Harboursandport.com: Lagos: Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) says it has
invested over $400 million in the Nigerian oil and gas industry since the
global shipbuilding giant was awarded the contract to build the Floating
Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel for the 200,000 barrels of crude
oil per day at Egina deepwater field.
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| Egina FPSO |
The contract for the construction of the FPSO was awarded to Samsung Heavy Industries by French multinational oil firm, Total, at the cost of about $3.3billion.
According to a report released by the Nigerian
Television Authority (NTA), a top official of the company
confirmed yesterday that through the SHI-MCI FZE, a fabrication and
integration yard which SHI had established at the LADOL Free Zone Yard at
Takwa Bay, Lagos to execute part of the FPSO project, it had ploughed
back over $400 million into further development of the Nigerian petroleum industry.
“Since we got the contract for the Egina FPSO,
we have contributed about 100 million dollars of tax revenue so far, in
addition to providing approximately 300 million dollars of investment into
SHI-MCI-FZE, and we have also created jobs, trainings and education for
thousands of Nigerians,” added the source who wouldn’t want to be named.
The source however decried the lingering dispute
between Samsung and Global Resource Management Free Zone Company (GRMFZC),
LADOL’s free-zone management, which bothers on GRMFZC’s refusal to renew
SHI-MCI-FZE’s Operating Licence for the free-zone, urging the Federal
Government to wade into the crisis speedily.
“The government of Nigeria must take steps to
resolve this crisis; it is not just hindering foreign direct investment into
Nigeria, but it has far-reaching consequences for the Nigerian economy and its
oil and gas industry.
“The FPSO has recently commenced capacity
delivery, operating at 200,000-barrels a day,” the source explained.
Government’s intervention is indeed necessary to
protect the jobs and livelihoods of over 1,000 Nigerians directly and
indirectly employed by SHI-MCI-FZE, to protect the investments in the Nigerian
Oil and Gas sector, which is the nation’s principle earner, and to send a
message to Nigeria’s international partners that it remains an attractive place
to invest and do business,” added the source.
It further stated that the SHI-MCI free-zone
operating license was unjustifiably terminated by LADOL and that there was no
basis for the license not to be renewable for a term of no less than one
year once conditions of the license are fulfilled.
It was however learnt that the Nigeria Export
Processing Zone Authority (the primary agency responsible for the
administration of free zone areas in Nigeria) and the Ministry of
Industry, Trade and Investment, had recently stepped into the case to
investigate and find ways to resolve whatever are the contentious issues
affecting both parties.
The government intervention, it was learnt,
is to help the parties achieve a win-win resolution to the crisis and also
to protect the jobs of Nigerian workers.
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