The leadership of the Ijaw Youths Congress (IYC) has threatened to attack the $15bn Total Egina FPSO facility should the company deviate from the spirit of the prevailing Nigeria oil and gas industry Local Content Act in terms of awarding allied contracts and other benefits.
According to the group, if the differences between the parties persist, they may be forced to resume coordinated attacks on the facilities of the oil giant.
Industry analysts say the currently charged scenario in the region if not resolved on time, may force Total E&P and its partners to suspend planned investment of about $15 billion in the Gulf of Guinea following the recent arrival of the built FPSO.
Giving the warning of a possible blow up of the multibillion dollar facilities, IYC averred that if relevant stakeholders including the government and industry leaders fail to prevail on Total E&P and its co-investors to respect the provisions of the Local Content Act in the management of ‘Egina Project OML 130’.
National Daily gathered that the Egina project consists of 44 oil wells connected to the 2.3 million barrel capacity storage of FPSO, with 200,000 barrels of oil per day as processing capacity.
A statement issued by IYC president, Pereotubo Oweilaemi, therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to urgently wade into the face-off between the IYC and the promoters of the multi-billion naira project before it is too late.
The statement regretted the “marginalisation, exclusion and shortchanging of our people in employment, training of expertise and local indigenous contracts,” and further lamented that the development is targeted at excluding the Ijaw nation from their “God-given natural resources.”
According to Oweilaemi, “The IYC as a critical stakeholder has written series of letters to Total E&P, the mother-owner of the FPSO, and their partners.
IYC also copied LADOL, which is the consultant in charge of recruitment, local contracts and local trainees, as the project is expected to generate 50,000 new jobs.
However, IYC in the statement expressed the readiness of his group for amicable negotiations to ensure compliance with the relevant local content laws on employment opportunities for the youths and people of the region in respect to the Egina project.
The group further called for inclusion of indigenous participation in the Egina field project in terms of contracts and local training of manpower, possible environmental impact assessment of the project on the people of the affected areas in the region, mutual cooperation and collaboration with the leadership of the youths towards ensuring an enabling environment, among others.
Oweilaemi also argued that “The exclusion of IYC in the fabrication, EIA, surveying on the field, seismic 2D and 3D survey and the water injection flow line oil offloading terminal, flexible jumpers umbilicals and subsea manifold and training of expertise during the fabrication of Egina by Samsung Heavy Industries, Tehnic FMC, Ms inox Technology, Saipen and Avon is not only regrettable but totally unacceptable by the Ijaw youths, the Ijaw nation and the Niger Delta region”.