Since the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act in 2010, Lee Engineering and Construction Company Limited, has sustained its efforts to transform the industry into equipment fabrication hub.
A good number of indigenous firms in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector have shown commitment to harnessing the opportunities offered by the enactment of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act established in 2010.
The implementation of the Act has brought about huge improvement in capacity development with some local players now pioneering in areas hitherto in the prerogatives of foreign firms.
Consequently, committed entrepreneurs are now striving into various aspects of the industry to provide excellent services, hence paving the way for growth and development.
In this regard, Lee Engineering and Construction Company Limited, an Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Operation and Maintenance (EPCOM) firm has not only shown outstanding feat but set to take the central stage in industrial equipment manufacturing.
Encouraged by the Local Content Act and invaluable support from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the firm committed over $100 million into the construction of fabrication yard in a land covering about 10,000 square metres in Warri, Delta State, its operational base.
The project, which is due for commissioning before the end of March, will guarantee the fabrication of any equipment required in the oil and gas industry locally and in Africa.
Speaking to journalist during a guided tour of the facility, which is said to be 90 per cent completed, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lee Engineering and Construction Company, Dr. Leemon Ikpea said, when commissioned the factory would serve as a hub for local manufacturing of various equipment for use in the oil and gas sector and beyond.
He noted that: “Presently, all manners of steel fabricating machines have been installed while Nigerians with the necessary expertise operating them perfectly.”
Narrating how he came about the idea, Ikpea said it dates back to the 1980s when he worked as an administrator in the sector, specifically at the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited, (WRPC).
He said while working as a manager at Snamprojettif, a contracting firm servicing the WRPC, he saw the potentials of Nigerian skilled workers and realised that it could be enhanced for the good of all.
“When I was a manager I did not just sit down in my office. I took time to understand how the company operated; in that time, I noticed that many Nigerians were performing various tasks as electricians, welders and so on. The foreigners were mostly there as supervisors. There were many skilled Nigerian workers around,” he explained.
The wisdom of capitalising on available potential drove Ikpea into incorporating Lee Engineering and Construction Company in 1991. Thirty years after, the firm has established itself as a major player in her core concept of engineering, procurement, construction, operation and maintenance (EPCOM) and is venturing into industrial equipment fabrication.
Ikpea and his team of young but enterprising members of staff are not new comers in fabrication, as they have in the past years proven their competence.
Testifying to the firm’s efficiency in job execution, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) had commented on Lee Engineering’s performance in the execution of its Utorogu gas plant, in Delta state.
“As much as possible, SPDC employs Nigerian companies and workers to execute projects. In the case of Utorogu, Lee Engineering and Construction Company Limited – a Nigerian company – won the main contract that carried out the design, procurement and construction work required to upgrade the Utorogu plant.
“A large proportion of the heavy equipment used to connect the gas wells to the gas plants was built in Nigeria and much of the construction materials and supplies including power cables, cable trays and accessories, paint and civil infrastructure materials were locally manufactured,” said SPDC.
Ikpea confirmed that the materials used for the job were fabricated in his factory in Warri. He stated that having executed such high profile jobs including the building of the Port Harcourt Refinery jetty, and currently involved the fabrication of two modular refinery factories, his company was set to expand the frontier of industrial equipment fabrication in Nigeria and Africa in general.
The company’s unwavering commitment to make Nigeria to serve as a hub for local manufacturing of various equipment is worthy of commendation. The company currently provides job for over 2,000 people.
Its efforts have multiplier effects on the economy in terms of reducing the burden on foreign exchange, infrastructure growth and development, additional job creation, income to government coffers in terms of taxes and levies, reduction in port congestion, reduction in man/hour wastag.
To encourage companies like Lee Engineering,the federal government should make it mandatory for the OICs to patronise the local players.
Speaking on why he embarked on the multi-million dollar fabrication plant project, Ikpea said: “Our mission is to produce high quality, reliable and durable products, through competent workforce and technology, within regulatory laws. We intend to change the existing orientation of clients procuring similar components abroad with scarce hard currency and, in the process boost national economy and reduce procurement lead time.
“If you look around the oil and gas sector, most production is done outside the shores of this country and if we fold our hands and wait for government, foreign firms and partners to transfer technology to this country, I don’t see that happening. Considering the market situation, if they transfer technology to you, the question to ask will be: who will be buying from them?” he queried.
Prior to the pre-commissioning era, Lee Engineering had entered into critical partnership with foreign equipment manufacturing companies who supplied the machines to be used for the fabrication.
The relationship led to over 30 personnel of the company being sent abroad for on-the-spot training on how to install and operate the equipment.
To further ensure meeting global standard requirement, Ikpea went for the factory acceptance test in Europe and is currently waiting for the project to be fully completed, before it is test-run and finally be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari.
A Senior Supervisor, Mr. Osere Damian, who spoke with journalists, said over 10 persons in his department had attended overseas training in the last 10 years in preparation for the full take-off of the project.
He listed some key oil and gas products the plant will be fabricating and manufactured to include high pressure vessels, heat exchangers, water bath heaters, glycol, skids, scrubbers, process modules, storage tanks/Columns and flare systems.
Other items are: Drums, piping spools, enclosures, gas cylinders, flanges, among others.
He also disclosed that when fully operational, the plant can fabricate all equipment required for establishing a refinery.
Also speaking to journalists, the Supervisory Manager, Quality Control and Standards (QAIQC),
Mr. Akporhuarho Fidelis, said the company does not take keeping to standard for granted.
“We test every product and make such they keep to customers specifications and international standard requirements,” he added.
Though President Buhari is yet to visit the factory site, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Adeniyi Adebayo, had visited the factory and pledged federal government’s support.
Addressing the media after a round of inspection, the minister stated that “the equipment that are made here are to facilitate the production of crude oil and gas, a lot of the equipment being used presently are being imported from abroad. By the time this factory is completed, a lot of the things that we import will not need to be imported anymore, they will be locally manufactured here at Lee engineering”.
Speaking on the expectations of the federal government, the minister said: “We are interested in Nigerians being employed and from what I see right now, even though the equipment are not all here yet, they have already sent young Nigerians abroad for training and they still intend to send more, so this is something we are very happy about”.
“President Muhammadu Buhari had promised to get 100million Nigerians out of poverty over the next 10 years; one of the ways this could be achieved is by encouraging industrialists to create new industries and to expand the ones they have to enable them employ more people… By the time the factory is completed next year, the nature of its specialisation would create a situation where the country won’t have to import anymore and even people abroad can come and buy from here,” the minister explained.
To actualise such lofty objectives, the federal government should put the right policies in place to encourage patronage of indigenous firms like Lee Engineering. The IOCs and other stakeholders in the industry should be discouraged from importing products that can be fabricated locally.
Source: Thisday
