AOS Orwell, a leading indigenous oil and gas servicing orgainsation has stated its readiness to participate actively in the Nigeria LNG Train 7 and Bonga South West Aparo projects that are expected to commence soon in the country.
Femi Omotayo, managing director, AOS Orwell during a chat with journalists in Lagos recently, said the organisation has built enough capacity in its workforce to sufficiently deliver on both ground-breaking projects as well as on its multi-billion dollar facility.
Omotayo said that the orgainsation will be working on the Train 7 project as with Saipem Consortium – the winner of the project as partners.
He noted that the organisation is looking to provide end-to-end services on the valves aspect of the project, adding that his organisation is working to offer enough value that will create a one-stop-shop solution as far as it concerns valves.
“We are big enough to give the guarantees with both local and international manufacturing, infrastructure and partnerships in place,” he said.
“We will also be working with them on skids, chemical injections and things like that. We will work on electrical as well,” he added.
He stated that AOS Orwell has a facility in Port Harcourt, Rivers State that will handle Low Voltage/Medium Voltage switchgear in-country.
He noted that his organisation is looking forward to the Bonga South West project with optimism.
The managing director further stated that the outlook for Africa’s Oil & Gas industry is positive amid operating and economic headwinds, noting that with oil prices steadily on the rise towards pre-collapse levels, internal and external conditions had arm-twisted companies to be more efficient.
“This no doubt has impacted on the way indigenous companies in the oilfield servicing industry operate. Investors as well, more than ever, have an increased need for clarity and certainty in making key investments against this backdrop,” he said.
On the impact of the local content act and its implementation on indigenous companies, he described the act as “a jewel for indigenous companies operating in Nigeria”.
“Specifically, for us at AOS Orwell, we build capacity in our locals to the point where we can maintain world-class standards.
Today, when I walk into our workshop and see our local boys handling the same control system wires, I get a good feeling. This is very encouraging and the industry has been very supportive,” he said.
“There is a lot of trust and belief in the system today. This has paved the way for investment to thrive. And there has been a lot of investment. Nigerian companies have invested heavily in the growth and development of local content.”
“For us at AOS Orwell, we have always been committed to local content even before the law backed it up. We have two world-class schools, in Lagos, and Port Harcourt, where we train young indigenous engineers and help them build capacity in the areas of process automation and control and the other in fishing,” he further said.
Josephine Okojie
