At the forefront of Nigeria’s infrastructure modernisation

Nigeria

Usman Mohammed, CEO of New Energy Services Company (NESSCO), talks to The Energy Year about the company’s joint venture with Technomak, its growth strategy and its efforts towards digitalisation and technological advancement. NESSCO is a fully indigenous provider of EPC, facility maintenance and upstream oil and gas services.

Can you give us an overview of NESSCO’s development and main services?
NESSCO was incorporated in 2003 as a lifting operations and maintenance provider, and it has grown into an EPC and facility management company able to support complex oil and gas and infrastructure projects. We are also ISO:9001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 certified, and we operate a state-of-the-art 5,000-square-metre construction and fabrication yard in Port Harcourt.
We recently commenced hose fabrication, pressure testing and crimping services on top of our regular IMR [inspection, maintenance and repair], testing and installation services. We received from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board a Nigerian Content Equipment Certificate (NCEC) Category A, the highest available in the country. It certifies the company’s quality in the fabrication, manufacturing, assembly and maintenance of cranes and hoists in Nigeria.

What was the rationale behind forming the Technomak New Energy Services joint venture?
Technomak New Energy Services Limited is a JV between NESSCO and Technomak. Technomak is an integrated engineering, design, fabrication and installation company operating in the UAE, Kuwait and India. NESSCO holds 51% of the shares and Technomak holds the remaining 49%.
This venture aims to create a full-fledged EPC company that will also look for opportunities in the EPC management sector in both onshore and offshore activities. We are participating in several tenders, but it is taking more time than expected. The process is long because it starts from the pre-qualification, and then moves to the technical and commercial stages.
If a company is lucky enough to be a preferred bidder, there will be another stage of commercial clarification before the award. Thanks to this JV, we can tender for contracts beyond NESSCO’s operations by bidding with Technomak and leveraging their international recognition.

What is NESSCO’s current footprint?
In 2021, we signed a two-year contract with TotalEnergies, which entails the lifting, installation and maintenance of heavy equipment. We also renewed our current contract with ExxonMobil offering the same services. We are operating in the Lekki Free Trade Zone by upgrading the infrastructure’s power and water capacity. We are focusing on offshore activities, but we want to operate onshore as well.
We have recently signed a contract in Angola with a local company. The contract is divided into three parts: dismantling an old crane, supplying a new unit and installing it. The crane is manufactured by an American company that is going to be our partner. Even though the work is in Angola, we are deploying Nigerian people there.
NESSCO, in collaboration with Eiffage Group from France, is engaging the state government, IOCs, and the NDDC [Niger Delta Development Commission] in infrastructural projects by developing unibridges across Nigeria; they are not common in Nigeria and we are pioneering them by raising awareness.

What is the company’s growth strategy?
If the government decides to launch a revolution in infrastructure, more cranes will be needed. We have the required expertise, but we lack materials, which is why we are moving entirely into manufacturing. We are expanding our workshop’s size to 20,000 square metres by bringing in more machines and personnel; we engaged more technicians from France and around the world in 2022 and are expecting some equipment for the United States. We hope to finish the expansion by the end of 2022.
Once operational, this renewed workshop will enable us to expand our domestic footprint while being able to sell our equipment to third parties. The prospective impact is enormous because it would allow us to manufacture in any part of the world and assemble here. Nigeria as a whole will benefit because it will be a significant source of employment. We are currently looking for technical and financial partners for this expansion.

How is NESSCO positioned regarding digitalisation and technological advancement?
We launched the NESSCO Lab, which will drive our digitalisation agenda in the future. Most of the cranes and lifting equipment are old and outdated; we want to modernise them by deploying an online platform where we can approach efficient and modern manufacturers from all around the globe. We are recruiting young professionals in-house because they represent a valuable resource. NESSCO Lab will put us ahead of the market.

How can NESSCO contribute to Nigeria’s energy transition?
At NESSCO, we want to drive the change our industry needs and be at the forefront of the local service industry’s ability to embrace the challenges of our time. While we remain loyal to our core business and competencies, we also invest in new capabilities to support Nigeria’s energy transition, including renewable energy projects.
We are an engineering company. As such, we can offer pipeline services such as pipe-laying. The global scenario is moving towards gas developments, and we are positioning ourselves accordingly. Our sister company, Tesco Equipment Nigeria, is involved in transporting heavy equipment for the AKK pipeline and NLNG Train 7.

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