By Adewale Sanyaolu

Indigenous Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG)  has committed to signing a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to expand opportunities in the oil and gas industry.

The group equally pledged to support and comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.

The new SLA is expected to commit members of the IPPG to comply with the Nigerian Content Act while the board will keep to a definite response time for reviews and approvals of contracting documentations. The SLA will take into consideration the capacity of the indigenous producing companies and provide necessary concessions as maybe necessary.

These resolutions were reached at a meeting between the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, and members of the IPPG in Lagos at the weekend.

On their part, the independent producers promised to partner the board to equip the Petroleum Technology Development Fund’s Vocational Training facility in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for the purposes of imparting key skills that are currently lacking in the industry.

Wabote explained at the meeting that indigenous producers were products of the Nigerian Content Policy hence they needed to work with the board to take the implementation to the next level.

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He stressed that the Nigerian Content Act was not applicable to only foreign companies but to all players in the oil and gas industry. “Some Nigerian companies assume erroneously that being wholly indigenous makes them compliant. But Local Content extends to employment, procurement and training, among other things.”

The Executive Secretary further challenged the indigenous producers to partner the board to develop Research and Development (R&D) Centres of excellence in-country so that problems encountered in their operations can be resolved locally. “The international operating companies have huge R&D facilities in their home countries. We can only set up R&D centres in Nigeria with the support of indigenous producers.”

He also tasked the companies on the remittance of Nigerian Content Development Fund’s deductions, stating that the board will soon commission third-party forensic audit to track and recover due payments on the NCDF.

Chairman of IPPG, Mr. Ademola  Adeyemi-Bero, pledged the readiness of the members to comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act.

“We want to participate in the Nigerian Content journey and we are ready to engage with the board to take our projects to the next level,” he said.

He further explained that IPPG was constituted by 25 indigenous operators, including joint venture partners of the NNPC, marginal field operators and indigenous sole risk operators.

“We ensure corporate governance among ourselves, help to put a respectable face to indigenous producers and offer government a credible platform to engage. We account for between 12 and 25 per cent of Nigeria’s crude oil production.”