The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has applauded ESSO Nigeria on the groundbreaking of its permanent shorebase facility at the LADOL Deep Offshore Logistics Base, describing the project as a major demonstration that Nigeria has become a prime hub for global oil and gas logistics.
ESSO Nigeria is an affiliate ExxonMobil, an international operating company and the shorebase facility is valued at $23m and will include an administrative building, warehouses, and other storage areas.
Speaking at the event held on Thursday at LADOL base, Lagos, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr Felix Omashola Ogbe congratulated ESSO and LADOL on the project, and reaffirmed the Board’s commitment to working with industry players to deepen capacity development in the country’s upstream supply chain.
He praised LADOL’s track record of consistency, tenacity and forward-looking momentum, and noted that the qualities had been evident over many years of close engagement with the facility.
He situated the groundbreaking within the broader context of the ongoing global logistics crisis triggered by instability in the Middle East, noting that supply chain disruptions had driven up costs from Singapore to Eko Hotel and across markets in the United States, sparing no economy.
The Executive Secretary who was represented by his Senior Technical Adviser, Engr Austin Uzoka noted that LADOL’s emergence as a credible deep offshore base represented a direct and tangible response to vulnerability in the logistics sphere of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
“Today, we’re pleased that Nigeria has an alternative” he stated, drawing a parallel between the completion of the Dangote Refinery and the expansion of LADOL, and harping that Nigeria’s supply chain was measurably stronger than it was 10 years ago.
The NCDMB chief urged ESSO’s leadership to adopt a front-end-loaded payment structure in its contractual arrangements with LADOL, arguing that timely and adequate funding from the client side would enable the facility to complete the project without recourse to bank loans at cut-throat interest rates.
He noted that cash flow constraints had become a recurring challenge for Nigerian suppliers across the industry, with many approaching the Board for funding support precisely because payment timelines from operators were not aligned with project
