OPC opens Nigerian office to provide in-country expertise
Mention Nigeria to international oil company engineers and they find many reasons why they are suddenly unavailable for work. However, Nigeria offers excellent business opportunities for oil companies with the vision and determination to invest in the country.
Nigerian oil industry
The Nigerian Oil and Gas reserves have grown tremendously since the discovery of hydrocarbon in 1956 in Oloibiri. According to the Oil & Gas Journal (OGJ), Nigeria has an estimated 37 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves as of January 2015—the second-largest amount in Africa after Libya. Nigeria produces mostly light, sweet (low sulfur) crude oil of which the vast majority is exported to global markets. In 2014, Nigeria produced 2.4 million bbl/d of petroleum and other liquids, of which 2.0 million bbl/d was crude oil and the remainder was condensate, natural gas plant liquids, and refinery processing gains.
The Nigerian Government has introduced various incentives to increase oil reserves and gas utilization. These include a Memorandum of Understanding to guarantee a notional profit margin of US $2/bbl. This was revised to include the Reserves Addition Bonus clause, which qualify operators for a tax credit for additions to reserves that exceeds its production for a year.
In-country labour resources
Historically international oil companies have struggled to find well qualified local engineering expertise in Nigeria. Coupled with the fact that international engineers are not very willing to travel then this creates a resource issue. OPC Nigeria has been established to offer a solution to these resource challenges and has applied for licences to deliver expert services in these disciplines:
- Drilling / Production
- Well logging, wireline services, well testing and DST’s
- PVT Analysis
- Exploration
- Seismic interpretation
- Down-hole data gathering and interpretation
- Technical Consultancy
- Reservoir evaluation and management
- Geological studies
- Specialised Oil & Gas Training
- Drilling well operations and well control
- Sub-surface / geological training
OPC will provide overall project support QC / QA through its USA and UK offices and will work closely with the expert local staff such as Wale Lawal, one of the principal partners in Nigeria. Wale holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the prestigious University of Ibadan and has over 15 years’ experience in the industry. He has specific expertise in supporting new ventures in Nigeria and has managed many projects within West Africa. The other principal partner in OPC Nigeria holds an Msc. in Reservoir Engineering from the prestigious Institut Francaise du Petrole in Paris (where he was taught by Piers Johnson and Bill Roberts from OPC) and has some 10 years’ experience in some of the biggest projects in Nigeria. These local engineers, supported by OPC’s international offices, are poised to establish OPC Nigeria as a key service provider in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.
Piers Johnson will be visiting Nigeria later in the year to officially launch the OPC office. In the meantime, companies interested in talking to us should talk to Riley Smith at OPC London