The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, on Tuesday commended the management of Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd. (TUPNI), for its $16 billion (N5.76 trillion) Egina project in Nigeria.

Kachikwu gave the commendation during his visit to the 3.3 billion dollar Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel at the LADOL yard in Lagos.

The minister called for more investment from the International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria and urged them to improve more on the local content development initiative.

According to him, Nigeria will continue to be a prolific economy and a model for any country in the world in terms of oil production.

“We are going to ensure more speed, good terms and ensure that oil companies get huge rewards. We will also ensure that local content continues to build capacity and effective service.

“I want to congratulate Total and its partners for their huge investment in Nigeria and fantastic piece and unique benchmark for six modules that are fabricated in Nigeria by Nigerians,’’ he said. He sees it as a triumph of local content policy of the Federal Government.

Kachikwu urged more IOCs to ensure that more jobs were domiciled in Nigeria to promote and enhance local content development initiatives, adding that oil companies should also ensure continuity of jobs in Nigeria to keep Nigerians working.

He appealed to other IOCs to expedite actions on all pending jobs that needed to be done in Nigeria to keep Nigerians working.

“The investment is key and huge, the president will be very happy about this economy’s development in Nigeria that engaged over 2,000 indigenous workers.

“The 200, 000 barrel per day production will also add value to the economic growth of the country,’’ Kachikwu said.

Mr Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), commended the management of Total for promoting local content development in Nigeria, adding that Egina project had come to stay.

Wabote appealed to the minister of petroleum to ensure urgent approval of more projects in the oil and gas industry to enhance economic development.

According to him, the board will ensure full integration of FPSO in Nigeria in the next eight years.

“We appeal to other IOCs to ensure more projects are domiciled in Nigeria to create more jobs for Nigerians.

“We must ensure oil companies in Nigeria develop capacity building and effective local content development,’’ he said.

Mr Nicolas Terraz, Managing Director, TUPNI, thanked Kachikwu and Wabote’s support and encouragements toward ensuring that the projected was completed on scheduled.

Terraz said that work had commenced on the FPSO and would undergo integration of the six locally fabricated modules within the next six months.

According to him, the integration of the six locally fabricated topside modules before its final sail-away to the Egina field is a remarkable achievement in local content development in Nigeria.

The Total upstream boss said several technological feats had been recorded by the various entities involved in the project.

“Egina is the deepest offshore development carried out so far in Nigeria, with water depths over 1,500 meters,’’ he said.

Terraz explained that the Egina FPSO was designed to operate for 25 years and produce about 200,000 barrels of oil per day.

He said the Egina operations would generate significant activities for local contractors in various sectors and would continue to provide avenues for the training and development of Nigerians in various domains.  Egina is the largest ongoing investment project currently in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.

Picture caption:

L-R)  Managing Director of Total E & P, Mr. Nicholas Terraz, (middle) the Honorable Minister of State, Petroleum Resources(HMSPR), Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu,  and (standing on the right), Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Management Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Wabote