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  • Sale of SPDC, ExxonMobil will boost local content

    Sale of SPDC, ExxonMobil will boost local content

    • As NOGOF holds in Bayelsa on May 21st- 22nd

    The sale of ExxonMobil to Oando Energy Plc, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to Renaissance Africa Energy will boost the local content drive of the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

    Chairman of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Mr. Wole Ogunsanya made this known in Abuja during the NCDMB press conference on the “Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) 2025.”

    Ogunsanya who is also a member of NCDMB said the acquisition is about keeping the value of oil and gas production in Nigeria.

    According to him, the 40 per cent and 45 per cent of oil and their profit that ExxonMobil and SPDC used to repatriate to other countries will now remain in Nigeria.

    He said: “ I am sure those of you in the press have seen a lot of announcements about acquisition of oilfields, and also recent, including the Shell asset, to explain to Nigeria.

    “What it means is that in the Exxon Mobil deal, the 40per cent of the oil that used to go to Exxon Mobil and they take it outside Nigeria to now reside in Nigeria. And the 45per cent of it, Shell, that used to be taken to Europe, the profit of it, will now deal with Nigerian, who is an indigenous country. That is what local content is all about. It’s about keeping value in country.”

    On the NOGOF, the NCDMB Executive Secretary, Engr. Felix Ogbe said the local content value of the oil and gas industry as at 2024 was 56 per cent.

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    He said the 5th Edition of the NOGOF will hold on 22nd of May 2025 in Bayelsa State.

    “This will be the 5th edition of NOGOF and it is scheduled to hold on 21st and 22nd of May 2025 in Bayelsa State.  Delegate registration will start on the 20th of May 2025,” he said.

    According to him, NOGOF as an event, is used to meet the key objectives of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act 2010 (NOGICD Act).

    Ogbe said the  NOGICD Act mandates the Board to develop local capacities and capabilities in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

    He added that it promotes institutional collaboration and increases Nigerian participation in the sector.

    The Act, he said, also seeks to link oil and gas to other industries and maximize the use of local resources.

    The Executive Secretary the event will also host the Champions of Nigerian Content Awards on the sidelines this year.

    He said the award will celebrate individuals and companies that have made significant contribution to the development of Nigerian Content.

    He recalled that the 1st edition of NOGOF was hosted in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State in 2017. The 2nd and 4th editions were hosted in Bayelsa State, while the 3rd edition was hosted virtually due to the COVID -19 pandemic.

    He said the theme for this edition is – “Driving Investment and Production Growth: Shaping a sustainable Oil and Gas Industry through Indigenous Capacity Development.”

    According to him, the theme highlights the critical role of the oil and gas industry in fueling industrialization and development of Nigeria’s economy.

    Ogbe said this aligns with the NCDMB’s mission of increasing local content in Nigeria.

    Continuing, he said “This theme also aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to economic growth and self-reliance.  Through the signing of an Executive Order, the President has positioned the country as Africa’s top destination for petroleum sector investments. This was achieved by prioritizing local capacity development.

    “NOGOF provides opportunities for companies in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors to showcase their upcoming projects.  The aim is  to achieve our national aspirations of increasing gas and crude oil production,  boost revenue, and meet domestic crude oil and gas supply obligations.

    “This enables service companies, manufacturers, oil and gas trainers, and job seekers to invest in facilities and capabilities that will domicile most of the activities in the country.

    “In the 2023 edition of NOGOF, over 100 opportunities were presented by companies in the sector.  We had over 1,500 attendees, including VIPs.  Some of the projects showcased such as UBETA and Bonga North are already being executed, while others are in the pipeline for FID.

    “We expect a large attendance and more opportunities at this year’s edition, because of the impact of the three Presidential Directives on the Oil and Gas Industry, which has unlocked new investments.

    “We hope to welcome delegates, partners, and governmental bodies from different parts of Africa to engage in quality discussions and explore new business opportunities across the African oil and gas value chain.

    “We are committed to guide investors and other stakeholders on the various opportunities available to stakeholders in the oil and gas industry. As such, we have prepared a Compendium of Nigerian Content Opportunities in the Oil and Gas Industry 2025, which will be made available to all delegates at the event.

    “We are confident that the Compendium will serve as a useful tool in identifying and pursuing investment opportunities that align with local content requirements of the industry.

    “As part of our commitment to expand local content development across Africa, I have directed that some key African countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Sierra Leone be invited to also present their projects.

    “This opening will foster Business-to- Business partnerships between the Nigerian oil and gas service industry and their peers in other African countries. It will also improve intra-Africa trade and position our service companies for more opportunities beyond the shores of Nigeria.

    “To all stakeholders, we will be counting on your team’s support and cooperation, to ensure that this edition of NOGOF becomes a great success.”

  • ‘SPDC will not return to Ogoniland’

    The General Manager, External Relations of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), Igo Weli, has said the Anglo/Dutch oil giant will not return to Ogoniland for oil production.

    He spoke at the weekend in Port Harcourt, during the presentation of the 2019 edition of “Shell in Nigeria Briefing Notes” to the media.

    The “Shell in Nigeria Briefing Notes” is an annual publication detailing the activities of the business interests of the global energy giant in Nigeria, covering SPDC, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, and Shell Nigeria Gas.

    He said: “Oil production by SPDC in Ogoniland seized in 1993 (from 1958), following a rise in violence, threats to workers and attacks on facilities. The SPDC Joint Venture (JV) has produced no oil or gas in Ogoniland since then. Although, one of Niger Delta’s main pipelines, the Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP), transverses Ogoniland.

    “In 2012, SPDC transferred operatorship of the JV’s assets in Ogoniland to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the production and exploration arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)…”

  • Shell unveils $15bn five-year investment plan

    The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at the weekend said it earmarked $15bn for investment in the oil gas sector in the next five years.

    Speaking at the second edition of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) organized by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Shell’s Managing Director, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, said the company was keen at expanding local content in the oil and gas sector.

    Okunbor said the $15bn proposed investment would bring huge benefits to the country and its people in terms of contracts and jobs among others in line with the theme of NOGOF, ‘’Maximizing Oil & Gas Industry for the Benefit of the Nigerian People”.

    He said: “These remain exciting times for Nigeria as Shell along with its Partners will be maturing several projects in support of Nigeria’s growth ambition.

    A cocktail of policies and the active support of Government and its agencies like NCDMB have made these investments possible. The industry continues to witness improve cycle times with NCDMB.

    “We have an investment portfolio of over $15bln over the next 5 years, Shell’s investments will bring huge benefits to the country and its people – contracts, jobs, thus underscoring the theme of this year’s NOGOF”.

    Okunbor said Shell recently announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) on the 300million Assa North Ohaji (ANOH) gas development project in Imo State.

    He said on completion, the project is expected to generate circa 1200MW to power circa 1.2m homes (1MW – 1000homes) by supplying gas into the domestic gas market.

    He added: “We also issued Invitation to Tender (ITT) for Bonga South West Aparo (BSWA) and as a shareholder in the NLNG Train 7, we are on track for FID later this year.

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    “In addition to these, we are also maturing several sizeable projects planned to start within the next five years with 28 Projects covering Export Gas, Domestic Gas and Oil projects spread across Deep Offshore, Shallow Water, Swamp and Land terrains.

    “Benchmark for all these projects is to meet and where possible surpass the 70% Nigerian Content target set for BSWA”.

    He mentioned other projects as the construction of over 200 wells; 1000 km of flowlines and bulk lines; subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF); jackets, platforms, hull and manifolds.

    Others are major oil and gas facility modifications and upgrades both onshore and deep water and at least 4 gas compression projects.

    He said: “Employment opportunities are huge, not to mention the spin-off in allied services. These projects also offer huge capacity building opportunities in the delivery of Human Capacity Development (HCD) training, increased community content/ participation, in-country fabrication, increased utilization of Nigerian vessels, re-skilling of Nigerians to take up more roles in shallow and deep-water operations and technology transfer.

    “Beyond the project phase, on completion, these projects will offer significant brownfield opportunities in asset maintenance, logistics, among others”.

  • Shell: why we signed contractor support fund with banks

    The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has said access to funds is a major challenge to local contractors that work for the oil giant and the establishment of the contractor support fund is to address that problem.

    In statement, the SPDC spokesman, Bamidele Odugbesan, noted that the memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed by SPDC and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) in Abuja, is a testament to the commitment of Shell to helping indigeneous firms offering services to deliver.

    The $200 million contractor support fund will boost the financial capacity of SPDC’s vendors and suppliers. SPDC’s Director and General Manager, Government and Business Relations, Bashir Bello, who signed the MoU with the United Bank for Africa (UBA), described the initiative as a product of the effort by SPDC and its joint venture partners, including NNPC, Total and Agip to enhance local content and local participation in the oil and gas value chain.

    The fund provides support for contractors to finance projects executed for Shell companies in line with the aspirations of the Nigerian Content Act. To access the fund, the contractors must have a purchase order and meet the bank’s risk assessment criteria. Lack of access to capital hinders many firms from competing for and executing contracts effectively,” said Bello, who signed for SPDC.

    “This funding will enable us to achieve our community content ambition of increasing participation of host communities in the SPDC value chain,” he added.

    The General Manager Energy Bank of UBA, Ebele Ogbue, said the bank was committed to providing support to firms through its partnership with SPDC JV. Ogbue, who signed for UBA, commended the national and community content efforts of Shell firms, noting that UBA was ready to provide the needed financial backing that would empower firms to play more active role in the country’s energy sector.

    The Shell Contractor Funding Scheme started in 2011 with the Shell Kobo Fund, which gave rise to the Shell Contractor Support Fund in 2012. The scheme has been redesigned to address the economic exigencies and to align it with stakeholder needs by merging the two initial initiatives.

    In 2016, Shell signed a $2.2 billion MoU with seven banks that have since then disbursed around $1.5 billion loans to about 372 small- and medium-sized Nigerian suppliers and vendors in the oil and gas industry.

  • SPDC appeals court ruling on MD, others

    Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has appealed a Rivers State High Court order sentencing its Managing Director and two others to three months inprisonment for contempt of court.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a Port Harcourt High Court on Tuesday sentenced the company’s managing director, Mr Osagie Okunbor, and two others to prison with hard labour.

    Reacting to the sentence, Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, who is the Manager, Corporate Communications and External Relations of Shell in a text message to NAN on Wednesday in Lagos decried the court’s pronouncements.

    According to Odugbesan, “We do not accept that SPDC has disobeyed any lawful court order and we have accordingly appealed this judgment. SPDC has utmost respect for the courts and the laws of Nigeria.

    “We have appealed against the order and applied to suspend its execution pending the outcome of the appeal,” the SPDC spokesperson told NAN.

    Odugbesan explained that the said 2008 judgement was settled between SPDC and the landlord families of the land in 2014.

    “An amicable resolution and settlement agreement was signed by the parties in 2014 after which SPDC paid all the rents due on the land up to 2019,” he said.

    He cited a paid public notice by the landlord families in the Oct. 24, 2014 edition of the Guardian Newspaper acknowledging the settlement with SPDC.

    He said that the Bonny Oil Terminal is a critical national asset in which the Federal Government has 55 per cent interest.

    “For this reason, SPDC has taken all lawful steps to protect its officials and ensure uninterrupted operations at the terminal in the interest of the Nation.

    “It receives crude oil from international and local oil companies through the Trans Niger Pipeline and the Nembe Creek Trunk Line for Export,’’ he said.

     

    It would be recalled that some members of Bonny community in Rivers had approached the court, presided over by Justice George Omeriji, to commit the SPDC officials to prison for disobeying its order of 2008.

     

    The community wanted the court to direct the company to forfeit the land where one of Nigeria’s biggest oil terminals, Bonny Oil Terminal, was located.

  • SPDC makes progress in spills cleanup in Bayelsa, Delta communities

    Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has recovered over 95 per cent of spilled oil from the recent spill incidents on sections of the Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP) in Aghoro community, Bayelsa State and in Odimodi community in Delta State.

    According to its Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan, the pipeline, which has remained shut-in since the incidents, supplies crude to the SPDC Joint Venture-owned Forcados Oil Terminal in western Niger Delta for export.

    He said company regretted the incidents, adding that in line with its standards, the TRP was shut, the incidents were reported and the Oil Spill Response and the Emergency Response teams were activated to manage the incidents and prevent further spillage.

    “As soon as clean-up and site assessment are completed, we are committed to starting the immediate remediation of the impacted areas in Aghoro and Odimodi,” the spokesperson said.

    Odugbesan said the details of the cause and impact of the spills will be captured in the Joint Investigation Visits (JIV) reports, which will be released after sign-off by all parties.

    “The JIV is a multi-party exercise involving the regulators, the community, representatives of the state government, security agencies, and representatives of SPDC. The outcome is then signed off by the stakeholders to authenticate the findings,” the spokesperson explained.

  • SPDC gingers up Niger Delta women for peace-building

    Oil multinational, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), has urged women in the Niger Delta region to join the efforts for entrenching peace so that more investments will enter the region.

    SDPC’s General Manager for External Relations, Mr. Igo Weli, spoke in Warri, Delta State, at a sensitisation programme organised by the oil giant for the women of the swamp west hub communities in Delta State.

    The spokesman urged the women to help the region to enjoy peace and security.

    Weli emphasised the pivotal roles of women, as mothers and wives, at fostering a peaceful society.

    The general manager, who was represented by the company’s Stakeholder Relations Manager, Mrs. Alice Ajeh, noted that the clamour for the return of companies, particularly Shell, to Warri, could only be achievable if peace could be assured in the area.

    He said: “The women really need to work on peace-building so that the companies will have the faith to come and invest more in the region. A lot of people have been clamouring for companies to come back; that can only happened if there is peace in the region and women play a part.

    “We recognise that women must play a part for any development we have for the region, hence 30 per cent provision is made for the women in our Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) with our host communities.”

  • Anxiety as workers’ protest shutdown SPDC’s export terminal

    Aggrieved workers at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) yesterday morning shutdown activities at the company’s Forcados Export Terminal in Delta state.

    The terminal is Nigeria’s largest oil export terminal and processes Shell’s crude oil export from production facilities in the Western Operation.

    At the time of this report, workers, who are contract staff of the company shutdown the company’s air, land and water transport activities.

    The protesting workers told our reporter that they were unhappy over disparities in their wages, and terms and conditions of service recently introduced by the Anglo Dutch oil giant.

    “We shut down the airstrip and process gates into the core zone,” a protest told our reporter on telephone.

    Our source, who asked not to be named, said the disparity in wages favoured mostly nonindigenous staff and those connected to the company’s managers, to the detriment of host communities members.

    “The thing is, they brought a new package for workers salaries. The package is called brown field, and was supposed to cover everybody.

    “But they handpicked a few indigenes and mostly non indigenes, they increased their salaries from N100,000 – N316,000  and left most of the people behind.

    “We have written many times to Shell to stop the disparity in payment method and to enhance workers welfare because as it is now, we are being treated like second class people in this facility,” our source added.

    At the time of this report on Thursday morning, it was gathered that the local management had called in military, which arrived in a number of vans.

    Shell’s Joseph Obari, when contacted, said he wasn’t aware of the protest, but promised to find out what was happening.

    However, source at the scene said the Terminal Manager had been unsuccessfully appealing to the striking workers to return back to work, with a promise that the company would look into their grievances.

  • Communities seethe over crude spillage from SPDC trunkline 

    The people of Agge Federated Communities in Kou Kingdom of Bayelsa Delta states have raised alarm over devastating crude oil spillage from facilities of Shell Petroleum Development Company that is ravaging their communities.

    Chairman of the AFC, Mr. Arthur Benidewei told our reporter in a telephone chat on Wednesday that the spill, which was first noticed on Thursday, May 17, has been unabated at Wednesday afternoon.

    He said, “We woke up from the pollution of our communities from the Trans-Ramos trunk line owned by Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, around Amazor community.”

    “Five days into this oil spill, neither the regulatory agencies nor SPDC has deemed it fit to visit the spill point and stop the flow of crude or do anything to assuage the plights of our grossly polluted communities both in Delta and Bayelsa states,” the community representatives said.

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    Benidewei said the Community Development Committee (CDC) immediately notified the office of National Oil Spill Detection and Remediation Agency (NOSDRA), SPDC and other agencies, but lamented that the agency was yet to take any action on the spill.

    He said dozens of Agge communities were affected by the spill, including Agge, Agge Palmbush, Osumaibio, Solomon Ama, Sunday Ama, Youbulobu, Niyenta, Okibou Zion, Agge Okibou, Karepre, Belle, Ibrepre, Youtu and Okia.

    Others are Ekogbene, Tamu Ekogbene, Eberegbene, Toru Egragbene, Ikpebou and Okofa-afa, among others.

    An SPDC spokesperson contacted on Wednesday afternoon said the company was working on an official statement to be released very soon.

    Attempt to reach NOSDRA Zonal Head, Mrs. Felicity Nwankuchue, was futile, as she was yet to respond to our reporters SMS inquiry at press time.

    However, our reporter confirmed that a letter from the community was received at 9:17 on Monday, May 21.

  • Oil producing communities storm NASS over alleged discriminatory payment of land owners by Shell

    Oil producing communities from the Niger Delta on Tuesday protested alleged non-payment of land owners by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    The protesters besieged the gate of the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.

    They decried alleged payment of discriminatory land re-acquisition and rentals for land by the oil company.

    The oil producing communities, who came under the aegis of Landlords of Shell Oil Producing Communities of Niger Delta, accused the company of divide and rule.

    Spokesperson of the group and former member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Isaac Onniye, accused the company paying N200,000 per hectare to some communities as against N600,000 to others.

    He insisted on the payment of the differentials to the affected land owners for the 2014 to 2018 payment cycle.

    Onniye noted that the communities are drawn from Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Abia, Imo and Rivers States.

    In a petition addressed to the Senate President Bukola Saraki, the group noted that both parties had earlier appeared before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

    It therefore urged the Senate to invoke Section 89(1)(d) of the 1999 Constitution by issuing a warrant for the arrest of the Managing Director of SPDC “to compel his attendance to enable him come forward and explain why it has in disobedience to the Senate Commitiee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions refused to obey the Directive that it pays off all the claims raised in the afore-captioned Petition which the SPDC Nigeria Ltd had been mandated by the said Senate Committee since December, 2017; to pay”.

    Signed by U.J. Bekele, counsel to the communities, the petition expressed regret that the company refused to appear before the committee on January 23, 2018.

    Some of the placards carried by the protesters include: “Shell stop divide and rule”, “Tenants (SPDC) don’t have right to impose payment on landlords,” “Shell pay landlords N600,000 per hectare difference for our 2014 – 2018 rentals shortfall” among others.