November 8, 2024

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NCDMB Plans Training Workshop On Contracting Processes For Oil Workers

2 min read

To enhance efficiency in the handling of technical documentations by oil workers the nation’s oil and gas industry, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) is to hold a technical workshop in the first quarter of 2025, where the workers will be trained on contracting process.

Also, the board is to launch new contracting cycle guidelines for the oil and gas industry in compliance with the Presidential Directives on Local Content announced by the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to accelerate oil and gas contract timelines.

Executive Secretary of the board, Felix Omatsola Ogbe announced this at the two-day Contracting Cycle Guidelines Sensitization Workshop organized in Lagos by the Project Certification and Authorization Directorate (PCAD) of the Board for international and indigenous operating oil and gas companies and their service counterparts.

The workshop provided a platform for NCDMB to explain the provisions of the Guidelines and how it would implement them in alignment with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act and the Presidential Directives.

Represented by the Director, Project Certification and Authorization, Abayomi Bamidele, the Executive Secretary emphasized that NCDMB is a business enabler hence the decision to get stakeholders’ feedback before finalizing and launching the guidelines at the forthcoming Practical Nigerian Content Workshop slated for December 3-5, 2024 at the Nigerian Content Tower, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Commenting on the objectives of the Presidential Directives, Ogbe canvassed that for Nigeria to deepen local content practice and grow the sector, it must eliminate premium margins charged by some service companies, stop frequent policy changes and ensure that final investment decisions (FIDs) are signed regularly, to catalyze new projects. He recommended that at least one or two FIDs should be signed at the annual oil and gas conferences, to create activities in the sector.

The Executive Secretary provided further details on the Presidential Directives and the Board’s actions, noting that the PD on Local Content Compliance addressed issues pertaining to NCDMB, while the PD on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Cost and Timelines referred to NCDMB and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company and its investment arm, the NNPC Upstream Investment Services (NUIS). He added that NCDMB is working to support oil firms to accelerate their projects and take advantage of the incentives provided by the PD on Oil and Gas Companies (Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, etc).

He stated that another goal of the Presidential Directive is to eliminate intermediaries with no demonstrable capacity and to develop structured processes to determine, verify and document in-country capacities and capabilities. He added that the Board has adopted robust pre-qualification and technical evaluation process, policy revisions to provide clarity on in-country value addition for OEM representatives and in-country capacity audit every two years.

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