Re: Exciting Indeed!

Sometimes if one is Lucky.... Where there is Risk.... There is Big Reward!

So.... there are many Oil Companies in Africa at present with many more contemplating..

Picked up this Banter below:

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BY UDEME CLEMENT

MidWestern Oil and Gas Company Plc is an indigenous marginal field operator in Nigeria. It was one of the firms awarded the marginal field in 2003 through the policy of Federal Government on oil and gas sector development. Today, the company, which is one of the highest marginal field producers of oil and gas, with production capacity of over 19,000 barrels of crude oil per day, has achieved 4million man-hours operations without Lost Time Injury (LTI), even as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) commended the efficiency of the company in oil production with high safety measures. The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Engineer Adams Okoene, speaks on how the company is keying into the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in job creation and youth empowerment, how they achieved 4million man-hours without LTI, as well as enormous contributions to community development.

What are the challenges for operating in Niger Delta with the issue of militancy?

The truth is that, any firm operating in that region is bound to face challenges and our company is not an exemption. The major challenge has to do with the host communities. Luckily for us, we have reached an understanding with our three host communities in the region. When it comes to dealing with communities what matters most is integrity. If your company is transparent and they believe in what you are talking, it means the problem is half solved. That is my personal experience since we began operations in that region. For instance, if you promise to handle a community project for a stipulated period and you are able to deliver within that particular time frame, the people in the communities would associate you with integrity.

As such, you would face fewer challenges with the host communities. The other half of the problem is inter-communal issues, which is the problem among the communities themselves. Aside from integrity, we often dialogue with our host communities because we also let them understand our capability in what the company can do and what it cannot do for them. This is because we operate an open door policy. For example, if we initiate a project for duration of 6 months, we must ensure that the project is completed within that time and this has instilled confidence in them.

Aside from community development, what is your company doing to key into the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan on youth empowerment and job creation?

The youths are benefiting so much from the company in various ways. For instance, we engage them in skills acquisition programmes where they are trained to become entrepreneurs and employers of labour. We also give scholarship to students in secondary and tertiary institutions. Aside from that, we have plans to embark on a mega community project that can be seen as a star project for the communities. We are looking at the type of project that MidWestern Oil and Gas, the host communities and even Delta State Government should be proud of.

Can you give us statistics on the number of students who have benefited from your scholarship scheme since you commenced operations in that region?

The scholarship scheme is an annual project and is still on-going. A lot of students from our host communities have benefited from this scheme and more are still going to benefit.

Tell us about your workforce?

We have sufficient workers who are well trained to deliver efficiently. We maintain a high level of technology because we have programmes for regular capacity building exercises, where our engineers are exposed to skill training needed to enhance efficiency and safety during operations.

MidWestern Oil and Gas recently celebrated 4million man-hours operations without LTI with top officials of DPR commending the effort of your management in giving priority to safety. Can you tell us how you achieved this?

We have been able to operate safely to the extent that we achieve 4 million man hours without casualty or accident during operations. Also we have not recorded Lost Time Injury (LTI), which simply means that we have not recorded any major injury that resulted in the lost of man hours during operations. We give priority to Health Safety and Environment (HSE). Safety consciousness and practices are entrenched in our operations.

When precisely did your company start operations?

We began operations in 2005. Midwestern was one of the companies awarded the Marginal Oil Field in 2003. There were about 31 Marginal Oil Fields awarded that same year for about 24 oil companies. Today, only four of us in that group are still into production because others had various challenges along the way.

We commenced production in 2008, through the policy of Federal Government, which came about government saying that the Major Oil firms had major oil projects in the country divided among themselves and there were some of their fields that they had not touched for 10 years.

So, they had to give them to other firms that were ready to start work on the fields immediately. It is understandable that the Majors did not work on those fields because they had mega oil projects to embark on. So, government identified those areas and decided to award those Marginal Oil fields to other firms that were ready to commence operations, since such firms did not have mega projects like the Oil Majors. In that process, we bided and won.

Can you give us figures on how many barrels of crude oil your firm started production with?

We started with 3.000 barrels per day.

What is your production capacity currently?

At present, the company has recorded an astronomical increase in the quantity of production. We are now producing between 13.000 and 15.000 barrels of crude daily. We have the capacity to produce more than what we are doing at the moment. We have the equipment, technology and technical-know-how to produce 19.000 barrels on daily basis. We are among the biggest producers in the cluster of the fields in our group

....the man also hints at the fact that they have been working on the second pipeline....the Shell pipeline....read below

TOGY talks to Adams OKOENE

In co-operation with Suntrust Oil Company and Mart Resources ..(MMT) , Midwestern Oil and Gas has been operating the Umusadege field since winning the award in the government’s marginal field bidding round in 2003. The company started production in 2008 and is currently developing facilities to ease the constraints on production and oil delivery.

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What is your impression on the availability of funding for marginal field operators?

All of our funding was initially provided by the Canadian hydrocarbons company Mart Resources. We could look into local funds, but my impression of the Nigerian banks is that they do not have a large appetite for risk. Funding the oil and gas business is very risky. They seem more comfortable lending money for buying and selling. However, the situation is changing. Banks ask for security and it is difficult to get them to see eye to eye on funding. Banks should be more informed and hire technical specialists to teach them about the energy industry. What they do not know and do not understand makes them very risk averse.

How co-operative are the marginal field companies among themselves?

We are in a cluster here, based on a common understanding of the need for cooperation among five companies, namely Platform Petroleum Limited, at the Asuokpu-Umutu field, Pillar Oil, at Umusati-Igbuku, Energia, at Obodugwa-Obodeti and Chorus Energy at Amoji-Matsogo-Igbolo. All of these fields are located on either OML 56, where Umusadege is located or the adjoining OML 38.

We said that we would co-operate and share experiences with each other in order to see how we were doing and where each of us was experiencing difficulties. This was something we communicated to each other on a regular basis and everybody benefited from it. There was also the marginal field operators’ group that met regularly in the past.

What challenges has Midwestern encountered in recruiting highly skilled people?

It is very difficult. I have been trying to recruit senior people to the company. It is not easy to attract into Nigeria people who already have good jobs outside, because they hesitate and think three times about it. We want people who have demonstrated capacity and expertise. Contracting work out is one way of getting by. The key thing is getting the work done expertly and in a fit-for-purpose manner. We need to build up in-house capacity and expertise for the long term.

What are the company’s expectations for the next marginal field bidding round?

We want an additional asset, because that is the only way we are going to grow. Marginal field operators have to be given a chance to grow, otherwise they will not feel that they have a direction in which to go. This is the spirit of the marginal field, the ability and the feeling of growth. I am hoping that we will be successful in the next round.

How are the marginal field producers complying with the prohibition of flaring gas?

The government recently established a penalty on gas flaring for all producers. This is an incentive for marginal producers to come up with something for their gas. It forces them to think and then come up with a solution. The small quantities of gas is where the problem lies – there is not enough to come up with a reasonably sized project. The original idea was to co-operate with the other companies in our cluster, however, because we are all at different stages of development, we could not really co-ordinate our efforts in an effective manner. Our plan was to build a central gas plant within Midwestern’s facility to take all of the gas, but people have developed at different rates and that plan has not materialised. Out of the cluster members, two have built gas plants, so that is a possible outlet.

What does Midwestern anticipate from the Petroleum Industry Bill?

I expect the bill to provide an environment for companies such ours to grow. I am not saying kick out the big players and let the little ones take over, but if fiscal regimes are revised appropriately, we can grow. If we have access to assets, then we will be able to grow. If this means sustaining the relationship between the government and the major players, so be it.