N7bn Investment Planned for Nigerdock
Energy
By Chinazor Megbolu, with agency report
The core investors in Nigeria's foremost ship building yard, Niger-dock Nigeria Plc, said it planned to spend about N7 billion to prepare the yard as a base for deep water oil operations.
The Chief Executive of Jagal Group, Mr. Anwar Jarmakani, who revealed this, said the expenditure would be carried out over the next two years.
Already, the company has spent about N2 billion on strategic repair work and an initial facelift which included expenditure on refurbishment of malfunctioning equipment, maintenance of facilities, upgrade of infractructure and is poised to commit another N2.7 billion to boost facilities in the yard, Jarmakani said.
According to the chairman, the plan is to make Nigerdock a logistical base for deepwater operations in the country.
Shell has already established the base for the mega deep offshore Bonga oil field in Nigerdock, to speed up movements of personnel and facility to the rigs.
According to the Nigerdock chairman, the company is hoping other operators will swiftly follow suit, once Nigerdock secures more fabrication jobs.
"NigerDock is going to change the way people think of local content in Nigeria by producing a consistent quality product and fully meeting international health and safety standards," he said.
The Federal Government has set a target of achieving 25 percent local content by end of this year, to grow to 50 percent by 2007 and 70 percent by 2010.
"If the industry has to pay between five percent and 15 percent, more to navigate this learning curve, then it is investment in the right place this is how countries like Norway ensured an effective skills transfer process," Jarmakani said.
The company has just ordered a new 50-tonne gantry crane while a helipad and runway has just been completed at the yard.
He said Nigerdock was drawing up a five-year training plan for its workers to improve capacity and productivity, where the company has budgetted over N20 million.
Nigerdock recently commissioned the Bonga Deep Offshore Oil Field Buoy in Lagos, which cost $15 million. The buoy will be used to transfer crude oil produced from the $2.5 billion Bonga field to an offtake tanker and was contracted to Nigerdock by French firm SBM Limited.
SBM originally won the contract from Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO).
Hailed as an example of local content achievement, NigerDock said it aimed to clinch ExxonMobil's Erha buoy as well, and is bidding for work on ChevronTexaco's Agbami and Total's Akpo field development projects where the Nigerian National Petroleum (NNPC) said it would test the local content policy to the fullest.
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