagnostics laboratory and nine mother-and-child health care centers in Nigeria.

Chevron Corporation has also sponsored global health-related initiatives that impact Nigeria. These efforts include the contribution to the Global Fund against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB, which has benefitted Nigeria by providing access to lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV and providing long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

CNL continues to support the development of education in the Niger Delta region and across the country through the development of education infrastructure, capacity building, and scholarships.

Over 23,000 people have benefitted from the company’s scholarship programs, which include scholarships for postgraduates, the visually impaired, and medical and engineering students in Nigeria.

Chevron and its Agbami parties have continued to invest in education infrastructure, executing 39 Science laboratory complexes and 25 conventional and hybrid libraries nationwide.

They also encourage students to develop an interest in key subjects such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and, ultimately, pursue STEM courses and careers.

The company continues to demonstrate its commitment to environmental stewardship through its lower carbon strategy, which is focused on lowering the carbon intensity of its operations by implementing methane detection and reduction capabilities.

This has enabled the company to reduce routine gas flaring by over 97% in its operations in the past 11 years, showing its environmental responsibility.

The company’s mangrove restoration program is another demonstration of its dedication to environmental stewardship and proactive approach to addressing the challenges of ecosystem restoration in the Niger Delta. Chevron Nigeria successfully restored approximately 18 hectares of land at different sites in its Western Area of operations, which suffered fire incidents due to third-party interference.

The mangrove restoration also enabled CNL to impact the community positively by training community women on identifying viable mangrove propagules, raising them in the nursery to transplant thousands of mangroves.”

Besides,Chevron Nigeria, with Chevron Corporation’s support, built and donated the Lekki Conservation Centre (LCC) to the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) in 1992.

The 78-hectare facility has become a center of excellence in environmental research and education, reserved as a sanctuary for the rich flora and fauna of the Lekki Peninsula, Lagos.