NCDMB indicts SEEPCO Limited on multiple regulation breaches
Sopuruchi Onwuka
There appears to be no respite for the embattled Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company (SEEPCO) Limited in its war with the organized labour movement as the government’s regulator, The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), has formally indicted the company on multiple cases of regulatory breaches.
The NCDMB in a statement on Monday confirmed allegations by the protesting Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) against SEEPCO Limited over anti-labour practices and expatriate abuses.
The regulator however took a swipe at claims by the labour union that tee erring company was left unchecked to operate with impunity in the industry.
In a statement issued by its corporate communication department, NCDMB declared its commitment to effective implementation and enforcement of the NOGICD Act with a view to creating employment opportunities for Nigerians, deepening Nigerian Content and boosting the economy.
“The Board will not fail to sanction firms that flagrantly flout provisions of the NOGICD Act,” it stated, while calling on all stakeholders, including labour unions, to collaborate in “achieving the intendments of the NOGICD Act.”
In thanking PENGASSAN for pointing out the alleged expatriate quota abuse by the management of Sterling Oil, the NCDMB assured the union and the general public that “we would investigate the matter exhaustively and take necessary actions.”
The regulator stated in the release that SEEPCO Limited is very familiar brand in its default register, saying that the company has remained a recalcitrant defaulter.
“We can confirm that NCDMB had sanctioned SEEPCO a few years ago for gross violations of the NOGICD Act. Recently, we have been engaging the company for the same reasons,” the NCDMB stated.
The regulatory agency listed over five instances of brazen breaches of the law by SEEPCO Limited and all official responses to bring the company to compliance, regretting that SEEPCO Limited flagrantly refused to align with the provisions of the law governing operations in the industry.
“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.
“In 2018, NCDMB 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,” the NCDMB narrated.
NCDMB stated it penalized SEEPCO for the outlined infractions and directed the producing company and its affiliates to disengage the 402 expatriates and provide evidence of their disengagement and exit; and also 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.
The NCDMB also directed the company to 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 and penalty.
“Regrettably SEEPCO ignored those directives until the Board commenced legal proceedings against the firm, in line with section 68 of the NOGICD Act,” the agency lamented, adding that SEEPCO later in 2020 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,” NCDMB further pointed out.
The agency made it clear that SEEPCO has refused to respond and comply with other Nigerian Content requirements.
From the NCDMB’s records, SEEPCO obtained Expatriate Quota approval from the Board for three positions in 2023. The company has been granted only seven expatiate positions between 2017 and 2023.
“The Board has requested for statutory submissions from SEEPCo and scheduled performance review session for March 2025,” the NCDMB declared.
In dwelling on the performance of the agency in protecting gross national interests in the petroleum industry, building local capacity for job execution and creating employment opportunities for Nigerians; NCDMB commended PENGASSAN for acknowledging that qualified Nigerian personnel are occupying top leadership and technical positions in most international and indigenous operating oil and gas companies, and are performing creditably in those roles.
The board agreed with the labour union that Nigerians are executing complex functions in the floating production and storage and offloading (FPSO) platforms like Bonga, Agbami, USAN, AKPO, Egina, and others.
“Indeed, Nigerian oil and gas workers performed almostall operationsin the oil and gas industry during the COVID-19 pandemic and kept the industry afloat, after most expatriatesreturned to their home countries.
“These feats 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.
“The successes were also enabled by the several Nigerian Content capacity building interventions that prepared and placed qualified Nigerians in key positions in the oil and gas industry.
Through enforcement and compliance oversight, the Board ensured that 609 technical positions were Nigerianised for the period 2020 to 2024,” the board stated.
The NCDMB however clarified that its roles in expatriate quota approvals and compliance and enforcement are applicable to only companies with investments or executing projects in the oil and gas industry. It explained that non-oil and gas expatriate quota utilization does not come to the board, but rather directly to the Ministry of Interior.
