Nigeria: Oando's Certain March to Becoming an Integrated Energy Giant
13 February 2012
allAfrica.com | February 12, 2012
A N12 billion contract with Shell Petroleum Development Company has given Oando Energy Services Limited, an indigenous oil service company, and a subsidiary of Oando Plc another opportunity to prove its mettle as a fully integrated energy firm, reports Festus Akanbi
One of the major issues that dominated discussions in the nation's energy sector last week was the N12 billion contract won by Oando Energy Services Limited (OESL), a subsidiary of Oando Plc, Nigeria's leading indigenous operator of swamp drilling rigs, with Shell Petroleum Development Company.
Industry analysts maintained that if the objective of the Local Content Act is truly to seek to increase indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry, increase the use of local services and materials and to promote the employment of Nigerian personnel in the industry, then Oando's deployment of its third swamp rig in four years for a Shell drilling contract, gives the impetus for the success of the local players.
More importantly, the award of the contract to the Oando subsidiary, signposts Oando's determined march towards becoming Africa's largest fully integrated energy conglomerate with interests cutting across the downstream, midstream and upstream segments of the oil and gas and electricity sectors.