DPR okays Redsquare Africa for 2007 oil bid rounds promo--vanguardngr

NIGERIA’s apex regulatory body for both the upstream and downstream sector of the petroleum industry the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has granted the request of Redsquare Africa Limited to promote the 2007 oil licensing rounds.

In a letter to Redsquare Africa, the Director of DPR, Mr. Tony Chukwueke, noted that Redsquare Africa’s involvement oil bid rounds would prop up the Nigeria Content Policy in the 2007 bid round.

“In order to promote the Nigeria Content Policy in the 2007 bid round, please be informed that your company is welcome to participate in the commercial bidding conference, which is scheduled to take place on 11th May, 2007, in Abuja.” he said.

The 2007 bid round, according to the DPR, would improve the quantum of composite value added or created in the Nigerian economy through the utilization of Nigerian human and material resources for the provision of goods and services to the petroleum industry.

The Federal Government has made huge investment in the oil and gas sector, which averages about $10 billion per annum, but the investment in the industry had only contributed little to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth due to the low Nigerian Content in the industry, which is evident from the over 80 per cent of work value carried out or executed abroad.

Nigeria Content Policy in the 2007 bid round would help to position the country as the hub for service delivery within the West African sub-region and beyond, as the policy would promote a framework that would guarantee active participation of Nigerians in oil and gas activities without compromising standards.

The Nigerian content policy promotion at the 2007 bid round has been hailed by industry experts as a major step forward indirectly linking local firms with bidders and eventually winners of oil blocks.

Many service companies see the opportunity generated by DPR/Resquare Africa relationship as a major step in being included in the proposed work programme of oil block winners from conception to first oil.

Major local Engineering, procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) firms and some government agencies indicated interest to promote their services at the 2007 bid round, which some industry experts said it is the first of its kind since the beginning of the oil bid round in Nigeria.

Also speaking the Chief Operating Officer of Resquare Africa, Mr. Iba Umoren, said: “We need to position local companies competence to those proposed oil block winners as quickly as possible so as to gain first advantage in the choice of qualified oil service companies to handle the oil production work programme in line with the Nigerian Content Policy.”

Redsquare Africa Limited is an indigenous company with a strategic focus of assisting the Federal Government and indigenous firms to achieve the Nigerian Content Policy in the nation’s oil and gas industry.