PCTS calls for pan-industry collaboration on performance-based local content
Sopuruchi Onwuka
International oil service contractors operating in Nigeria have called for stronger pan-industry collaboration to unlock full local capacity, improve efficiency, deepen technology transfer, and ensure consistent utilization of in-country investments across the petroleum sector.
Chairman of the Petroleum Contractors Trade Section (PCTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Rosario Osobase, declared in her address to regulators and industry stakeholders at the ongoing Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) that local content should be assessed not only by ownership or participation levels, but by efficiency, safety standards, cost competitiveness, and sustainability.
She said the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) provides an opportunity to shift Nigeria’s local content framework from compliance-driven participation to performance-driven value retention.
Rosario is an eminent member of Women in Energy Network (WIEN), and also the Managing Director of Tenaris Nigeria Limited.
She identified three critical requirements for achieving performance-based local content to include deliberate spur of activity in the industry, optimization of existing in-country job delivery capacity and long-term capacity development.
Osobase stressed the need for a steady pipeline of bankable projects to keep in-country capacity productive and commercially viable, noting that recent developments, including the Bonga North deepwater project, Nigeria’s one-million-barrel-per-day production target, and Shell’s announcement of potential additional investments, signal renewed political will and investor confidence in the sector.
She also cited the Bonga North project as an example of how project certainty can stimulate local investment, noting that Tenaris recently committed an significant $10 million to expand its coating facility in support of local projects.
According to Osobase there should be consistent enforcement of capacity utilization to prevent locally made investments from becoming stranded. She observed that while indigenous service companies operate across land, swamp, and shallow offshore terrains; many international service companies are limited largely to deep offshore projects with constrained volumes.
Such limitations, she pointed out, raise concerns about the long-term sustainability of Nigeria’s production ecosystem.
She advocated partnerships built on mutual accountability and long-term capability development rather than short-term convenience, citing the recent strategic alliance between Baker Hughes and Geoplex as an example of partnerships that support technology transfer, governance discipline, and sustainable local capacity growth.
Osobase emphasized that when these conditions are met, local content becomes a stabilizing force for the industry, creating jobs, reducing inefficiencies, strengthening institutions, and ensuring value is retained efficiently within the country.
Highlighting the role of PCTS, Osobase described the association as a critical bridge between policy intent and operational execution. She said PCTS member companies are technology owners, asset operators, rig contractors, drilling and completion specialists, manufacturers, and logistics service providers that invest capital, carry execution risk, and are accountable for safety, quality, and delivery.
According to her, PCTS members contribute to local capacity development by integrating Nigerian companies into live projects, transferring technology and operational standards, training local engineers and technicians to global benchmarks, and building scalable local supply chains.
She noted that successful indigenous companies such as Depthwize, Dorman Long, and Geoplex are outcomes of sustained collaboration between regulators, international service companies, financiers, and Nigerian entrepreneurs.
Osobase also stressed the evolving role of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), describing the agency as an enabler of industrial competitiveness beyond its traditional compliance role.
She called for effective collaboration between regulators and industry stakeholders, particularly PCTS member companies, as essential step for translating policy into measurable outcomes.
She urged stakeholders to focus less on the volume of localized activities and more on how efficiently value is retained in-country, drawing parallels with Saudi Aramco’s In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) program, which prioritizes performance and global competitiveness.
Osobase concluded that performance-driven local content, supported by structured collaboration across the industry, is key to building resilient African industrial champions and securing long-term growth in Nigeria’s energy sector.
