The Nigerian logistics and marine company, Atlantique Marine and Engineering Services(AMES), has cleared a large tract of land between Benin and Koko, two towns in the Midwest of the country. The company is building an inland logistics base to provide land logistics, marine, warehousing and supply chain distribution network. “We are well placed to serve exploration and production companies, oil servicing companies and real sector manufacturing organizations working on land and onshore in the Northwestern Niger Delta basin”, says Engr. Femi Oluyede, Atlantique Marine’s managing director. The size of land currently in use is about 30 hectares, with an additional 15 hectares earmarked for the immediate future development.
The base is designed to have: Two(2) 20X20,000square feet warehouses, a 20 Room office block to accommodate AMES staffs and other customer staff operating within the base. A maintenance workshop to maintain the company’s light and heavy logistics fleet, which will include Low-bed Trucks, Flatbed Trucks, Forklift and Cranes of varying capacities that will be utilized to deliver customers’ goods and equipment.
The impetus to develop an Inland logistics base came from the realization that the Gas Master Plan calls for a 1 bcf/d Central Processing Plant as well as Petrochemical Plant which, originally scheduled to be built at Koko, have now been moved to Ogidigben (65 km west of Koko).
“We believe that if we have the facility built according to standard, oil and gas operators and business organization’s in that part of the Niger Delta will have a reliable and safe place to keep, offload materials and equipment as quickly as possible and remove and transport them much easier than they now do”.
Atlantic Marine (AMES) hopes to engage the gas division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which is driving the Gas Master Plan, to “build the AMES facility into their (NNPC’s) construction plan”. They also hope to talk with the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), which is based in Warri and are looking forward to discussions with the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the operating arm of NNPC, which has grown rapidly, in the last two years, with equity production of about 105,000BOPD and 250MMscf/d. “What the company is proposing to NPDC is an integrated logistics solution, to provide long term logistics support for all the company’s field operations cost effectively. “All they need to do is to call us if they need trucks, cranes, forklifts and we would help them deliver to their operational locations. We have the capacity to build efficiency into field operations”, Oluyede explains.
AMES is also engaging the Nigerian content monitoring board (NCMDB) to discuss possible partnership in line with their plans to have various logistics bases within the Niger-Delta area to store small and large OCTG produced at the plant in the proposed plant mill at Yenagoa, Bayelsa state. AMES considers its base as complimenting the NCMDB effort to further domicile oil and gas activities within the country and create jobs that would add value to federal government transformation agenda. “We are in full support of this agenda and are investing accordingly to support this agenda for the betterment of the Nigerian society”, Oluyede says.
The company hopes to get some licenses from the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Commerce to enable her operate to support the federal and state governments within the zone. It is currently working with Standards Organisation of Nigeria(SON) to achieve the ISO 9001 Certification status.
“We are the closest logistics base to all the land and swamp operators within the area” Oluyede says, referring to companies like Sahara Energy (which plans to drill its first wells in Oil Prospecting lease (OPL 274) in the vicinity, NPDC, and Seplat Petroleum, which runs three or more rigs in different locations within the area. Other companies within the area are Pan Ocean, Pillar Oil, Energia, Midwestern, and Platform Petroleum who are all potential operators that should consider the AMES base for their operations support activities. Atlantique Marine is in partnership with a company in KOKO to provide standard jetty and quayside, to bridge its deficiency in lack of quayside facility. “I have been around a while, and there’s no such service providers like ours in the North-West Niger Delta”, says Oluyede, who has worked as a drilling Engineer, field Engineer and Operations Coordinator and has been in Business Development, Sales and marketing functions, as well as Business Manager for various service companies and multi-national organizations in Nigeria and elsewhere.
The other principals of Atlantique Marine (AMES) have worked for both top notch oil service companies and E&P operators, including Halliburton, Shell and Chevron.
Olufemi Oluyede himself obtained degrees in Mechanical/Production Engineering and holds a Master degree in Telecommunication Management from University of Maryland, USA and has received various awards and certifications. He has worked previously in management levels in Shell and Chevron before proceeding abroad to live and work. He has diversified knowledge in Telecommunications With over 13 years of experience working with various US agencies and as a defence contractor of the U.S. Department of Defence. He has conducted electronic surveillance and intelligence operations within the U.S and outside the US spanning rural, urban, mobile and remote areas including direction finding, detection and tracking, Surveillance of both Convoy and Dismounted Operations.
Outside his oilfield logistics and marine operations experience, Femi’s extensive experience in the Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and Radiation Hazards (RADHAZ) has provided him opportunities to lead a team effort on EMI/EMC measurement and analysis of Counter-Remote Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED) Systems to support the U.S. Army Electronic Warfare Systems and U.S. Missile Defense Agency (Defense Information Systems Agency). He has also worked in different areas of secure, encrypted wireless broadband communication systems ranging from Radio Frequency design, planning, Integration and Optimization. His experience also includes design and support of Location Base Systems for the U.S. Enhanced 911 Emergency System.
