Mohammed Shosanya
As part of the strategies to increase Nigeria’s crude oil production and enhance revenue accruing to the national treasury, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has advocated for one week in each year to be dedicated to signing final investment decisions (FIDs) on new oil and gas projects.
Its Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe made the proposal on Tuesday in his presentation at the 2024 African Oil Week, holding at Cape Town, South Africa.
Ogbe,in a statement said that the FID Week, if adopted,could be incorporated into the existing annual international oil and gas conferences and would feature international and indigenous operating companies.
He maintained that dedicating one week every year for FID signing could compel companies and relevant regulators to fast-track their processes to meet the deadline.
He also indicated that the proposal for an annual FID Week has already been broached to Special Adviser on Energy to President, Mrs. Olu Verheijen and the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and international operating companies and was being considered.
He was represented at the African Oil Week by the Director, Projects Certification and Authorization Division (PCAD) Engr. Abayomi Bamidele.
He said the proposal for an annual FID Week was geared to address the insufficient FIDs signed by the operating companies and the limited number of new projects being developed in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. These worrisome developments contributed to Nigeria’s dwindling crude oil production and the negative impact on revenue, he said.
He suggested that the Nigerian oil and gas industry needed to have at least one or two final investment decisions on major projects to be signed every year, to catalyze activity in the local service sector and the national economy and ultimately increase crude oil and gas production and revenue for the country.
Referring to the three Presidential Directives (PDs) rolled out by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in March 2024, for the oil and gas industry, the NCDMB boss said the agency had complied fully with the directives as it relates to fast-tracking the contracting cycle and eliminating middlemen with no demonstrable capacity from participating in the oil and gas value chain.
The PDs included Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance, Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Cost and Timelines and Presidential Directive on Oil and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, etc)
Ogbe announced that NCDMB had applied the Presidential Directives in approving five oil and gas projects which are currently in the funnel.
He hinted that the expected production values of those projects are 1 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day and 350 million barrels of crude oil per day.
Speaking on strategies that would ensure sustainable local content development in African nations, the Executive Secretary stated that local content has to be promoted as a national agenda and supported by all institutions, businesses, decision makers, investors and citizens.
