We Are Taking Advantage Of PIA, Energy Transitioning To Optimize Our Operations—Nwosu, Omiti Engineering MD

In this interview with THE WHISTLER held at the sidelines of the 2022 Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Omiti Engineering Nigeria Ltd, Mr Nduka Nwosu speaks on various issues in the oil and gas sector and how his firm is taking advantage of the Petroleum Industry Act and the global quest for more cleaner energy

Give us a brief background of what Omiti Engineering does in Nigeria?

Omiti Engineering Nigeria Limited is an associate company of Omiti Engineering Pvt, India with specialized services in the area of detailed engineering, technical procurement services, structural steel and process piping fabrication/installation, pipeline field joint coating and other associated oil and gas services.

We are registered and are carrying out various engineering, procurement and construction projects related to the above for various companies including but not limited to Mobil Producing Nigerian Unlimited, Dangote Group, Globestar/Subsea7, Dorman Long Engineering Limited, Frontier Oil Limited, Addax Petroleum Development Coy Ltd, PNG Gas Limited, Spec Energy DMCC, Platform Petroleum Limited, Energy Works, Niger Delta Petroleum Resources (NDPR), Aveon Offshore Limited, Daewoo Nigeria Limited, etc.

Our services include, but not limited to the following: detailed engineering services for oil & gas process equipment and associated works; product tank construction and rehabilitation works; fabrication and installation of underground and above ground piping works; design, procurement and installation of Cathodic Protection (CP) systems and associated works; supply and installation of field joint coating services and we are distributors to Seal for Life Industries.

Others are supply and installation of nVent Product; supply and application of piping and equipment insulation works; oil & gas equipment installation and associated works; hydrotesting and associated works.

In line with the Nigerian content development strategy, Omiti Engineering has secured various Engineering niche partners all over the globe to provide support that are not resident in-house to avoid any form of Engineering and or construction gap.

Who are you strategic partners and what is the collaboration with them like?

In line with the Nigerian content development strategy, Omiti Engineering has secured various Engineering niche partners all over the globe to provide support that are not resident in-house to avoid any form of Engineering and or construction gap. Such partners include but not limited to Omiti Engineering PVT, India which provides support in Detailed Engineering of Pressure Vessels and Process Equipment for Oil, Gas and Refinery Projects including all associated Pipeline detailed design requirements; Seal for Life Industry Limited (SFL). Omiti Engineering Nigeria Limited is the sole distributor of Seal for Life Industries Limited. Seal for life Industries manufactures high quality Pipeline Field Joint Coating materials.

Omiti in conjunction with SFL has trained over 30 personnel for the application of FJC materials to international standards and procedures; nVent Raychem STS. nVent offers unique customized solutions for long time heat management systems and other specialized heating requirement for the oil, gas, refinery and other industries.

Omiti has secured the nVent channel partnership to develop and install all Product manufactured by nVent in Nigeria and African region. nVent has trained over 15 Omiti technicians for the installation of her manufactured Product in Nigeria & Africa.

We also have strategic partnership with Hybon Engineering Inc, USA for the sales and installation of proprietary gas compression equipment in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries. Their services is inclusive of Flare Gas elimination and monetization for Oil & Gas producing field.

To What extent has these partnerships impacted the Nigerian economy?

They have assisted in bridging some of those areas we do not have strength to grow locally. So, the strategy is to ensure that during the partnerships we deploy Nigerians, the home community or other Nigerians wherever they are to ensure that we acquire knowledge from those people and train them accordingly.

As we speak, during our projects for Dangote oil refineries, we brought in a couple of people from India to train our people for tin joint coating because coating of that joint is very critical for us if it’s not well coated the pipe will corrode. We brought in people and they trained over 50 Nigerians to participate in that project. The long term is at the end of the day some of them will build facilities locally to ensure locally manufacturing and increase capacity locally.

The Nigerian Content Monitoring Development Board was set up to support local content, what percentage of your operations is in line with the government’s objective to support local content in Nigeria?

We have 99.9 per cent Nigerians involved in all our projects. The last project we have that was even at the peak period of the project we had over 1,000 workers and only three expatriates working for us in that project. We are a fully-fledged Nigerian company; everything we do our priorities is to engage and ensure that Nigerians are involved to work and also train them during the course of the project.

As a young Nigerian company, what is the operating environment like for you, and how are you able to overcome these challenges?

The operating environment has not been very easy for us, critical side of it is the funding of the project in our projects locally here. It’s difficult for client to pay you. But because of the competitive nature of the project, you have to find a way to go into that project. Basically, funding is the number one problem, the risks are high.

The type of the client you are working with determines. Sometimes banks look at clients that do not pay on time and refuse to support you in the project. It has not been very accommodating for a growing company like ours.

The Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference is a platform where the government and private sectors interact, if you are to send a message now to the government, what will you be telling them?

You know this is an event where we come to see new technology happening in the industry; also to see where some gaps are missing and trying to strategize with our colleagues. And it’s a very good interactive event and my advice is to request that they look into young growing Nigerian companies to see how they can provide certain incentives to support them.

The government needs to ensure they provide certain incentives for locally manufactured project to excel in all their projects.

What are some of these incentives?

Some of them include a platform where certain equipment are accessed with ease. Provide a platform where every young engineering company is given an opportunity to grow. Some platforms, because of certain requirements, certain people are not allowed to build themselves in the building process. We need to ensure that people participate and give them support to grow. NNPC has 51 per cent share in most of these companies, they should have a way to support certain advance payment to a contractor to ensure the contractor grow the project.

The Petroleum Industry Act which will change the operations of the oil and gas industry is currently being implemented, how is your firm going to take advantage of this new legislation?

It’s a good thing for us, a young growing company, we have expertise in our company, we have been involved in various projects, even the project that nobody believed we will emerge. We had certain things like the pipelines, and structural projects at different works. Such work, because of its volume, we have been able to acquire a reasonable equipment to grow in the industry. With the way the Petroleum Industry Act is structured, people like us will participate fully in most of the projects. Because we will have the resources, technical equipment and trained expertise to execute the project, so it’s very encouraging.

There’s a global shift from carbon to renewable energy, Currently, Nigeria is focusing on gas as its transition fuel, will this shift affect your operation?

No; the shift is actually one of our rich areas. We are in partnership with a company called Hyborn engineering in the USA, the partnership is structured for Hyborn to provide support for structuring equipment. To suppress flaring gas, the industry is still flaring gas, Nigeria is still flaring gas. People are still paying tax for what they should be getting money from. We are working with Hybron to ensure we go into that market. We are monetizing the flaring gas, the effects is positive growth.

Do you see the price of gas reducing in this shift for renewables?

I still see Nigeria looking into gas very well, the gas will definitely go down, if we recover gases, suppress them, we will have enormous gases, we will be able to export and that’s where the West African gas pipeline gas comes in. The project, if pushed to effect is capable of giving Nigerians good revenue. If suppression of flared gases is implemented, price of gases will reduce in the industry, in short in the country at large.

Moving forward in the nearest future, what new initiatives should Nigerians expect from Omiti Engineering?

We will continue to train young Nigerians in our areas of expertise, welding and fabrications, insulation works, other areas that we have projects in. We are also trying to work out strategies to optimize all our projects prices. That means project prices are also reduced.