By CLARA NWACHUKWU

Midwestern Oil and Gas Company Plc, a Marginal Field Operator, MFO, has given a boost to indigenous crude production by growing capacity to 19,000 barrels per day, bpd, up from 3,000bpd when it started production from its asset in 2008.

One of the major focuses of the Nigerian Content Act is to grow indigenous capacity particularly in the upstream sub-sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, but only a handful of the indigenous operators have done well with their acquired assets.

Speaking with journalists on recent breakthroughs and successes achieved by the company, the Managing Director, Engr. A.C. Okoene, said Midwestern Oil & Gas Co. Plc from the outset resolved to operate according to international best practice standards.

He said the resolve is beginning to pay off as the company recently won the International Star Award for Quality, from Geneva based Business Initiative Directions, BID, adding that the award is a forerunner to greater successes.

According to him, if a company is going to grow, it must have a solid basis on which it will grow and he is of the belief that having a quality system is essential for such growth.

Okoene said the company’s prospects are very bright especially as it was making overtures to acquire more assets from the International Oil Companies, IOCs, to consolidate on its current assets, saying, “As we look into the future, we look to have additional assets, we need to expand the business, we have to ensure that we have a quality system in place that will enable us achieve the objectives that we want.”

He said that Midwestern Oil & Gas Co. Plc has come a long way from 2003 when it acquired the asset, which originally belonged to Total E & P, formerly, Elf, during an oil block sale by the Federal Government for MFOs.

He recalled, “We started operation in 2005 that was when I took over as MD/CEO of the company. The field that we own used to actually belong to a company called Elf. They drilled three wells in that field but did not do very well that is one of the reasons why the Federal Government took it over and awarded it to us.”

To get to this point, Okoene, said the company started off with a Canadian public quoted company, Mart Resources Inc. as its technical and financial partner, which provided the initial finance and technical support to develop the field. (OML56) “We have since paid off the development costs and the company is doing very well,” he added.

The chief executive attributed part of the company’s success to its community engagement style, as unlike some of its peers and IOCs, Midwestern Oil & Gas Co. Plc has co-existed peacefully with its host communities.

He said, “The indices by which you actually assess the success of a company that operates in the Niger Delta in Nigeria must include your ability to co-exist with the communities because it is the proper thing to do in areas where you operate and also the ability to operate according to standards of Health Safety and Environment, HSE, and my company has done very well in these two areas.”

Apart from growing production capacity, and maintaining harmonious relationship with host communities, Okoene said the company has also excelled in its HSE standards, as it recently celebrated 4 Million Man-Hours Lost Time Injury Free Operation.

Despite the success story, Okoene expressed concern over the challenge faced by the company in evacuating between 5,000 to 6,000 bpd oil locked in on account of restrictions in the evacuation system. But he said the company was working towards resolving the issue through obtaining alternative evacuation route by building pipelines towards the western side of Nigeria to enable them evacuate all its crude.