The following article was published by The Nation on June 4, 2013. To see the original article, please click here.
Fabrication Yard To Begin Operation In August
June 04, 2013
The fabrication yard being constructed at the Snake Island in Lagos by Kaztec Engineering Limited, a leading oil service company and a subsidiary of the Chrome Group owned by business mogul, Sir Emeka Offor, will begin operation in August, it was learnt.
The fabrication, which Kaztec is building with its technical partner, Addax Petroleum Limited when operational, will be fabricating jackets, topsides, and other equipment as well as develop a lot of talents in the process.
A Director of the company, Mr Tochukwu Odukwe, who spoke to The Nation at the Kaztec’s stand during the offshore technology conference (OTC) in the United States, said the company showcased its capabilities at the event and attracted numerous international and Nigerian companies that have shown interest to do business with it and also collaborate in different areas.
He said: “We showcased our capacity in engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning in the oil and gas industry. Specifically, in pipeline construction, Kaztec has done tremendously well in this area. We have installed over 145km of pipeline offshore and we have done a lot of heavy leads, which is one of the biggest attributes and capabilities we have, which many companies in Nigeria don’t have.
“On the fabrication facility we are setting up in Snake Island, it is going to start earnestly at the end of August. Our first order which is the Anthan platform and jacket, we are starting construction from the first week of September. From August, you will see operation going on at the fabrication yard. Also in 2014, we will be fabricating a 1600 ton jacket for a Gabonese company.” He, however, didn’t disclose the name of the Gabonese company.
Odukwe also dispelled fear of competition in the emerging fabrication and construction sector of the industry noting that Kaztec is the industry leader. “In Kaztec we have the best team. Members of this team came from different companies globally and Nigeria. For instance, the CEOL of Thailand, one of the famous fabricating companies, we have seven experts that we hired from there that are working with us now. We don’t have any problem with competition. As a matter of fact, we are leading in the area,” he said.
He said the conference opened window that enabled the company to create a lot of synergies. “We met a lot of companies that are interested in Kaztec and are willing to do business with us. Some of the Nigerian companies that don’t know what we do came to have information about us and a lot of international companies have shown interest to do business with us. We had a rewarding exhibition,” he added.
Kaztec’s consultant, Dr. Njideka Kelley, corroborated Odukwe. She said: This year’s OTC has given Kaztec a platform that is better than what we had last year. There are several international and Nigerian companies that have built collaboration with Kaztec. We have a database that is almost filled to capacity. We are still collecting information and collaborating and partnering and we intend to keep developing that line of work because as Odukwe rightfully said, synergies is what it is all about.
Kaztec is a global company not just a Nigerian company because we are doing great things. We are 100 per cent Nigerian company with global vision. As you can see we believe and implement local content to the highest level but with global vision, standards and practices. That is what drives our business.
Besides, we are dynamic in building our community relations. In the communities where we operate we carry out developmental works and they work with us and in terms of technology, what makes Kaztec stand out is its research and development division. This is a platform we are building and want to use to bring new technology to identify the problems that exist within the market and that we do through collaborative efforts with other companies all over the world, she added.
