Shell MD says energy players need to collaborate for local content

Mr Bayo Ojulari, the Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd., (SNEPCo) says collaboration amongst indigenous players in the energy sector will increase their local content participation.

Ojulari said this while speaking at the 12th Edition of annual PSRG-RICHARDSON Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Forum held virtually in Yenagoa on Wednesday.

The forum, which held as a Webinar due to health protocols induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, had the theme entitled: ”Nigerian Content Development: Facing the Future”.

He said that industry players and companies ready to be creative and collaborative had immense business opportunities in providing quality solutions to the challenges that the oil and gas industry faced in implementing Local Content Act.

According to him, while there is increasing support, regulations are going to get stricter to ensure full compliance by companies.

“There are areas where we can quickly close gaps identified in local content implementations,” he said.

Ojulari stressed the need for collaboration among Nigerian companies as a reliable way to harness the different skills that will grow the industry.

“Collaboration is key to unlocking value. Don’t do it all alone, you always benefit from partnering,” he said.

Ojulari reiterated the need to reinforce established processes and framework that would lead to achieving the goals of Nigerian Content.

He reminded indigenous companies to continue to invest in improving the quality of their products and services since, “we cannot implement local content at the expense of quality’’.

“Don’t compromise on quality or safety. Instead, have a system in place to manage both quality and safety.

“With the extension of the implementation of Nigerian Content to other industries, like mines, power and information technology, the idea of Nigerian content has come to stay.”

Ojulari projected that there was more potential for success in these industries if the learnings from the pioneering example of the oil and gas industry were applied.

“The oil and gas industry is very complex and highly technical. With the success achieved in the oil and gas industry, other industries have good example to follow,” he said.

It was reported that several leading industry players and representatives from Chevron, Total and Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), who participated at the virtual seminar unanimous agreed that “local content is a marathon and not a sprint”.