AG Butler, the marine services provider for on and offshore oil companies, has revealed plans to invest $500 million over the next three years and provide work for 600 Nigerians as it moves into the oil drilling industry.
AG Butler Nig Ltd. plans to invest in drilling rigs and platform supply vessels for its onshore drilling operations. It will employ around 600 people either directly or indirectly when drilling operations commence.
Company CEO, Charles Emeka Amadi, said that AG Butler has been working in collaboration with the largest manufacturer of land based drilling rigs, the Honghua Group, to produce two land based drilling rigs of its own. The rigs will be the most advanced of their type in Nigeria, according to Mr Amadi who said that they would be well built, consume less fuel, provide good accommodation for the crew and be less noisy than the standard models.
Representatives from AG Butler, government officials from the Department of Petroleum Resources as well as a regulator from the Nigerian oil and gas industry and officials from the National Petroleum Development Company, travelled to China recently to inspect the rigs at the Honghua Group plant. Both rigs passed a battery of tests provided by both companies. The first drilling rig is expected to arrive in Nigeria in October and the second in January of next year.
One of the drilling rigs will be used by the National Petroleum Development Company which is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the second by other international oil companies.
The operations will supply work indirectly for 500 to 600 Nigerians, Mr Amadi said. Around 250 employees will be directly employed.
AG Butler also expects to take delivery of a number of platform support vessels from Honghua Group. The first of these vessels should be ready to leave China at the end of October, arriving in Nigeria by the end of November or early December. Many more are expected to follow over the coming twelve months.
The company plans to become one of the world’s leading exploration and production companies for the oil and gas industry. It has been providing on and offshore services for oil production companies since 2007, specialising in supply and utility vessels, survey boats, diving vessels and tankers for crude oil and petroleum. Clients include international oil production companies such as Chevron, Mobil and Addax as well at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
CEO, Mr Amadi, explained that the move into drilling will enable the company to become a ‘one stop shop’ for the upstream oil sector, also known as the exploration and production sector.
Manufacturers from Honghua Group will be on hand to train the AG Butler workforce for the first six months of operations.
AG Butler prides itself on being an indigenous company, using only Nigerian resources, both human and financial. The new drilling rigs and supply vessels will cost in the region of $500 million and will be financed in partnership with two Nigerian banks: First Bank of Nigeria and Guaranty Trust Bank, also known as GTBank.
Nigeria Gazette 