ARTICLES
40,000 barrels crude oil storage
tanks developed with Local
expertise
Newly commissioned 2 x 40,000 barrels crude oil storage tanks executed with 99%
Nigerian expertise – Head of Project
E
ngr. Peter Idowu, Head of Project, Midwestern Oil
and Gas was interviewed by the Midwestern Oil
and Gas’ Newsletter Assistant Editor (Engr Duke
Onojuvwevwo) during the 27th COREN Assembly held
in Abuja from 6th to 8th August 2018. The theme of the
engineering assembly was The Nigerian Built Industry:
Building a Sustainable Structure with Allied Professionals.
Engr. Peter Idowu spoke on how engineering plays a key
role in achieving the objectives of Midwestern Oil and Gas
especially through the Project Department. He also gave
insights into projects that the company is planning to
implement soon.
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Excerpts: The theme of the COREN assembly “Building
a Sustainable Structure with Allied Professionals” is an
interesting one that simulates the system that Midwestern
has test run successfully over the years. As you may be
aware, the engineering and projects department are one
of the key drivers of our business as an oil and gas com-
pany. Apart from the geologists that locate the oil, most
other accomplishments are project driven by engineers.
Midwestern is a clear example of the success of the local
content policy, since the company itself is a creation of
the local content policy based on the marginal field bid
round of 2003 aimed wholly at indigenous companies.
It is key to note that Midwestern is run wholly by Nigeri-
ans, and also in terms of service providers, the company,
from an engineering point of view basically deploys
almost 99% of its services to purely Nigerian companies.
The two 40,000 barrels storage tanks that was newly
commissioned is a case in point, where only less than one
percentage of the job (only the automation) was done by
non-Nigerians.
Due to decline in production, the company is looking at
gas-lifting as a secondary recovery method to provide
pressure support. The company is also looking into a mini
modular refinery to process some of its oil into finished
goods. The company is also considering implementing
gas utilization plans by way of an LPG plant, these are the
main projects the company is planning to undertake soon
apart from recovery optimization projects that keep the
company going. Implementation of all of these is planned
through local vendors as much as the skills are available.
Nigeria is in order to achieve the right objectives, if the
right strategies are developed which integrates the con-
tribution of relevant teams of discipline specialists who
together harness value to produce the required solutions
or results. The success of engineers of Nigerian nationality
is elaborated by our success in running indigenous oil and
gas companies profitably without expatriates, despite the
fall in oil price and the generally difficult economic situa-
tion. This shows that there should be no barriers to Nigeri-
ans running Nigeria successfully. The infrastructural deficit
such as lack of bridges, power and adequate roads needs
not exist if various engineering disciplines are applied
to the task especially within a Public Private Partnership
framework. The use of home-grown experts also enables
the delivery of better solutions.
Collaboration and team work are key elements to get-
ting the best value from various disciplines and experts
especially if we allocate jobs to local companies who we
identify as being capable. The performance of Nigerian
Engineers in project delivery is satisfactory although there
is always room for growth and acquisition of additional
skills. To close the gaps, we must continue to encourage
training and on-the-job exposure, so that local compa-
nies and national engineers will grow their expertise as