Business
9 Ways Century Group Is Changing Nigeria’s Oil Servicing Industry
The oil and gas business is big money business and not for the faint-hearted.
Before 1993, the game was reserved for the big players, the IOCs like Shell, Mobil, Total,
Agip, Chevron among others. However, in 1993, Professor Jubril Aminu changed the
equation when he opened up space for two Nigerian entrepreneurs to play.
In November 1990, Professor Aminu awarded oil blocks to 11 Nigerian entrepreneurs on
a discretionary basis. He was convinced that Nigerians had worked long enough with the
IOCs and gained enough experience to run their oil and gas businesses.
That discretionary bid round led to the emergence of 12 indigenous companies and success
stories like Consolidated Oil (now Conoil) (OPL 113) and others.
More indigenous oil companies joined the fray when President Obasanjo awarded
marginal field licences in 2000 leading to success stories like Platform Petroleum which
teamed up with Shebah to form the game changing Seplat.
Things got more interesting in 2010 when The Nigerian Local Content bill received
presidential assent on April 2, 2010.
The Act was to provide a framework that would guide indigenous content and
participation in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The law also provided for the
establishment of the Nigerian Content Monitoring Board (NCMB), charged with the
responsibility of managing the coordination, monitoring and implementation of the new
Local Content law.
With the coming of the Local Content Act, Nigerian oil servicing companies were
suddenly playing in the big league alongside the foreign and dominant players like
Haliburton, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes.
One of the companies that has emerged as a Local Content champion and changing the
oil servicing game is Century Energy Services Limited, a subsidiary of the Century
Group and here are 9 reasons why:
- Century Energy Services is the first African company to wholly own and operate
two (2) FPSO’s on behalf of IOC’s and NOC’s. Their FPSOs have total installed
process capacity of 80 kbopd of oil and 80 mmscfd for gas while total installed
capacity under their management is 300 kbd of oil and 300 mmscfd for gas.
Total storage capacity under their management is more than 4 mmbbls. CESL
remains the only company in Nigeria and only (non-IOC) in Africa with Terminal
Export Operations able to, at peak production, offload 2 cargos of Suezmax size
back to back in a week / simultaneously with 99% uptime. It is also the only
Nigerian company (non-Shell) operating a disconnectable turret designed to
Australian standards in Nigeria. CESL currently boasts total manpower in excess
of 1,000 with a daily operational spend in excess of USD200,000. It is also the
only FPSO provider managing a shore base in the Port of Kidney Island and the
Lagos Naval dockyard. Today, total Asset value under CESL management in oil
and Gas infrastructure is well over UD $4 billion. - CESL has facilitated the Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum (YFP) Operation and
Maintenance of the Front Puffin FPSO at OML 113 in the Benin Basin for a period
of six years from 2014 to date – helping bring Lagos state to the table of oil-
producing states in Nigeria. - From 2002 till date, Century Group has directly and indirectly participated in
about 50 valuable and impactful energy projects worth over $ 2 Billion. With a
cumulative daily production of about 200,000 bpd from all its operated
locations. CESL currently has power generating capacity of 100mw and Gas
handling capacity of 500mscf/d from their numerous operated locations. - CESL’s sister company – CPTL – holds a 15-year Licence to operate the Shell
owned Island Offshore Logistics support base. This service is impacting other
Shell JV partners including TOTAL & ENI. The facility provides adequate storage
facilities, including open storage areas, warehouses, chemical sheds, office
accommodation and support base services covering the spectrum from
stevedoring, materials and inventory management, haulage, marine agency and
bespoke supply chain management solutions. Current clients include SPDC,
MoniPulo, Folawiyo Aje Services Ltd, Gas group, Erin Petroleum, Omak Marine,
Shebah Exploration & Production, Hydrodive Nig. Ltd, Topaz Marine Ltd. - CESL has since 2008, provided Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)
2 with Engineering services and project management support for the repairs of
SPDC owned offloading buoy terminal in Bonny Island. The company has also
facilitated technical skills training for Gbarain Ubie and Afam/Okoloma Youths
between 2006 – 2008 on behalf of SPDC. - CESL’s Bumi Armada Berhad 1 has provided Operation & Maintenance as well as
Procurement & Logistics support of the Armada Perdana FPSO, for Oyo field
development on behalf of CAMAC/ENI since 2009 till date. It has also provided
since 2008 till date, Operation & Maintenance as well as Procurement & Logistics
support of the Armada Perkasa FPSO. - For three years beginning 2017, CESL has assisted in transitioning the
ownerships of the FPSO Armada Perkassa (Princess Aweni) for the Okoro- Setu
field development on behalf of Amni International Petroleum Development
Company Limited (AMNI). The company has also provided Operation &
Maintenance services for production facility and storage unit for the
(MOPU/FSO) on behalf of Oriental Energy Resources Limited (Oriental)
beginning in 2010 till date. - CESL has provided Operations & Maintenance support services to Dresser Rand
Nigeria Limited at their operations facilities at the Eku- 1 flow station, as well as
for the OBNAGG, SPDC PEB facilities, Soku booster station, Nun-River flow
station, Izombe flow station, Oso platform amongst others. CESL has supported
Operation and Maintenance services at the Jones Creek Flow station (OML 42 &
OML 119) through a JV for the NNPC Oil Field Services Limited (NOFS) effective
2012 to the present.
- CESL integrated a robust and effective security network for the Chevron/Conoil
Joint Venture across the Niger- Delta. This was a strategic intervention that saved
the JV from shut- in of the Pennington terminal between 2007- 2012. The
terminal is operated till date on Century Groups installed structures. The group
also provided Operation & Maintenance services for Siemens Afam Power Station
repairs from 2005 – 2006.