Indigenous oil and gas companies under the aegis of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria, PETAN, have expressed frustrations over their inability to access over $500 million that had accrued in the Nigerian Content Fund, saying that this has put them in a disadvantaged position in the execution of projects in the industry.

Speaking at the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, taking place in Houston, Texas, the Chairman of PETAN, Mr. Bank-Anthony Okoroafor, said making the fund accessible to indigenous companies will create big companies that will compete with others in the world.

“As at today, the local content fund is more than $500 million. If every year, you bring out about $50 million, in the next five years, we will create Daewoo, Samsung, Saipem. This is how big companies are built. If you borrow at a minimal rate, you can grow, but if you borrow at about 30%, you are struggling, you cannot compete with the others in the industry,” he said.

Okoroafor, who decried the high interest rate in Nigerian banks, which has prohibited PETAN members from expanding their scope, urged government to make the content fund available, so as to enhance capacity building. According to him, “Borrowing in-country is too expensive. The Nigerian Content Fund should be used to build capacity. That is how companies in a country like Korea were built. The fund is an accumulation of our invoices.”

While noting that every PETAN member will not benefit from the fund at the same time, he suggested that selection of beneficiaries should be done through random means.

“As regards the challenges, we have not seen any of our members access the fund. What we want the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board, NCDMB, to do is to set out a certain amount every year and select beneficiaries through random means. Three or four companies can be chosen. The NCDMB should find out their limitations, the equipment they need and then give them the loan to buy the needed equipment. Of course, you know it is not free money. It is a loan that should be paid back gradually. That is all we are asking for because it is our money,” he said.

 NCDMB should account for fund

Also speaking on the subject, the Executive Chairman, Oilserv Group, Mr Emeka Okwuosa, decried that accessing the Content Fund has become a major issue, and urged that the management of the Nigerian Content Development Management Board, NCDMB should be made to account for it.

According to him: “Some of us feel that the aims of the Nigerian Content Act are not being achieved as of now; it may be too early to judge, but some of the directions we are seeing, government need to look into them and ensure that some of these things are corrected.

“We are slowly building a stack of funds that are being taken from us, the service providers and the producers. The purpose of thAt fund is very clear, it is for capacity building, but how the fund is being deployed today is not clear to any of us. Until we all come together to look at it to ensure that this fund is being deployed properly to build capacity, we cannot make progress.

“Capacity building is not for one person but for everybody and we have to ensure the oil and gas industry will rub off on everybody positively, and the way to do that is to continue to build capacity, provide jobs, grow Nigerians  participation in the production of oil and gas and the fund is a major ingredient.” To grow capacity, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of BG Technical, Mr Geoff Onuoha, said that PETAN companies partner more with foreign companies due to evolving technology, which requires expertise.

“Technology is evolving. For example, sub-sea technology is in vogue now. When something evolves, you must partner to build the capacity. But in majority of services in land and swamp, PETAN companies have 100 percent capacity and capability. For example, there is no rocket science in pipeline laying, storage tank construction and the rest. PETAN companies are delivering them 100 percent,” he added.