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Tag: PETAN

  • Petroleum body blames regulators for contract delays

    Petroleum body blames regulators for contract delays

    The Chairman, Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Wole Ogunsanya, yesterday blamed petroleum industry regulators for persistent delays in oil and gas contracting processes, despite a presidential directive requiring tenders to be concluded within six months. Ogunsanya disclosed this during his presentation at the opening ceremony of the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) 2026 in Abuja, yesterday.

    The Presidential directive is aimed at accelerating project execution across the energy sector.

    Recall that President Tinubu in March 2024, issued Executive Order (OE) 42 mandating reduction of petroleum sector contracting costs and timelines, being part of a wider set of oil and gas reforms signed by the administration.

    “We are not concluding contract processes in six months as directed and reports sent to the Presidency often fail to reflect the realities faced by industry players,” the PETAN boss said.

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    Ogunsanya disclosed that the group is currently monitoring ongoing tenders, emphasising that several projects scheduled to commence in 2026 and 2027 remain stalled due to prolonged contracting cycles.

    He noted that execution gaps persist despite a significant increase in contracting activities involving expressions of interest, tenders, pre-qualifications, and technical and commercial evaluations since the fourth quarter of 2024.

    He also identified prolonged internal approvals, delayed Final Investment Decisions (FIDs), slow commercial negotiations, extended regulatory and compliance procedures, and funding and financial close challenges as major bottlenecks undermining project delivery.

    According to him, a study conducted by PETAN revealed that the current rate of contract awards falls significantly short of the Presidential benchmark of completing tenders within six months, with most contracts structured for five years and a possible two-year renewal.

    Ogunsanya therefore called on the Presidency to give closer monitoring of the contracting process to ensure that awards and project execution align with presidential timelines, warning that continued delays could weaken investor confidence and slow sector growth.

  • PETAN honours SNEPCo MD with Award of Excellence

    PETAN honours SNEPCo MD with Award of Excellence

    The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) yesterday presented an Award of Excellence to the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo) Ronald Adams, even as it commended Shell for supporting Nigerian content development in the energy industry.

    The award which was handed over by PETAN Chairman Wole Ogunsanya during a courtesy call at SNEPCo office, describes the managing director as an “astute and visionary technocrat,” in apparent reference to his efforts to sustain the achievements of SNEPCo in deep-water production since he came into the role in October last year.

    Wole said on Shell’s efforts to grow Nigerian content: “The history of local content in Nigeria is Shell. Apart from the fact that most of the people in the industry are ex-Shell, for some of us that work with the service companies, Shell gave us jobs that enabled us to build capacity.

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    Shell has continued to play this role and PETAN remains ready to continue collaborating with Shell to raise local capacity.”

    Adams expressed gratitude for the award, and commended PETAN member companies for contributing to the success of SNEPCo operations at Bonga “from first oil in 2005 to the production of the  one billionth barrel in 2023.”

    He said that investments by IOCs and independent producers in the energy industry would deliver lasting impact when organisations like PETAN leverage their experience and expertise for the overall development of the sector.

    PETAN comprises over 100 indigenous technical oilfield service companies, with cumulative annual revenues running into millions of dollars. The organisation celebrated its 30th anniversary last year.

  • PETAN unveils OTC programme

    The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), which co-ordinates the Nigerian pavilion at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) holding in Houston, Texas from April 30 to May 3, 2018, has unveiled activities for the event.

    The association’s Publicity Secretary, Mr Ranti Omole, in a statement noted that OTC is the premier gathering of professionals and opinion leaders in the global oil and gas industry and it provides excellent opportunities for positive portrayal and promotion of the great potentials of Nigeria and the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

    It also provides a unique platform for close interactions with leading international and major Nigerian oil service companies, indigenous oil companies, industry executives, government policy makers and political leaders, to share ideas on improving the Nigerian oil industry, he added.

    PETAN member companies and many other indigenous oil service companies will be part of a robust contingent, to showcase the dynamism and potentials of Nigeria’s petroleum industry. About 2,500 professionals and industry leaders from Nigeria and beyond her shores will attend this year’s event.

    PETAN has been organising and hosting the Nigerian pavilion at the OTC since 2005. The key highlights of OTC 2018 are; 50 years of OTC: Programming, which reflects on our history, the current state of the industry, and what is on the horizon.

    Faster deployment of new technologies: Solutions to reduce the development timeline and create project-ready technologies which meet current industry challenges.

    Cost reducing tools and techniques: Ways to decrease costs and improve overall value, while maintaining high standards for safety, operationability, and reliability. Integrating to innovate: How advanced software, nanotechnology and the digital revolution are integrating disciplines and triggering historic transformation in the offshore energy sector, among others.

    PETAN’s programme of activities: Monday, April 30: opening of the Nigerian Pavilion in the Reliant Centre by the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The Pavilion will remain open from Monday April 30, to Thursday May 3.

    Tuesday May 1, 11:30 am: Luncheon and panel session at Crowne Plaza Hotel:  Decision makers speak on important and topical issues impacting our local industry. Also by 6:30pm at JW Marriot, Galleria: Nigeria Oil Industry Awards Dinner and Cocktail.Wednesday May, 11:30am, Crowne Plaza Hotel: Technical Workshop.

    Thursday, May 3, 11:30am; Networking Golf Event: Sugar Creek Country Club, SugarLand, Texas.

  • Fed Govt needs to execute MoU signed with Niger Delta, says PETAN

    The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has advised the Federal Government to fulfill its Memoranda of Understanding on the Niger Delta to stem the insecurity in the region.

    PETAN Chairman, Bank Anthony Okoroafor, told The Nation that implementing such agreements would help ensure peace in the region. It would help to guarantee stable operations in the oil and gas industry and supply of gas to thermal power plants, he added.

    Okoroafor, who gave recipe for a smooth 2018 oil industry operation, said: “We shouldn’t lose sight of the security issues in the Niger Delta. We plead with the government and all the stakeholders to make sure that they keep faith with those MoUs they signed on the Delta region.

    Okoroafor noted the importance of putting development projects in the Niger Delta.

    “I would like the govern-ment to create an energy corridor in the Niger Delta with at least four modular refineries to empower and integrate the people into the oil and gas.

    “Let’s have big time operators in the oil and gas from the Niger Delta region. Let’s change the face of Niger Delta. Let them have 24-hour electricity supply, which is tied to the production system so that any time the production system shuts down, the power supply shuts down,” he added.

    On how the cash call exit would impact the operations of PETAN members, Okoroafor said in the past, when one executed a job for an IOC and go for payment, they (IOCs) would say the Federal Government had not paid its part of the Joint Venture (JV) cash call.

    “If the JVs become self-funding, the issue of waiting for money to pay for the work done will not arise. We think the difficulty of them (self-funding JVs) accessing funds to carry out the projects will be a thing of the past,’’ he said.

    He continued: ‘’The cash call exit is yielding fruit.Chevron recently secured some big funding for projects.The challenges of focusing only on the Federal Government have been reduced. Most of the IOCs can easily secure funding to execute their projects and that will create activity in the industry. Projects will no longer be deferred because of lack of funding.

    “I must tell you that our members are positioned to take advantage of this anticipated increase in activities because most of our members have the equipment and capabilities and the contracts. It’s a matter of calling on the particular firm you want to hire.’’

  • PETAN honours Shell for promoting Nigerian content

    PETAN honours Shell for promoting Nigerian content

    The Petroleum Technologies Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has honoured Shell companies in Nigeria with the Aret Adams Award for Excellence in recognition of its “outstanding contributions to the growth of local content in the Nigerian oil and gas industry”.

    PETAN, comprising 89 indigenous companies in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, announced the recognition at the 2017 award night in Lagos, the 3rd corporate laurel to be won by Shell from the organisation.

    Shell had won PETAN’s Local Content Operator of the Year awards in 2013 and 2015.

    Speaking at the awards ceremony, PETAN President, Bank-Anthony Okoroafor acknowledged Shell’s leadership role in local content development and said the award was well-deserved.

    He added: “Indigenous companies look to leveraging growth opportunities in the industry.”

    Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and production Company Ltd (SNEPCo) Bayo Ojulari, who represented Shell companies in Nigeria, thanked PETAN for the recognition.

    He said: “At Shell, we see local content as a critical business enabler, not just a regulatory requirement, and that is why we took cogent steps to encourage community and Nigerian contractors even before the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act was enacted in 2010.

    “Today, these steps have matured as contracts and funding and other capacity building initiatives as well as highly rewarding collaborative engagements with Nigerian oil and gas professionals in Scotland and suppliers in China. We are pleased that the milestones have been recognised by PETAN and other organisations.”

    The Lagos event also featured awards to other intentional oil companies and Nigerian service providers.

    Shell Companies in Nigeria awarded 94% of their total number of contracts to Nigerian companies in 2016, with the total value amounting to $0.74 billion.

    In a related development, 110 persons have completed the Shell/PETAN Internship Programme designed to support efforts towards tackling the shortage of competent manpower in some critical disciplines in the oil and gas industry, with emphasis on geology and engineering.

  • PETAN seeks better collaboration with Shell on Nigerian Content

    PETAN seeks better collaboration with Shell on Nigerian Content

    The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has praised  Shell for contributing to the development of the Nigerian Content in the oil industry and for seeking more collaboration.

    During a visit to the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), Bayo Ojulari,  the association chairman, Bank-Anthony Okoroafor, said: “Most of us have our roots here. The relationship with Shell has given us the required foundation and encouragement and we are now in a position to add value to the operations of oil companies in Nigeria,” Okoroafor said.

    Okoroafor, who was elected last month, said the members were on a familiarisation tour of international and national oil companies to brief them on the rebranding of the group.

    The group, he said, will play a more active role in the development of the industry, especially at this time of cost pressures.

    He said PETAN had created target groups to liaise with oil companies, including SNEPCo, and would like to proffer solutions to challenges of projects, cost and production.

    He said: “PETAN is already working with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) on an internship programme where graduates learn skills on one-year attachments to our companies and it will be very good to do the same with SNEPCo.”

    Ojulari praised the PETAN in the development of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. He said: “The new executive has come at a critical time in our industry. I would advise PETAN members to collaborate more effectively so they can present a unified front that will be competitive in the global oil industry.”

    The SNEPCo chief was accompanied by his leadership team, who highlighted the various areas of potential collaboration with PETAN, including project implementation, cost leadership and value-adding service to the industry.

    Shell companies in Nigeria contributed very well to developing the country’s human capital and contracting capacity.  Last year, 93 per cent of contracts were awarded to Nigerian companies. Shell companies in Nigeria won PETAN’s Local Content Operator of the Year awards in 2013 and 2015.

  • Fuel supply: Osinbajo, PETAN back modular refineries

    Fuel supply: Osinbajo, PETAN back modular refineries

    •Let private investors run refineries

    The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has endorsed the building of modular refineries to solve the recurrent fuel scarcity in the country.

    He spoke at the two-day 2016 African Modular Refinery seminar in Lagos. Osinbajo, who was represented by Ambassador Jide Olu, in his goodwill message, highlighted the need for modular refineries, noting that they will not only address the fuel scarcity problem but move Nigeria away from being a net exporter of crude oil to a big producer and net exporter of petroleum products.

    He said there was no better time to start than now because of changes in the global oil and gas space. Rather than merely extracting crude oil and exporting it and importing finished products, Nigeria should take full advantage of the oil and gas sector by refining crude and exporting it. That will mean full use of the oil and gas resources, he added.

    He said: “The advent of shale oil and gas is a technological revolution that has changed the oil market, moving to an era of long low oil prices. We, therefore, need to add value to our oil and gas resources to remain competitive.

    “It is in this regard, the Federal Government will prioritise the adoption and execution of a National Oil and Gas Master Plan later this year,” adding that Nigeria and Africa should think of modular refinery in the content of regional value gains and market sizes since production is increasingly coordinated across various geographical locations.

    The Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Mr. Bank-Anthony Okoroafor, also agreed with the Vice President on the need to build more modular refineries to enable self-sufficiency in fuel production.

    Okoroafor urged the Federal Government to allow the four refineries it owns to be run by private investors to make them operate and produce optimally.

    In a chat with reporters, he said government has no business running refineries but to make policies that would drive business activities. “Refinery business is a business on its own. Governments do not run such businesses. It was good at the initial stage for government to kick-start such investments and be able to build capacity.Government has no capacity to run refineries,” he said.

    The PETAN chief criticised giving jobs in onshore and swamp terrains to foreign oil companies when competent indigenous companies are available. He said that the association is keen to achieve value added local content to Nigerians.

    He said PETAN’s goal is to bring jobs hitherto exported to other countries back to Nigeria, create a hub for oil and gas service in-country. He said before now, Nigeria loses $380 billion and two million jobs to capital flight on oil and gas service jobs.

    He said there is a Nigerian Content Law, which states that 100 per cent onshore, swamp jobs should be given to Nigerian companies.  “So any job that can be done by PETAN company or by a competent Nigerian  should not be given to somebody outside the country, it is criminal,” Okoroafor said.

    However, where there is skills gap, PETAN encourages alliance with foreign companies, primarily to grow capacity. He said at the height of militancy in the Niger Delta, expatriates fled the region while indigenous companies’ workers continued with the jobs without fear of being kidnapped.

    “Nobody can develop our country better than we can do. But anywhere that the capability does not exist in the country, anybody can do the job. But where the capability exists, it has to be done by the  Nigerian company,” he said.

  • PETAN unveils activities for U.S. confab

    PETAN unveils activities for U.S. confab

    The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) has released programme of activities for the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) scheduled for next week in Houston Texas, United States (U.S).

    In a statement, it said: “Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) is an annual gathering of thousands of people from around the world with interest in oil and gas, comprising policy makers, operators, professionals, manufacturers, business executives, entrepreneurs and visitors. It avails the attendees an opportunity for engagement with key players in the industry. Nigerian delegation includes the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), international oil companies (IOCs), independents, international and indigenous service companies, investors and representatives of government agencies.

    “PETAN is again at the forefront coordinating the Nigerian Pavilion at the OTC May 4th to 7th  at the Reliant Stadium, Houston Texas, USA.”

  • N18.2b loan won’t solve gas problems

    N18.2b loan won’t solve gas problems

    The N18.261billion  okayed for five electricity firms under the Nigerian electricity Stabilisation Facility (NESP) will not address the fundamental problems besetting the energy sector, stakeholders have said.

    The President, Petroleum and Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Emeka Ene, said the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide two distribution firms and three hydro-power generation firms with the fund, was a good step in the right direction, adding that gas is the critical issue facing the industry.

    He said the loan would only deal with the legacy issues and debts of the firms, as against helping to close the infrastructural gap in the sector.

    He said: “The fund is a good start in the industry, because it would help the beneficiaries to address the legacy issues occasioned by the sale of the assets of the power holding company of Nigeria (PHCN). However, the fundamental problem in the industry, which is gas, is still there. Gas can only be a thing of the past when government grants incentives to upstream and downstream sector to provide gas for the power generation companies. The marginal and independent oil producers need incentives to deal with infrastructural bottlenecks in the  area of accessing and piping gas to the power firms.”

    Ene said the government should be thinking of how to provide more loans to the power firms.

    Also, a Professor of Energy Economics with the University of Ibadan, Adeola Akinnisiju, said the problems in the industry are overwhelming and that the loans may not do much for the sector.

    The CBN Governor, Godwin Emiefele announced a loan of N18.216billion to five power firms. They are Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc, N5.164billion; Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company N11.367billîon; Jebba Hydro Electricity PLC  N816.831billion; Kainji Hydro Electric N234.82million, and Shiroro Hydro Electricity PLC N678.650.

  • Operators decry lack of data on local content

    Operators in the exploration and production arm of the oil industry and those in the services sector have criticised lack of data on local content that will   be accessed as one stop portal to determine  capabilities, capacities and other achievements.

    According to the operators, such data will help new and existing firms to easily find all information they need on any indigenous firm in terms of  capabilities and capacities. The operators spoke during a panel session at the just concluded fourth annual Practical Nigerian Content Forum held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    The President of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Mr. Emeka Ene who spoke to The Nation,  said that  lack of such data poses serious chalenge to the  operators,  urging  the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to create reliable robust and comprehensive data on local content activities and achievements for operators to access.

    He said: “Regarding the issue of data; data is a challenge in Nigeria; it is a real bid challenge, not just the availability of data, but the application of data to create change. There was a speaker asked if there is any one place, we can look at the work that is available in a particular area for the next five years in this industry. Let me contrast it with Brazil. What Brazil did when they approached local content, was that they looked at all the work for the next 20 years; they looked all the way to 2022 or 2025; they counted the number of rigs; number of jackets; number of flow-stations. They listed them, and asked how can we create the local industry that can provide all these overtime? So, they started building the shipyards required to fix the structures.

    “The NCDMB has done a lot in trying to kick off this process. They have created the Joint Qualification System (JQS), an e-market place, but the reality is that there is still disconnect between what the NCDMB is doing and what the NIPEX group is doing. In trying to integrate it on one electronic platform in such a place that we can access data, I think that we should also try to deepen the type of data we are acquiring; to distinguish between in-country investment versus representative investment, that is, agency representation because agency representation may have the same quantum in terms of spend but may not actually reflect the true local content in terms of Nigerians deployed on such projects. So, data has to be integrated to be affective. So, Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), NCDMB, international oil companies (IOCs), National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), and Nigerian Petroleum Exchange (NipeX), should be on one interrelated platform to be effective.”

    On how the Nigerian Content Fund has helped indigenous operators to access funds, Ene said: “Funding is actually a challenge. The bottom line is that for Nigerian companies to be competitive, they need to access long term, low cost funding without hiccups. They have to access technology acquisition funding. This is how other countries have done it. So, if a company has been in business for 20 years, it is trying to grow capacity, it is trying to manufacture hardware and it needs to acquire some technology and buy a blueprint for which it can manufacture components here in Nigeria, it should get direct support. It is not something the company can work with two-year contract to fund equipment that requires at least 10 years to recover. Many companies have crashed because of that disconnect. I did not say that the Nigerian Content Fund has not helped but what I mean is that we need to go beyond just funding contract. Right now, NCDMB has picked up quite rightly in funding short-term contracts; we need to go beyond that and begin to fund long term capacity growth in this industry.”