By Jerome Onoja Okojokwu-Idu
The Chief Executive Officer of B.G Technical Limited, Geoff Onuoha, has suggested that the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) could collaborate with the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) to have a pan-African bidding platform for African oil and gas services companies.
Onuoha gave the suggestion while making a comment during a panel session on cross-border collaboration in Africa at the PETAN organised session, which was moderated by the Group Chief Executive Officer of Oildata Energy Group, Emeka Ene, at the recently concluded Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), which took place in Houston, Texas, United States.
He explained that his company, BG Technical, is currently doing some work in Gabon, which he said the company got through a competitive international bidding tender, noting that having a platform where African companies can have access to opportunities that exist across the continent will be good for all parties.
“We’re doing some work in Gabon. And our path to it was through a competitive international tender. We didn’t go and set up, but we competed with anyone else in the world. And taking advantage of our proximity and cost benefits of being near, we’re able to win the work (project) and that gave us the head start to go on.
“I think my thoughts on it (collaboration) is you’ve to have the ability to deliver the service; you’ve to demonstrate that you can deliver quality. Our experiences there in African countries, (is that) nobody is going to serve you anything on a platter or cut corners for you. So the first thing is that you’ve to own your technology, your services and then for us, we went through international bidding. But if we’ve a platform; if there’s anything we can set up where we’re not just stumbling on opportunities out there, then we can leverage maybe some of the things I’ve talked about here.”
B.G.Technical Limited is a Nigerian Oil Services company incorporated in 1988. It executed its first project in the oil and gas sector for Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Forcados, Nigeria in 1994.
In January 2020, the company acquired MFL Pipeline Inspection Technology, (including the renowned ‘Linalog’ brand) along with the entire global MFL fleet and delivery systems of ‘NDT Global’ in Germany.
The acquisition at the time, the company said, would enhance its delivery of top quality pipeline integrity inspection both locally and worldwide and enables BGT to quickly bring up the next generation technology to address unique needs of pipeline operators. It was one of the steps the company had taken to go global.
