The Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), has finally described the involvement of leading Engineering, Procurement Construction (EPC) Company, Oilserv Limited in the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project as a milestone for local content development in the country.

Mr.Nike Odinuwe, PETAN Chairman, congratulated the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari and the Chairman/CEO of Oilserv Limited, Mr. Emeka Okwuosa on the successful ground breaking ceremony for the AKK gas pipeline project which held in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, last week.

Odinuwe said the AKK project is expected to greatly enhance the nation’s energy security, create direct and indirect employment and promote development, technology transfer and local manufacturing.

He said  that Oilserv was one of the founding member companies of PETAN and a long time champion and advocate of Nigerian Content in the oil and gas industry.

The PETAN Chairman proclaimed the AKK project as a Nigerian Content milestone achievement, a vindication of the passage of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act (NOGIC) Act 2010 and a testament to the massive contributions of PETAN in the development of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry and the Nigerian economy.

Odinuwe assured the oil and gas industry that Oilserv Limited has made PETAN proud, expressing confidence that the company will certainly deliver a world class project which would be professionally executed while not compromising safety standards.

The PETAN boss observed that the AKK project is positioned to help realise the long held dream of developing the nation’s domestic gas transmission infrastructure as well as implementing Nigeria’s Gas Masterplan.

He emphasised that the project will promote the domestication of technology in Nigeria and concretize the gains of Nigerian Content by encouraging participation of indigenous companies in the delivery of the project, adding that more than 3,000 Nigerian workers will be engaged in the project thus helping to ease the unemployment crises in the county

PETAN is an association of Nigerian indigenous companies in the upstream and downstream sectors of the petroleum industry. The association was formed to promote the utilization of indigenous human and material resources without sacrificing quality and professionalism and to bring Nigerian oil a gas entrepreneurs in a forum for the exchange of ideas with the major operators and policy makers.

PETAN has long been a promoter of local content in Nigeria and has championed the quest for increased local participation in the Nigerian oil and gas industry which culminated in the NOGIC Act 2010

PETAN also encourages indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria through the organisation of conferences, seminars, workshops (both locally and externally) to create opportunities for Nigerian companies to project themselves in a very competitive industry.

PETAN companies and their contractors employ over20,000 Nigerians of which more than 60% are graduates creating a multiplier effect on the economy through the use of local inputs, growth of local capacity and expertise .