Oil major Shell has made a fresh commitment to strengthen Nigeria’s local content drive, revealing awarding contracts valued at $1.98 billion to indigenous companies.
The company revealed this at the ongoing Practical Nigerian Content in Bayelsa State.
Shell companies in Nigeria are participating at the forum with a strong message of support for Nigerian companies, having awarded contracts worth $1.98 billion to the businesses in 2023 in continuing effort to develop Nigerian content in the oil and gas industry.
The contracts, awarded by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo), and Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) present a three per cent increase from the 2022 performance of $1.92 billion.
Shell is among more than 700 oil and gas entities taking part in the 13th edition of the Practical Nigerian Content forum in Yenagoa, where they restated their commitment to the development of Nigerian companies through contract awards and scaling up of expertise.
The four-day conference with the theme “Deepening the Next Frontier for Nigerian Content Implementation” began on Monday and will see the hosts, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and participating companies review progress on the development of Nigerian content pertaining to the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Development (NOGICD) Act since it was enacted in 2010.
Business Opportunity manager for SNEPCo’s Bonga South-West Aparo Project Olaposi Fadahunsi, representing SNEPCo managing director, Ron Adams, told participants at the opening of the forum that several benefitting companies had taken advantage of the patronage to expand their operations and improve their expertise and financial strength.
“Shell companies execute a large proportion of their activities through contracts with third parties, and Nigeria-registered companies have been key beneficiaries of this policy aimed at powering Nigeria’s progress,” Fadahunsi said.
He commended the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for ensuring compliance with the Nigerian Content Act.
In addition to contract awards, Shell companies have implemented projects under the Human Capital Development Fund, including the Niger Delta University learning centre and digital library project and the Federal University of Technology Information Technology Hub. Both projects were inaugurated this year, in collaboration with SPDC Joint Venture partners – Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), TotalEnergies and Nigeria Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC).
Other projects include the University of Lagos Geosciences Centre of Excellence, Nigeria Diving School and funding of ongoing research at the University of Ibadan to develop a synthetic-based drilling fluid.
Shell Companies in Nigeria also continue to develop indigenous manpower through scholarship programmes with over 3,772 undergraduate and 109 Niger Delta postgraduate scholarships since 2016.
Fadahunsi added: “As we speak, beneficiaries of the 13th edition of the Niger Delta Postgraduate Scholarship awards are pursuing their studies in the United Kingdom. The employability rate of the scheme is high with over 98 per cent of the graduates who won the awards securing employment in the oil and gas industry, academia and Information Technology, among other sectors, within one year of completing their studies. Nigerian content will continue to be an important part of Shell operations.”
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