From Uche Usim, Abuja

Before his appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of Intels Nigeria Limited, Andrew Dawes was the Managing Director of Lagos-based AP Moller Terminal.
A stickler for excellence, Dawes has extensive experience in a wide range of terminal operations and logistics having worked with several global terminal operators over a period of 20 years.
He is also well grounded in port operations and logistics, having held senior management positions and developed expertise in management and port operations with different organisations in North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Recently, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mrs. Hadiza Usman, visited Intels’ Onne office where Dawes reeled out a lot of investment plans the company has as it partners the Federal Government to boost port investment programme.
He shares some of those plans with Daily Sun.
Excerpts:

Allegation of monopoly tendencies
The question I received was that Intels is operating a monopoly and we have several times issued out a statement to the press to people accusing us of this.
Intels is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure on behalf of the NPA. We are partners with the public private sector, so our policy is to invest in concessioned terminals, which were issued under the concession agreement of the NPA, the Transport Minister, in line with the government strategy for infrastructure investment in the country. We do not issue oil and gas certificates to all the oil and gas terminals.
However, we do pay comparatively far more money to the government than any other private jetty. Private jetties partner the Federal Government to bring on the capacity when required. It’s about building infrastructure strategy for the country and it doesn’t matter if it was on gas, you can use the same example of containerisation. Container terminals that have concessions pay very high fees to the government and they have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure and equipment specialised in handling such type of cargo. That is exactly what we have done in the oil and gas sector. If a private person would come into the oil and gas sector and put in zero investment, zero employment to the government, that would be unfair to Nigeria, unfair to the port authority of Nigeria and wouldn’t allow the infrastructure capacity to grow as required by the country.

Investment outlay in 2016
We have invested billions of US dollars in infrastructure and still investing. I cannot specifically give you figures now of what we’ve invested this year.

Challenges
The challenges we face are same with the challenges Nigeria is facing. The oil and gas prices have fallen to historic low at the last 10 years; cargo is down 70 per cent on several years ago but we are here, we are investing in infrastructure for a long term, we are not investing for this year, we are investing for a long term and we will partner the Federal Government for a longer term.

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Phase 4B project
Phase 4B project is the only facility ready to receive a full Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) alongside. We have invested along with the Federal Government in partnership with building infrastructure with a total of 4km of key length, ready to take biggest ships alongside.

Pulling investments in time of recession
During this period, our investment pace would slow down. We have enough capacity here in this facility to see the oil and gas growth not only back to where it was in 2014 but also through many years of growth and we will partner the Federal Government to ensure that the capacity we brought on are the right quality, quantity and at the right time. And that’s why it’s clear that the Federal Government controls the policy of port allocation and no one else; not the private sector.

Future projects
We will just want to see us partnering and becoming closer with the oil and gas sector as we have been in the last 25 to 30 years. That’s three decades of partnering and we will look to bring on capacity and expertise long into the future with Nigeria.

Badagry deep seaport
Badagry port project is progressing and we are very excited about it along with our partners, APM Terminals. It’ll be the largest port in Africa with the largest draft. It’ll be a mega port for the largest economy in Africa with the largest population and we believe it will be the best growth potential of a long time.

About Intels
Intels Nigeria Limited was established 30 years ago with the vision to develop an integrated logistics solution offering a complete package of facilities and services to the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
Intels Nigeria, working in conjunction with Intels West Africa (Intels), has become a leading supplier of oil and gas logistic support services throughout West Africa and particularly Nigeria. First in Nigeria and then in other countries, Intels has pioneered the concept of the integrated ‘one-stop-shop’ oil service centre bringing together terminal operations, logistics plus transit and supply services.
To complete the range of services available at the oil service centres, and to offer a more complete logistics package, Intels also provides dedicated manpower and equipment hire, secure residential housing and commercial office areas. This benefits the operators by allowing them to concentrate on their core business rather than invest time and resources in peripheral activities.
Intels Nigeria Limited’s mission is to promote the development of the Nigerian economy via the oil and gas industry by addressing its core competences to fulfilling the corporate market’s outsourced logistics needs.
Intels Nigeria Limited’s vision is to offer tailor-made logistics solutions to the Nigerian oil and gas Iindustry by leading the industry as a core services provider through its skill, efficiency, integrity and quality of service.
The vision is to also commercially utilise the opportunities derived from its expertise in logistics management and applying the “one-stop-shop” solution to its provision of serviced commercial ports and port infrastructure to optimise profitability and facilitating engagement with, and sustained development of communities and maintaining a healthy and cooperative partnership with government.