WorldStage Newsonline– The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has confirmed that Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Company Ltd. (SEEPCO) is notorious for violating the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010, particularly the Expatriate Quota, Succession Plan and Deployment of Expatriates Guidelines and Expatriate Work Temporary Work Permit Guidelines, despite being an indigenous company in Exploration and Production (E&P) business.
This is coming as the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) recently protested at the Lagos headquarters of SEEPCO, over alleged anti-labour practices and expatriate abuses.
NCDMB in a statement acknowledged the protest and comments of PENGASSAN’s President, Mr. Festus Osifo and confirmed that it had sanctioned SEEPCO a few years ago for gross violations of the NOGICD Act, while assuring the union and the general public that it would investigate the current allegation exhaustively and take necessary actions.
Confirming that it had been engaging SEEPCO over past expatriate infractions, NCDMB listed past abuses which SEEPCO failed or partially rectified to include; In 2017, the NCDMB identified five expatriates deployed by SEEPCO without obtaining the relevant NCDMB approvals. As a result, NCDMB penalized the company for this non-compliant deployment of expatriates. To remediate this, SEEPCO trained five Nigerians in Marine Engineering and Subsurface Drilling Engineering for nine months.
Also in 2018, NCDMB said it identified 402 expatriates deployed by SEEPCO without approval. Additionally, NCDMB discovered projects, contracts, and purchase orders from multiple projects that were awarded and executed without appropriate approvals.
NCDMB said it penalized SEEPCO for these infractions and directed it and its affiliates to take the following actions disengage the 402 expatriates and provide evidence of their disengagement and exit to the Board; commence and comply with the NCDMB Expatriate Quota application process; comply with the Board’s requirements for tendering and awarding projects, contracts, and purchase orders; complete the Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF) reconciliation exercise and pay outstanding remittances; submit up-to-date statutory reports on Nigerian Content and comply with the review process; and train and employ 40 Nigerians as part of the remediation/penalty.
“Regrettably SEEPCO ignored those directives until the Board commenced legal proceedings against the firm, in line with section 68 of the NOGICD Act,” NCDMB said.
“In 2020, SEEPCO sought an out-of-court settlement and committed to addressing the compliance issues and undertaking the remediation. SEEPCO completed the training of 40 Nigerians in 2022, but the employment commitment was not achieved. Additionally, SEEPCO made only partial NCDF remittances.
“SEEPCO has refused to respond and comply with other Nigerian Content requirements.”
NCDMB also noted that in 2023, SEEPCO obtained Expatriate Quota approval from the Board for three positions, but from its records SEEPCO had been granted only seven expatiate positions between 2017 to 2023.
So far, NCDMB said it had requested for statutory submissions from SEEPCO and scheduled performance review session for March 2025.
It commended PENGASSAN leader for acknowledging that qualified Nigerian personnel were occupying top leadership and technical positions in most international and indigenous operating oil and gas companies, and performing creditably in those roles.
It said the feats that Nigerians are executing complex functions in the floating production and storage and offloading (FPSO) platforms like Bonga, Agbami, USAN, AKPO, Egina, including performing almost all operations in the oil and gas industry during the COVID-19 pandemic and kept the industry afloat, after most expatriates returned to their home countries were accomplished through NCDMB’s strategic implementation and enforcement of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010, particularly the Expatriate Quota, Succession Plan and Deployment of Expatriates Guidelines and Expatriate Work Temporary Work Permit Guidelines.
“NCDMB is committed to the effective implementation and enforcement of the NOGICD Act in the oil and gas sector, with a view to creating employment opportunities for Nigerians, deepening Nigerian Content and boosting the economy,” it said.
“The Board will not fail to sanction firms that flagrantly flout provisions of the NOGICD Act. The Board welcomes collaboration of stakeholders, including oil unions towards achieving the intendments of the NOGICD Act.”
SEEPCO is an indigenous company that ventured into Exploration and Production (E&P) business in the year 2005 bid round held by Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and was successful with license OML 143 (formerly OPL 280).
SEEPCO was able to reach its first oil within two years of signing the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in record time. This makes SEEPCO one of the few producing companies out of 77 successful bidders that signed the PSC in Nigeria during 2005 bid round.
SEEPCO has been producing Okwuibome (OKW) Blend of crude oil since 2011.
