Nigeria Content Online

The Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) of the multibillion dollar Brass Liquefied Natural
Gas (LNG) Project will be signed between Bayelsa State government and
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) this week.

Governor Timipreye
Silva of Bayelsa State told journalists yesterday at the conference of
the Nigerian Content Consultative Forum (NCCF) in Yenagoa, the state
capital, that the MoU is a reflection of the level of confidence by the
state administration in the development of the oil industry.

The MOU is coming
just as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB)
and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) have agreed to constitute a
quarterly audit on the implementation of the Nigerian Content Law,
approved last April by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The shareholders in
Brass LNG include NNPC, 49 percent; Eni International, 17 percent;
Phillips (Brass) Limited, an affiliate of Conoco Phillips, 17 percent;
and Brass Holdings Company Limited, an affiliate of Total, 17 percent.
The 10 percent in the project reserved for the communities is to be
shared equally between Rivers and Bayelsa State governments.

“We are hoping to
sign the MoU with NNPC this week. Brass LNG has gone so far and we are
hoping that with International Oil Companies (IOCs) coming to Bayelsa
State, and setting up shops, we are certain that more employment
opportunities will be generated for our people,” he said.

NCDMB executive
secretary, Ernest Nwapa, said the board and the IOCs agreed at the end
of a recent meeting that a high level group would work together to
audit the implementation of the Nigerian content and turn in review
reports on actions taken in pursuit of the Nigerian Content policy.

Improved local content

Diezani
Alison-Madueke, the petroleum minister, reiterated the administration’s
commitment to a new Nigerian oil and gas industry on the basis of the
local content policy “with a clear strategy for employment creation and
participation of Nigerians, as well as a programme for integration of
oil producing communities into mainstream economic activity that
creates linkages to other sectors of the Nigerian economy.”

The minister
acknowledged the progress so far recorded through the Nigerian content
policy, though she identified the difficulty in accessing oil fields as
the greatest challenge to operators in the Niger Delta.

“The challenge of
funding and promoting investments to sustain the operations of the
industry is formidable, but the greatest threat to the industry’s
survival today is related to maintaining unfettered access to the oil
fields for efficient and safe operations. If access to the oil fields
is constrained, our growth aspirations cannot be realised, as was
demonstrated at the height of the Niger Delta crisis when the country
lost over 50 percent of daily production, suffered severe disruptions
and loss of basic liberties, lives, and property,” Mrs. Alison-Madueke
said.

She said the
expectation was that the implementation of the Nigerian Content Act
will result in the retention of over $10 billion out of an average $20
billion annual oil and gas industry expenditure in the Nigerian
economy, creation of over 30,000 direct employment and training
opportunities in the country, and establishment of three to four new
pipe mills to service the industry.