It is a known fact that the oil and gas business is a big money business and not for the faint hearted. Before, the game was reserved for the big players, the IOCs like Shell, Mobil, Total, Agip, Chevron among others until 1993 when then Petroleum Minister, Professor Jubril Aminu changed the equation when he opened up space for some Nigerian entrepreneurs like Dr. Mike Adenuga to play. But things got more interesting in 2010 when the Nigerian Local Content Bill received presidential assent.
This opened up space for Nigerian oil servicing companies to start playing in the big league. One of those who keyed into the new local content act to become a champion is young business mogul, Ken Edwards Etete through his Century Energy Services Limited, a subsidiary of the Century Group.
This brilliant entrepreneur indeed has a wealth of experience in diverse sectors of the Nigerian economy but his stars seem to shine more in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Throughout the years, Etete, with his subsidiary, contributed about 300,000 bpd to the national output through operations and maintenance of three FPSOs, seven flow stations and nine oil fields, making his company the largest indigenous players in that space in Africa. However, the global pandemic was said to have slowed down his operations as he could not deploy those FSPOs at a full capacity.
Yet, Etete kept his ‘non deployed FPSO’ floating despite its humongous running cost in hard currency. But with the gradual closure to the pandemic lockdown, Spotlight learnt Etete is about to deploy the biggest of those FPSOs, bringing an end to the long drought and thus resume his desire to bring a change in the oil servicing game.
