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Tag: GE

  • Shell, GE seal service pact on 650Mw Afam VI plant

    General Electric (GE)’s Power Services business has signed a Multi-Year Service Agreement (MYA) with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for the 650 megawatts (mw) Afam VI combined cycle power plant in Rivers State.

    The service agreement is expected to improve electricity availability, reliability and output from the plant for 200,000 Nigerian homes, while decreasing its operational costs. SPDC Joint Venture partners built the plant to significantly contribute to helping the Federal Government meet the nation’s power needs.

    General Manager, Gas, SPDC, Dr. Philip Mshelbila, said: “At optimal performance, the Afam VI plant can provide up to 15 per cent of the total national grid-connected electricity, this agreement will ensure we reach this performance objective and deliver much needed power to the national grid.

    “Since its commissioning in 2008, Afam VI Power Plant has delivered more than 25.97 million megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity into the Nigerian market and won an award by the United Nations for reducing carbon emissions through environment- friendly operations.”

    The agreement will cover planned maintenance for the three existing GE GT13E2 gas turbines as well as one GE steam turbine. In addition, the order includes GE’s MXL2 upgrades to help increase the plant capacity by up to 30MW while increasing its efficiency.

    “ We have a long history of collaboration with Shell Petroleum, which has the largest footprint of all the international oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria, having supported the plant operations on power generation since its inception in 2008,” said Elisee Sezan, General manager, GE’s Power Services business for Sub-Saharan Africa.

    “With this latest agreement, we are working to bring improved performance and enhanced efficiency to their operations,” Sezan added.

    In addition to increasing power output by up to 30Mw, upgrades on the turbines are expected to deliver a combined-cycle efficiency increase, resulting in significant fuel savings and reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. GE’s solutions will also extend inspection intervals for the gas turbines reducing maintenance and repair expenses—which, in turn, will reduce overall plant costs and result in improving profitability.

    GE’s GT13E2 gas turbine offers industry-leading efficiency with up to 55 per cent efficiency levels in combined cycle operation, superior fuel versatility that enables a wide range of fuel compositions without hardware changes while substantially extending standard inspection intervals.

     

    Its unique operating profile capability offers the potential for financial savings by allowing customers to react quickly to fluctuating power demands, while keeping costs in line.

    The Chief Executive Officer, GE Nigeria, Lazarus Angbazo said: “With less than 50 per cent of the population having access to electricity, Nigeria needs power.

    “This agreement demonstrates GE’s unwavering commitment to continuously collaborate with public and private institutions to drive investment and innovative technologies in the power generation industry.”

  • Clouds over GE’s rail concession

    Clouds over GE’s rail concession

    With barely 12 days to the end of this year, it is doubtful if the anticipated General Electric’s (GE’s) $2.2 billion investment in the nation’s narrow gauge will become a reality,writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    The much-expected take-off of the management of the Nigeria Railway Corporation’s (NRC) narrow gauge rolling stock assets seems to have suffered another still birth.

    The preferred bidder, American giant General Electric Corporation (GE), in line with the preliminary agreement signed last month ought to have rolled out 20 locomotives (engines) and 100 wagons by now.

    This is besides huge investments worth about $2.2 billion it is expected to have injected into the narrow gauge stream beginning from 2019, (that is if both parties decided to go ahead with the main contract after the initial 12 months preliminary agreement).

    Last May, the Federal Government announced GE as winner of the controversial bid.

    Making the announcement after  the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC’s) nod, Transportation Minister Mr Rotimi Amaechi, gave the impression that GE was ready to restart the almost moribund tracks.

     

    Journey from 2015

    Determined to reverse the railways’ motorised format, the Buhari government embarked on a massive upgrade.

    Though the revamp started before Buhari, the government gave it the desired fillip with its renewed commitment which not only saw to the completion of the rehabilitation of the old rotted rail track network,  it also got an unprecedented scale up in the modernisation agenda, with the completion of the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge track system on July 26, last year.

    Weeks before the kick off, it commenced the construction of the $1.5 billion Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge project, which file had been gathering dust on ex-President Goodluck Jonathan desk.

    With its determination to see the project delivered next December, the Buhari government seems prepared to set an uncommon record of completing the project in 18 months.

    Because most of the impediments to a functional train system had been worked upon, it wasn’t difficult for the government to get the National Assembly committed to the need to revamp the moribund and unsustainable transportation system.

    One of the tasks that was urgently attended to was the repeal of the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act 1954, passed since September, last year, by the Senate but had been awaiting amendment of the House of Representatives.

    Notwithstanding the delay to the anticipated amendment of the NRC Act from the lower house and its eventual harmonisation by the two chambers, the Federal Government began to shop for private sector investors to take over some of the assets of the corporation under a concessionning agreement aimed at improving the travel experience of Nigerians most of who have lost hope in a revamped and effective rail system comparable to others abroad.

    The plan, again, was not wholly Buhari’s. Rather, it emanated from the Obasanjo administration which envisioned it as part of the corporation’s 25-year masterplan.

    Without starting the process all over, Amaechi, contrary to opinion, announced the handing over of the narrow gauge over to GE on a concessionnaire basis.

    Initially, the firm was to take off on last May 29. Rather, what commenced were series of meetings by the Transaction Advisory Committee (TAC), which included the GE, the Ministry of Transportation, a group of  consultants, and the NRC workers.

    At the end, the Minister announced this month as take-off of the preliminary agreement.That would be pretty much after all the technical details had been agreed to. As at last month, Amaechi insisted it would take GE only a few weeks to move their stocks in from South Africa, adding that by this month, Nigeria would begin to experience the GE’s expertise.

    The minister insisted that bringing in private investors into the railway was in line with global best practices.

    “While the government owns the rail tracks, investors are usually encouraged to own the rolling stocks, both passengers and cargoes. This brings efficiency and removes all the ills that had bedevilled our train system to perform as a good transportation alternative since the 60s.”

    If allowed, it would allow the government’s focus on building more efficient network, especially the standard gauge. With its links to the nation’s productive centres, the narrow gauge will assist in the rapid development of the agriculture, mining and steel sectors and link same directly to the sea for export.

    Again, the continuous rehabilitation of the narrow gauge network will no longer be at any cost to the government. Outside Lagos-Kano route, which includes Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan,  Ilorin, Kano, Funtua, Zaria, and Kaura-Namoda, the GE would also take over the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri route, which includes Port Harcourt, Aba, Umuahia, Enugu, Makurdi, Jos, Gombe and Bauchi to Borno State.

    To him, the rehabilitation of the two corridors would help activate freight movement.

    “The narrow gauge will essentially encourage freight movement. We have over 30 million tons worth of freight on the Lagos-Kano route for which presently we are moving slightly above 1000 tons. While the Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri route is currently moving nothing, we are anticipating 11 million tons on that route,” he said.

    He foresees an upsurge of passenger and cargo traffic on the narrow gauge spectrum as the rehabilitation will encourage movement of cargoes and passengers.

    The new proposition is a departure from what obtained with the narrow gauge under the management of the NRC. Intercity shuttle, as being run, is epileptic with the rusty coaches, driven by aging locomotives that take no fewer than 72 hours travel time between Lagos-Kano.

    “This is absolutely unacceptable. The railway system will not be able to attract any quality passenger traffic with such tradition. We must look at fast-tracking things at the railway,” Amaechi said.

     

    Concessioning

    The corporation, according to Amaechi, remained the way out of the rot in the railway, adding that for Nigerians to embrace the railway, they must see improved services.

     

    Docile workforce

    The minister at a meeting with the NRC workers came short of accusing them for the slide in the corporation’s fortunes.

    He said a staff audit conducted by the GE showed that only 20 percent of the nation’s population are qualified and could be engaged by the narrow gauge’s new operator.

    He added that GE insisted on the government handing over a zero-staff system to allow it recruit its staff, while it would give NRCworkers a consideration for the first year only.

    “Thereafter, workers have a choice to either voluntarily opt out or stay on with the old structure with the NRC as the regulator,” Amaechi told the workers.

    Although the minister was able to extract the workers’consent to proceed with the concession at the meeting,their leadership insisted that the condition of service remained thorny.

    The workers’ union former president, Comrade Raphael Benjamin Okoro, said while the union had no issue to grind with how the government chooses to dispose its property, it should proceed with caution.

    He said the workers were worried about the haste with which the government was proceeding with the concession, which contravenes the provisions of the NRC 1954 Act, yet to be fully amended by the National Assembly.

    Okoro said: “Until the law is amended, any action taken to unbundle the railway like they did to other national assets will be unconstitutional and if this government wants Nigerians to believe that it is sincere, it must hasten slowly because we have it on good authority that the real reason behind the haste was to strip the railways of its huge asset base scattered across the country.”

    Okoro, who put the entire work force at about 15,000, however, urged the government to put in place a robust severance plan to address the workers’ worries.

    One of the thorny issues holding back the take-off of the agreement The Nation gathered revolves round the absence of an enabling law permitting privatisation or concessionning.

    With the House of Representatives failing to pass the concurrent bill repealing the NRC Act, moving ahead with the agreement would be, Okoro warned, “ultra vires, null and void.”

    Besides, the source added, the government seemed to have cut the sail off the GE’s antics to limit its cargo operations to Lagos, merely shuttling the seven kilometre-distance between Apapa and Ebute-Metta, an operation he said, the corporation has started running.

    “The government wants to know why the GE with its competence and capacity is restricting its operations to Lagos, while millions of tonnage could be taken to Kano from the same Lagos,” the source disclosed.

    Besides, the government has stripped the concessionnaire of taking over the corporation’s properties spread all over the country. Railway’s assets in property are in excess of the value of the concessionned terms and governments think it would be unwise to sell the entire enterprise, including its property.

    Shorn of an avenue of making quick returns on its investment, and the absence of an enabling law, the GE might have decided to apply the break on the deal.

    The source disclosed that the American corporation seemed to have lost interest in the long haul as the government originally intended, adding that with the plan not taking off this month, it might take much longer before Nigerians begin to see any GE locomotive or wagons on its narrow gauge.

    “I don’t see the plan taking off even within the first quarter of next year. It may be longer, because the government is not in a hurry to strip the corporation to feed any foreign exploiter,” the source added.

    As it stands, the government seemed bent on protecting the nation’s assets. What is not clear is whether an enabling law would be passed to give the needed backing to the move and if the concessionnaire is ready to accommodate all government’s demands as contained in the transaction advisory.

    While all these last, the nation continues to bear the brunt of lack of development in the railway sector alone, as the government continues to shoulder the cost of modernising its fixed and rolling stocks.

  • GE states condition for investing in DisCos

    GE states condition for investing in DisCos

    The Management of General Electric (GE) has set a fresh condition for it to invest in the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos).

    The power giant is insisting on a sovereign guarantee from the Federal Governemnt.

    The request came at the meeting the GE officials had with the DisCos in Abuja yesterday. GE was said to have been shocked by what it discovered in the books of the power sector.

    The Executive Director, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Mr Sunday Oduntola, told reporters during the Electricity Policy Education in Abuja that operators needed funding for the sector to bridge the liquidity gap.

    The theme of the workshop was: Challenges of the Nigerian Power Sector.

    The only way the GE can stake its money in the sector, according to Oduntola, is for the Federal Government to give a sovereign guarantee in case of any infraction.

    He said:  “As at yesterday, we had a meeting with the team of people from the GE. The Head of GE had a meeting with ANED.  He asked to see our balance sheets. As soon as he saw the balance sheets, he said No! No! He said if the government can provide what is called sovereign guarantee, yes!

    “In the case of GE, it happened yesterday. They wanted to know how the sector is doing in terms of doing business. So they are trying to see how they can come in. They have a lot of money to invest. They wanted to know the challenges like the issue of metering, network and others.”

    According to him, the meeting is an ongoing discussion because “they have the money and we need more foreign investors to come in.”

    Oduntola also noted that Nigeria was not conducive for investment even when the power sector was privatised as security of investment always means the sanity of contract.

    He said the business environment in the country is so difficult to the extent that only two out of the DisCos can conveniently pay their workers’ salaries as when due.

    Arguing that the DisCos have injected funds into their business since 2013, he said they have installed a total of 612,552 meters.

    He insisted that the major constraint to investment in the sector is lack of cost reflective tariff since there has been embargo on tariff increase since 2015.

    Oduntola recalled that part of the $1.4billion paid for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) assets was used to pay off workers.

    The ANED spokesman commended the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, which he said has been more faithful to the development of the power sector than the previous ones.

    He said the reason why some DisCos sometimes reject their load allocation, is when the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) evacuates it where there are no equipment to cope with it.

    He added that the DisCos also reject load allocation when it is wheeled to location that is permeated with electricity theft, yet does not pay for power.

    “It is true that sometimes we reject load allocation. I have the right to tell you where I want my light,” he said.

    He condemned corrupt practices in the electricity market which he said are the handiwork of both staff of the companies and their customers.

    Confirming that the Federal Executive Council has approved the payment of N26billion as the verified Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) debt, he noted that the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola directed that the money be paid as part of the debt that the DisCos are owing Nigeria Electricity Bulk Trading Company (NBET).

    In other words, he said none of the DisCos received the cash from the federal government.

  • ARCO versus GE

    •The multinational should pay the 150 Nigerian workers their due

    Since the nation passed into law the Local Content Act of 2010 as inspired by the Obasanjo administration, hope for more nationalistic tone to investment in the oil industry has worked against hope.

    The staff of two of the upfront unions picketed the offices of one of the world’s big multinationals over an act of injustice. The partisans of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) was in rage in defence of fidelity on contract.

    They picketed the General Electric (GE) for failing to pay $1.2 million in back pay and entitlements to 150 ousted staff of an oil services company, The ARCO Group.

    The deal was not originally with GE, but with a company called NuovoPignone. Both companies were contracted as partners by the Nigerian Joint Ventures with foreign firms to maintain the OBOB/ Ebocha/ KwaleAgip plants in the Niger Delta.

    Not long after the agreement, GE gobbled up NuovoPignone. It became a partnership between GE and ARCO to maintain the gas plants. But GE, in a curious lack of faith, humiliated ARCO by making it a sub-contractor rather than partner.

    In spite of that, ARCO took charge of the plants during the rise of militancy in the region that frightened GE workers out of the region and country. ARCO never made any attempt to short-change or undercut the agreement because of the absence of their partners.

    Yet when peace returned, GE undermined ARCO and gulped up about 19 of ARCO’s valued staff. The half-hearted cooperation continued until the contract expired and GE, ARCO and tens of other firms had to bid for the right to maintain the gas plants again.

    ARCO did not win although it scored higher than Plantgeria, a firm pushed by GE and its collaborator AGIP. ARCO scored 8.1 and Plantgeria 6.05. In spite of that, ARCO’s offer to do the same job with about $37 million was not preferred to Plantgeria’s for $87 million.

    It implied ARCO had to lay off its staff. But they were supposed to be paid their fair share according to the agreement in the partnership. Hence, GE was supposed to pay $1.2 million to the workers. The Minister of Labour and Employment and other industry stakeholders were in a meeting that agreed that GE pay the 150 workers within 30 days.

    The GE has not abided by the deal. It was this frustration that led PENGASSAN and NUPENG to protest at GE offices in Port Harcourt and Lagos.

    The GE’s attitude comes from brazen connivance of Nigerian government and business classes who place filthy lucre over devotion to national esteem. It is also impunity from a foreign firm that looks down on a country that is not willing to abide by its own law.

    Oil firms have done a lot of damage to our country since we first struck oil in Oloibiri over five decades ago. Our people have lost their homesteads, farms have been sullied into slushy ruins, fishes have disappeared or died in the waters, the air has forfeited its purity to gas flares. This has meant our ways of life have yielded to unfruitful lifestyles as well as physical dislocations and diseases. These circumstances led to militancy whose devastations still rankle us today.

    GE’s attitude is just one of many unreported or undocumented violations of our laws and sovereignty. The National Assembly should step into the GE-ARCO matter and interrogate the fortunes of our local enterprises since we passed the local content law in 2010.

  • GE to invest in Nigeria’s refineries

    United States (US) multinational General Electric (GE)  in Abuja proposed to invest in Nigeria’s three refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.

    The firm, in a presentation to the  Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),Group Managing Director(GMD), Dr. Maikanti Baru and his team, said that its team of partners, including its consortium involving the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) partners, off-takers, traders and some financiers would be engaged in the initiative.

    The multinational headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is worth $493 billion in asset. Its business focus areas include oil and gas, power, water supply, aviation, healthcare, transportation and capital.

    “We were involved in the tenders that started around last year, which was subsequently withdrawn, but our commitment to bringing the refineries on-stream is still very deep and we are very serious about it. We propose that work commences either with the Warri or Port Harcourt Refinery as a pilot, as we set a target to improve the refinery capacity before the end of 2017,’’ the company stated in its presentation.

    GE’s desire to partner with NNPC on the rehabilitation of the three refineries came on the heels of a similar proposal by Italian company Eni to establish cooperation with NNPC for the rehabilitation and enhancement of Port Harcourt refinery as contained in the company’s recent release in Rome.

    Leading a high-powered delegation to the NNPC Towers, GE Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt said as part of the offering, GE and NNPC have identified some major national power projects in the country and are  developing the scope of intervention in the projects, which have a potential combined capacity of about 4.4 gigawatts.

    GE further pledged its readiness to work with the NNPC to make production in the off-shore fields profitable for the benefit of both companies and other stakeholders. It expressed hope to consolidate on its  working relationship with the Corporation to expand the prevailing power business and help NNPC achieve its vision of becoming the leading power company in Nigeria.

    Welcoming the GE team to the NNPC headquarters in Abuja, Baru expressed delight in the interest GE had to intervene in some vital operational areas of the corporation. He noted that GE’s offer of a package that includes projects financing would greatly improve collaboration and initiate the power projects rapidly.

    The NNPC GMD also welcomed GE’s offer for support to boost the nation’s offshore production and raise crude oil reserve ratio replacement. He urged the company to also tap into the opportunities on offer in medical supplies, as the NNPC moves to commercialise the services of its 52 hospitals and clinics spread across the country in the years ahead.

  • GE wins $1.9b order from UK’s Hinkley Point nuclear plant

    General Electric Co (GE.N) says it will receive $1.9 billion for a contract to supply steam turbines, generators and other equipment to the Hinkley Point C project, the United Kingdom’s (U.K.’s) first new nuclear power plant in decades.

    By approving Hinkley Point on Thursday, the UK government cleared the way for GE to begin building two 1,770-megawatt Arabelle steam turbines and generators capable of powering six million homes and supplying about 7 percent of the UK’s power generation needs for 60 years, GE said. They will replace older coal-fired plants, GE said.

    The government of British Prime Minister Theresa May approved the controversial 24 billion (18.17 billion pounds) project on Thursday, after putting it on hold in July.

    GE had already been doing early engineering work on the project to build one of the largest nuclear plants in the world.

    The U.S. industrial company acquired the contract and capability when it purchased the power assets of France’s Alstom (ALSO.PA) last year. Alstom won the competition a few years ago, GE said.

    The UK decision “confirms our technology leadership and it also confirms that it was not such a bad decision to buy Alstom,” Andreas Lusch, chief executive officer of steam power systems at GE Power, said in an interview on Thursday.

    New nuclear projects are slowly recovering after a steep drop following the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan. GE is also bidding on nuclear competitions in Finland, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India and China, Lusch said.

    “We are involved in all of those projects in the tendering phase,” he said.

    The UK government’s agreement to move ahead with Hinkley Point also established a new UK investment policy aimed at giving the country greater control when foreign states are involved in buying stakes in “critical infrastructure” in the future.

    The project, being built by French state-controlled utility company EDF (EDF.PA), includes an $8 billion investment from Chinese state-backed firm China General Nuclear Power Corporation (IPO-CGNP.HK).

    EDF said it had agreed with the UK government that it would not sell its controlling stake in the project, raising concern among some analysts about EDF’s risk profile.

  • GE backs Bresson’s plan to feed 500Mw to national grid

    The global energy giant, General Electric (GE), has thrown its weight behind Bresson AS’s plan to provide 500 megawatts of electricity to the national grid by next year.

    Gaspower Systems Managing Director, Mr. Mohammed Mijindadi, who disclosed this over the weekend during Bresson AS’s officials  visit to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, added that financing the project is a priority.

    “The project has tremendous economic value, and that is why GE Capital is involved in structuring finances for Bresson 500mw project,” Mijindadi said.

    Earlier, Bresson Nigeria Limited Chairman, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, assured Vice President  Osinbajo that the megawatts to be generated would come from Bresson Initiative and its Magboro power plant in Ogun State.

    He said the capacity, which will be available in Phase 1 from the second quarter of 2017, would represent 10 percent of the national capacity.

    Olawepo praised the administration for removing bottlenecks associated with signing of power purchase agreements, informing the Vice President that the Minister of Power approved the agreements without delay and without waiting to be lobbied.

    Describing the new style of government performance as commendable, Olawepo-Hashim noted that the new development would attract more investors and fast track the administration’s efforts to provide adequate power supply to the citizenry.

    In his address, the Vice President reiterated to the team of investors that the administration is committed to remove all bottlenecks hindering investor’s in the power sector, commending Bresson for the integrated nature of its power projects developing a model of fuel sufficiency by also investing in Gas Production.

    Osinbajo  assured the investors that “the administration is working to ensure regular supply of gas to the power plants and efforts are on to attract investment into this sector”.

    He described Bresson’s integrated model in power generation as a good model noting that “we shall support you and other genuine investors with recognisable foot print but we shall monitor you closely to ensure you adhere to your schedule’’; he said.

    The High Commissioner of Slovakia, the country where Bresson technical partners hail from, Mr. Peter Holasek, assured the vice president of the readiness of his country to support Nigeria in the power sector.

    He described his country as a small nation but with huge technical capacity, which he said Nigeria can tap to address her technological needs.

     

     

  • GE to move engine plant to Canada

    General Electric Co (GE.N) said it will move production of large, gas-powered engines to Canada from Waukesha, Wisconsin, along with 350 jobs, because the company cannot access financing through the U.S. Export-Import bank.

    In its latest salvo aimed at persuading Congress to renew the trade bank’s expired charter, GE said it will invest $265 million in a new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at a Canadian location yet to be determined. The facility, to open in about 20 months, can be expanded and provide flexible manufacturing capacity to support other GE businesses, including engines for railroad locomotives, GE said.

    Export Development Canada will provide export financing support for products made in the new plant, GE said. In Waukesha, GE builds large piston engines generally used for electric power generation that run on natural gas or methane from landfills, many of which are exported to developing countries.

    In recent weeks, GE has announced a steady drumbeat of deals to move thousands of jobs and access government export credit from the United Kingdom, France, Hungary and China. In each case, GE said these deals were prompted by lack of EXIM financing in the United States.

    GE Vice Chairman John Rice told Reuters that foreign export credit agencies are “rolling out the red carpet” for the manufacturer and expanding its capacity to offer financing and loan guarantees to foreign customers.

    “I think we’re satisfied that we have positioned ourselves to compete successfully in a post-EXIM world,” Rice said in a telephone interview from Hong Kong, where he is based.

    He said he was concerned about the resignation of House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, a longtime EXIM supporter who will leave Congress at the end of October. Boehner’s likely successor, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, has sided with hard-line conservatives in opposing the renewal of EXIM’s charter, which expired on June 30.

    “Obviously with the Boehner resignation, we lose one important person there, so I don’t think it makes it any easier,” Rice said.

    “Let’s face it, you’ve got a system in the United States now where a significant majority of the members of Congress can support something and it won’t move forward because of the perspective of the few and the money behind that perspective,” he said, referring to outside conservative groups that have been calling for EXIM to be closed permanently.

    Rice said GE would continue to move jobs and make deals with foreign export credit agencies where such support is needed for the industrial conglomerate to compete for foreign contracts. He said, however, that the company was “not turning our back at all on U.S. manufacturing.”

     

  • GE refurbishes subsea ‘Christmas trees’ for growth

    General Electric (GE) has embarked on the refurbishment of its Subsea Christmas Trees,  to boost its operation.

    Subsea Christmas tree is an assembly of valves, spools, and fittings used for oil, gas wells, water injection well, condensate well, among others, in the oil and gas industry.

    Basically, the tree is used for petroleum and natural gas extraction, and its refurbishment by GE will reposition the firm for increased operation.

    The Chief Operating Officer, General Electric, West Africa, Uzochi Nwagwu, said the trees were being refurbished in line with his company’s growth plans of winning more customers by leveraging on opportunities in the industry.

    He said domestic and international oil firms would from time to time, explore for oil in the industry, adding that GE is preparing itself to meet their needs.

    According to him, GE offers services to Exxon Mobil, Agip, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) and others, adding that the refurbishment would help GE win the operators’ confidence at both the on-shore and off-shore segments of the oil and gas sector.

    The operators, he said,  are happy with GE’s decision  to refurbish Subsea Christmas trees, adding that the development will impact positively on the operation of the company.

    The trees’ lifespan, according tohim, is between 15 and 20 years, noting that some components of the trees age at some point and need to be removed and replaced to meet the yearnings of oil and gas exploration companies.

    He said: “GE selected a number of its trees for refurbishment because they are incapable of meeting the growing needs of existing and prospective operators. At our (General Electric) facility at  Onne, Rivers State, what we do now is that we  select old trees, remove worn out parts and reshape them to perform optimally.

    “This idea is necessary in order to keep in tune with developments in the global oil and gas industry. As the industry keeps growing, pressure keeps on piling up for operators, who in their own estimation, desire quality services to survive in the industry. By refurbishing the trees, GE is expanding the life cycle of the trees, while at the same, trying to get a sizeable chunk of the oil and gas market. A lot of activities are coming up in offshore and deep offshore, and GE, like any other companies, would like to take advantage of that for growth.”

    Nwagwu, who oversees GE’s oil and gas department, said the refurbished trees were in Bonga field, where the company offers services to Shell.

    He said the cost of refurbishing Subsea Christmas trees varies because they have different problems. According to him, the company would be manufacturing components of Subsea Christmas tree in its facility in Calabar, Cross River State soon.

    The development, Nwagwu said, would afford the company of opportunities of owning  more trees, get more customers and grow its revenue.

  • Oil glut: GE, others explore non-oil sectors

    Oil glut: GE, others explore non-oil sectors

    Multinational oil service firms, inc luding General Electric and Schlumberger are investing and consolidating their non-oil investments in order to lessen the impact of the fall in price of crude oil.

    The glut in the global oil market has exceeded a year, a development which made the companies to review their portfolios by way of increasing investment in non- oil sectors. The new-found sectors by oil firms include transportation, construction, aviation and healthcare, among others.

    The Chief Operating Officer, General Electric, West Africa, Uzochi Nwagwu, said the firm will not scale down its operation in response to the slump in the oil price, because it has invested considerably in many areas outside oil. He listed the areas to include aviation, health, power and water resources.

    He said the organisation is supplying and servicing equipment used in hospitals, servicing aviation operators such as Arik, Kenyan and Ethiopian Airways, among other airlines. He said the firm is equally providing equipment and services to power generation companies (GenCos); and exploring opportunities in rail transportation by moving heavy goods across the country in order to help reduce hazards, occasioned by road and water transportation.

    Nwagwu, while speaking during a tour of GE facility in Onne, Rivers State, said the firm has diversified its operation, so as to have a balanced portfolio and further reduce whatever shocks that are coming from the tumble in the oil market.

    “We at GE have created a balanced portfolio as part of efforts to guide against turbulence in the oil and gas sector. A downturn period is a period that is actually meant for investment. During turbulent times, we invest more because we are looking for more friends or customers. It is during such period that an organisation knows its true friends,” he said.

    He explained that the fall in global oil crisis has resulted in lack of new investment and reduction in number of activities carried out by operators, noting that GE has positioned itself in such a way that it can actually prevent a spillover effect of the fall in oil prices on its operation.

    “In terms of value proposition, GE is there. The firm is providing services to multiple companies or institutions. Apart from rendering services to oil majors such as Shell, ExxonMobil, Agip, Seplat, and others, GE provides services for the Niger Delta Development Company (NDDC) and other local operators in the oil and gas industry. That is why the company is not bothered as such,” he said.

    Also, Schlumberger is said to be considering investment in rail construction as part of its divestment programmes. The company, which has a long record of service in the nation’s oil and gas has intimated Nigerians of its plan to diversify its operations, with a view to expand its growth.

    Efforts made to speak to Mr. Tonye Briggs, Vice President, Africa, Schneider Electric on measures his organisation is putting in place to reduce the shocks created by the slump in oil price proved abortive as he neither picked his calls, nor replied to the short messages (sms) sent to him on the issue.

    The President, Petroleum and Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Emeka Ene, said it is normal for companies to strategise during a turbulent period by looking for areas where they can maximise their potentials in order to improve their earnings.

    He said the decline in the prices of oil is impacting negatively on operation of both local and foreign owned oil service  companies operating in Nigeria, adding that firms rejig their portfolios to enable them turn their  weaknesses into strengths.

    He said a well diversified portfolio is a good option to foreign conglomerates operating in Nigeria because they want to continue in business. He noted that indigenous oil servicing firms are witnessing what he described as a period of realignment of ideas, as a result of challenges facing the sector.

    Ene listed the problems to include the divestment of shares in the industry by the International Oil Companies (IOCs), absence of new business, reviewing of the old contracts by operators, fall in the global oil price, and many others.