Steve Agbota

About 290 local contractors have received loans worth more than N470 billion under the Shell Contractor Support Fund set up by Shell Companies in Nigeria to help vendors and suppliers in the oil and gas industry secure funds at reduced interest rates, relaxed collateral requirements and quicker processing time.

Shell Companies in Nigeria also awarded contracts worth over N230 billion to Nigerian contractors on 2017, representing 94 per cent of the total contracts last year.

Speaking at the launch of 2018 Shell Nigeria Briefing Notes in Lagos recently, Country Chair Shell Companies in Nigeria and Managing Director of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) Limited Mr. Osagie Okunbor, said; “we are pleased to support Nigerian contractors to play greater roles in the oil and gas industry.

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As pioneers in the industry we have taken deliberate steps to awards contracts to Nigerian vendors and worked with them to grow their capacity, cost efficiency and delivery timelines. We discovered however, that access to finance has been a challenge, and the search for a solution led to the Shell Contractor Support Fund.

Shell companies started their intervention in 2011 with the Shell Kobo Fund, which gave way to the Shell Contractor Support Fund the following year with seven participating financial institutions, which have since set aside more than N690 billion for contract execution by Nigerian companies. The banks are Access Bank, Zenith Bank, First Bank, Standard Chartered, Skye Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank.

Nigerian ownership of key assets such as rigs, helicopters and marine vessels is also a focus, with Shell Companies providing technical and financial support to companies across range of sectors including transportation, manufacturing and research and development.

Speaking on social investment, Okunbor said Shell companies had continued to work with government, communities and civil society to fund and implement projects and programme that have a lasting impact on people’s lives in the Niger Delta and Nigeria as whole.