Ongoing repair and maintenance of the Noble Percy Jones, a giant oil rig at the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL) is said to save the country $16.5 million (N2.5 billion) in capital flight, which is the cost of the job and directly create about 260 jobs for Nigerians in the next three months while the job lasts.
The largest rig so far repaired at LADOL, the Noble Percy Jones job being undertaken by Noble Drill joins the host of other major oil rigs that have been repaired and maintained at LADOL.? They include Ben Avon, Noble Lloyd and Transocean, which just left the LADOL Base at Takwa Bay Lagos.
The giant rig code-named Noble Percy Jones is expected to undergo a complete maintenance turnaround at the base for a period of three months after which it would be certified fit for offshore operations for the next five years.
Speaking to our correspondent on the deal yesterday, LADOL’s spokesman, Alex Akao, said the job has gone further to prove that with companies like LADOL, the country could successfully save a large chunk the N2trillion being lost annually as capital flight to other countries, as LADOL is100 per cent indigenously owned concern in the business of oil rig fabrication, maintenance and integration.
Mr. Akao stressed that the deal was an evidence of the achievement of the country’s local content legislations in the oil and maritime industries, which required that indigenous service providers who have capacity to provide needed services in the industries be accorded priority over their foreign competitors.
“Under the Local Content Act, oil companies needing such services as being provided by LADOL, such as offshore logistics services are under compulsion to seek such services from capable companies that are Nigerian. LADOL has all the facilities needed to work on the oil rig,” he added.
“Now, apart from retaining this N2.5bn in the country, when you have such opportunities given to indigenous companies, job creation will naturally come in,” he added.