Chuks Enwereji, IADC Nigeria Chair, Sues For Continuous Training

Chuks Enwereji gives tips on rewarding drilling business

OpenLife Nigeria reports that yet again, it was another session of high hopes and business recovery optimism as players and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry converged on Wednesday, May 26, at the 2021 HSE Awards & Technical Session Webinar of the Nigeria Chapter of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, IADC.

Declaring the Session open, chairman of the Nigeria Chapter, Mr. Chuks Enwereji of Shelf Drilling Offshore, reiterated the Chapter’s commitment to its core objectives of promoting operational efficiency and safety standards in line with global environmental compliance.

He noted that the reported fresh wave of the pandemic may deflate optimal drilling expectations.

Nonetheless, Goldman Sachs’ has predicted higher crude oil prices by the end of the year.

Also, there are concerns that a revival of the Iranian nuclear deal will lead to an increase in global supply and the market is anticipating the Iran’s supply will pick up again by late summer.

This notwithstanding, it is expected that the demand recovery will be strong enough to absorb it.

Enwereji therefore, urged members to prioritize spending on training and retraining of its staff to meet industry standards.

While making his opening remarks, he disclosed that “IADC members in Nigeria have increased to 45. Some rigs have gone back to work,” adding that the chapter’s 10 rigs in February 2021 “Have increased to 12 in May, signaling a slight market recovery.

He however encouraged members to follow government guidelines and continue to put in place measures to ensure and protect the health and wellbeing of all employees, visitors, and third-party contractors.”
Speaking on Well Control & Equipment Re-certification: Resilience and Strength, Effiong Okon, Executive Director, Operations for SEPLAT, deepened the conversation with the April 20, 2010 Macondo industrial disaster which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico with multiple fatalities and above 4.9 million barrels oil spill.
The SEPLAT’s Executive Director, Operations supported Enwereji’s earlier call for training and pointed out that “There are gaps in training; There are gaps in Research and Development (R&D).”
“Sometimes, some decisions are taken to cut cost, but it could end in great catastrophe if attention is not paid to adequate training and other key parameters to avoid loss.”

He lamented the near absence of “Research Centres in Africa, low rig counts, bottle neck in local content compliance and high variable cost of doing business. He stressed that the opportunity which the webinar avails to address these challenges should serve as the turning point.

Okon further solicited for considerable efforts to improve “Planning, data analysis, hardware barriers and oil well control failures so that we can shape the future.”
“Hardware is needed for drilling, but with ICT, you can predict situational variables accurately,” he advised.

He added that despite low productivity and fragmented market including capital inadequacies, opportunities abound in Nigeria’s oil and gas space because it has come to stay. With new rigs, there are lots of businesses ahead.
He urged members to develop strong and reliable corporate governance and desist from cutting corners during integrity test saying “At SEPLAT, we raised $600 million bond and the bond was oversubscribed because of our strong corporate governance.
“Ensure you carry out scheduled maintenance according to manufacturers’ recommendations and adhere to control mechanism,” he advised the drilling contractors.
Adding his voice, Hisham Zebian, IADC Vice President, Eastern Hemisphere, emphasized the importance of being happy on the job saying “IADC is poised to keep members abreast of latest innovations in the industry. But our resort to webinar is due to travel restrictions occasioned by the pandemic.”
He disclosed that the global drilling association has included more technologies like High Movement, like Artificial Intelligence, Face Recognition, etc on its training programmes. “We bridge knowledge gap through smart programmes,” Zebian stated.

Presenting plaques to members who participated in the 2020 Incident Statistics Program (ISP), and the winner of the best performance in 2020, Valentine Iheasirim, IADC Nigeria Chapter Vice Chairman noted that the essence of sharing knowledge through the webinar is to “Sustain and build culture of safety given that drilling operations cut across land, swamp, shallow and deep waters. He explained that year 2020 was challenging but some members weathered the storm and operated safely and successfully.
Following the award criteria and the independent committee’s report, Shelf Drilling Nigeria Limited posted the best safety performance and emerged as the winner in the 2020 Incident Statistics Program (ISP).
IADC Nigeria Chapter also recognized individuals for the Exemplary Service Awards, which included the awardees as listed – Augustine Avuru of SEPLAT; Engineer Olanrewaju Ojo-Aromokudu of Chevron; Omolola Ani of ExxonMobil; Effiong (Effy) Okon of SEPLAT; Dr. Emmanuel Ogagarue of AITEO Group and John Dada of Aviam Offshore Engineering Services Limited. The awardees were recognized for their outstanding contributions to IADC Nigeria Chapter and their commitment to improving and enhancing safety, training, and advancement of technology throughout the Oil & Gas industry.
For its sponsorship of the event, SKLD Integrated Services Limited, a multi sector company, providing industrial garments, safety boots, fire resistant work wares, school uniforms and procurement services at wholesale and distribution levels, was also recognized.