Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke on Friday commended the joint venture partnership named SHI-MCI Free Zone Enterprise, set up by the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) and Samsung Heavy Industry (SHI). The SHI-MCI Free Zone Enterprise, with quay length of approximately 520 meters, depth of 13.5 meters and heavy lifting area of 5,000 metric tons is designed to become Africa’s largest vessel fabrication and integration facility and will create 50,000 new jobs in Nigeria.
The facility, which is the first fabrication and integration yard in Africa, has a total area of 121,000 square meters consisting of an assembling area, a painting shop, utility and warehouse area with a production capacity of 10, 000 metric tons.
Speaking during the historic groundbreaking ceremony of the new enterprise located within the LADOL Base in Lagos on Friday, Alison-Madueke said that on completion by October 2016, the facility will be capable of fabricating 1,000 tons per month as well as integrating the Egina FPSO and other FPSO projects expected to be undertaken in the country.
“We are happy at this ground breaking ceremony which is the beginning of the journey to full completion of the mega-fabrication and integration yard at LADOL. This is a major milestone in our drive towards building capacity which will be a big boost and will be of benefit to the upcoming deepwater development projects.
“With the initial hitches in progressing this development now gone, it is our hope that the yard construction work will continue as planned to enable the delivery of the Egina FPSO project as scheduled and have the first FPSO integration done at this mega-facility in Nigeria as well as to commence a new era of it being a hub for the entire Africa region,” the Petroleum Resources Minister, who was represented by the Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Engr. Jonathan Okeh, stated at the groundbreaking ceremony.
While expressing satisfaction that the project has finally taken off as originally planned, the Minister said in addition to increasing the size of fabrication, engineering, procurement and raw materials market in Nigeria, the facility which she described as a huge local content milestone would also generate 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in Nigeria.
Also speaking at the event, Managing Director of LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi said: “We have been developing the facility for 13 years and the ground-breaking today is a real watershed moment. I am particularly proud to witness the significant milestone in the realization of my father’s vision to create a wholly Nigerian facility that will be a platform from which thousands of jobs will be created in real local content.
“Our focus and mission is to build infrastructure that will allow foreign companies to come and participate in Africa’s largest oil and gas market without having to compromise on efficiency and cost.
“In other words they can come in here and bring their own staff or set up their own facilities, independently or jointly with us, and be able to operate in their own safe environment.
“The facility is strategically located on an island at the point of entry into Lagos harbour, directly opposite Apapa Port in the LADOL Free Zone.
“This is why the government has set up the Free Zones and supported us. They want this private investment and know that it needs a combination of indigenous investors building a place that foreign investors can come into and operate efficiently.”
While expressing appreciation to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, for creating the enabling platform through the passage of the Local Content Act in 2010, Jadesimi further solicited the Federal Government’s support in realizing all the benefits of the investments for future endeavors.
Managing Director of Samsung Heavy Industry, Mr. KS Lee said in line with the Federal Government’s aspiration and commitment to local content development, Samsung took seriously the submission of the tender project for Egina FPSO which he described as the largest FPSO in the world with a storage capacity of the 2.3 million barrels.
He said due to the limited offshore fabrication capabilities and logistics within the country, it became imperative for the company to invest in a new facility in partnership with LADOL.
“It gives me great pleasure to announce the birth of our new joint venture company. Please be assured that this company will become the vehicle of materializing offshore integrations for oil and gas zone in Africa for the first time,” Lee said.
The groundbreaking ceremony held at the LADOL Base in Lagos was attended by several dignitaries including the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Ernest Nwapa; Chairman of LADOL, Mr. Ladi Jadesimi; Managing Director of Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Mr. Gbenga Kuye; Senator Daisy Danjuma and representatives of oil companies among others.
LADOL and Samsung are jointly investing $300 million (about N51 billion) on the SHI-MCI Free Zone Enterprise.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.
