The General Manager, Commercials, Oando Energy Resources, Bambo Ibidapo-Obe, has said there is the need for indigenous oil firms, especially those operating the marginal oil field, to collaborate to be very successful.
Ibidapo-Obe, who spoke at the Commonwealth Businesswomen Forum, under the aegis of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), in Abuja, cited the development of the Omogini Pipeline infrastructure under a special purpose vehicle made up of Midwestern and Niger Joint venture where Oando serves as technical partner as a good example of result that has been achieved through collaborations among indigenous operators. He further noted that the 12-inch diameter and 51 kilometre-long Omogini Pipeline, which was conceived, developed and delivered in 2014, came into existence through collaborations among stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.
This infrastructure, he further explained, helped in stabilising the transportation of crude oil from the producer’s field, OML 56, as it was connected to Shell pipeline and further connected to forcadoes oil export terminal. This same infrastructure has over the years also served as alternative route to Agip oil export hub where intakes in the past hinders marginal field operators from producing at full potentials.
“From January 2015 to date, the Omogini line, which has capacity of 45,000 barrels daily, has successfully moved 18 million barrels of crude oil, serving and helping to ensure production evacuation uptime in the field. This serves at least four companies namely, Energier JV, Platform Petroleum, Midwestern and Pillar Oil,” he said.
Describing the oil and gas industry as inextricably linked to the Nigerian economic well-being, Ibidapo-Obe noted that the various phases of the industry have gone through various stages of evolution – from being dominated by international oil companies to a more diverse landscape of both international and local players, to the development and implementation of both legal, fiscal framework to owning resource exploitation as well as recalling government policy and regulatory frameworks, among others.
The Oando chief said for every one of these vertical numerous opportunities have emerged, stating further that in recent decades there have been increased calls and participation for indigenous players in the industry.
It would be recalled that the drive for local participation led to the Federal Government’s marginal field programme.
