Multinational oil and gas company, TotalEnergies, has said its effort to increase oil production in Nigeria would materialise this year, disclosing that it was on the verge of connecting the 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) Ikike oilfield to the 200,000bpd-capacity Egina deepwater storage facility.

Deputy Managing Director, Deepwater District, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, Mr. Victor Bandele, disclosed this Monday in Abuja, at the Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) Local Content Seminar, with the theme, “Funding the Nigerian Energy Mix for Sustainable Economic Growth.”

This was just as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) urged oil and gas companies operating in the country to ensure compliance with the Nigerian Content Insurance guidelines for the oil sector.

In his presentation at the seminar, Bandele said TotalEnergies would continue to make significant investments in Nigeria, assuring that the Ikike oilfield would soon start producing.

He said the import of that commitment was that the company was fully integrated in Nigeria, adding that TotalEnergies produces more than 20 per cent of total oil output in Nigeria.

He said, “We are putting in another field into Egina this year. That field, the Ikike field, has the capacity to produce about 50,000 barrels per day. For that to have happened in 2022, it means the journey started some years back when it was rough.

“And that is the kind of delivery action that I talked about, that you will decide that because we believe in something, you must step into it regardless of the challenges.

“In Nigeria, we are present in the upstream, the midstream and the downstream. You cannot get away from us and we cannot get away from you.

“What it means is that we are fully integrated in Nigeria. As I speak, we produce more than 20 per cent of total oil in Nigeria.

“We are the second highest producer and supplier of gas to the Nigerian population and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited.”

Bandele said as the world continues the transition to cleaner sources of energy, it was imperative for the government to show the direction the country should go and intensify collaboration with industry stakeholders.

While noting that diversification to cleaner energies offers a lot of benefits, he said with the federal government of having set a target of providing electricity access to 80 per cent of the population by 2030, such action should spur industry stakeholders to work with the direction of the government.

He maintained that renewables and natural gas were positioned to lead the Africa’s energy consumption growth as the continent departs from the traditional use of biomass, which currently accounts for about half of the entire energy consumption.

However, the duo of the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote and the Chief Executive Officer of NAICOM, Mr. Sunday Thomas, formally presented the Nigerian Content Insurance Guidelines for the oil sector.

Wabote explained that insurance of assets and liabilities in the oil and gas industry according to Sections 49 and 50 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act (2010) stated the requirements for players in the Nigerian oil and gas activities on the need to engage local insurance companies for insuring their assets, liabilities and so on.

He said it was in a bid to carry out its key mandate of enforcing compliance with the provisions of the NOGICD Act that the board, in collaboration with NAICOM, developed and issued the Insurance Guideline for the oil and gas industry.

He added that the guideline would contribute significantly towards promoting the development of insurance services in-country and would also drive the retention of financial spending in Nigeria, thereby contributing towards reversing capital flight.

Furthermore, he noted that the guideline would also help to create a database of all insurance programmes procured by operators, project promoters, alliance partners, and Nigerian indigenous companies, to enable the board to monitor utilisation of in-country insurance capacity.

Wabote said, “At NCDMB, we believe that any in-county value retention realised from the insurance sector will further enhance the delivery of our 70 per cent Nigerian Content target by the year 2027.

“The Implementation Framework of the Guideline highlights the specific directorates of the Board and their responsibility regarding the implementation of the insurance guideline.

“The Directorates saddled with the responsibility of interpreting and enforcing the guideline will be reaching out to you shortly to provide support and clarity to bring all parties into compliance.”

He clarified that the goal of the insurance guideline was not to create additional impediments for oil companies but to create job opportunities and in-country value retention to address threats to the country’s socio-economic stability.

Wabote, who made a presentation on, “Strengthening Nigerian Content Implementation with the Seven Ministerial Regulations,” pointed out that one of the key lessons of the events in the last one year was the need to develop and sustain local capacities and capabilities to tackle issues of energy security, food shortages, insufficient vaccines, and other socio-economic disruptions.

He said as the global outlook tends towards prioritisation of survival at sovereign level, it was imperative for every nation to put in place strategies for local content development for its economic sustenance.

“We utilise this seminar to deepen our local content practice by providing clarity, expositions, tips, and guidance to industry practitioners on provisions of the law, regulations, guidelines, tools and initiatives such as the NC Plan, NCEC, Expatriate Quota, Research and Development, NC Intervention Funds, and others,” he said.

He also urged operators in the exploration and production segment of the oil and gas industry to familiarise themselves with the seven Ministerial Regulations and ensure compliance with them as stipulated.

He listed the seven regulations, gazetted and which became effective on February 2021 as Regulation for Training in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry 2021:l; Regulation for Further Growth of Indigenous Capacity 2021; and Registration of Oil and Gas Professionals with Nigerian Professional Bodies 2021.

Others are Regulation for the Establishment of Operations in Nigeria 2021; Regulation for Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Technology Transfer 2021; Regulation for Nigerian Oil and Gas Research and Development 2021; and Regulation for Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Enforcement and Compliance 2021.

He said the seven Ministerial Regulations were meant to strengthen the implementation of Nigerian Content and would be further discussed in the upcoming panel sessions outline for this seminar.