Enaibe Hands Over The Lead Driller‘s Baton

By Foluso Ogunsan

Ote Enaibe has taken the final bow from the stage as Chairman of Africa’s only Association of Hydrocarbon Drilling Professionals.

The Executive Committee that he led, handed over the baton to a new guard at the end of November 2019.

It was the third baton exchange since the Nigerian Chapter of International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) was launched in 2011.

Mr. Enaibe, whose daytime job is Group Sales Marketing Manager at the Nigerian drilling firm Depthwize, had a busy tenure, to go by his own telling at the 8^th Annual General Meeting, his last conference as the top boss.

The Chairman attended the Drilling Africa Conference 20^th-21^st February 2018 in Portugal, where he canvassed for IADC Nigeria to host the next Drilling Africa Conference 2020. Visa provision difficulty and perceived insecurity issues led to IADC Committee recommending the closest option as Accra, Ghana (which does not have an IADC chapter). IADC Nigeria attended the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)-Rig Operators Conference in Port-Harcourt on October 10, 2018. The DPR’s 18^th International HSE Biannual Conference held in Lagos from November 26-28 with IADC fully represented: the Vice-Chairman doubled as a panelist; and the chapter’s administrator and Treasurer were members of the Conference Planning Committee.

IADC held two Technical Sessions in the year 2018, starting with a Business Outlook seminar at its Secretariat in February, keynoted by Dolapo Oni, (then) Head, Energy Research at Ecobank. The second quarter of that year featured the annual Health Safety and Environment (HSE) Award, co-located with a technical session at which Ubong King, a motivational speaker, Moses Tsado of NipeX and Emmanuel Opaleye of the DPR addressed the proceedings. Cardinal Drilling won the HSE Award for the year 2017, presented at that event. Hisham Zebian, IADC Representative Middle-East and Africa, was present. The 7^th Annual General Meeting took place on the 7^th of December to wrap up the association’s business year with total attendance of 103 persons at all organised events.

New Guard Plus One: Left to Right, Vice-Chairman Valentine Iheasirim, Secretary-General Temitope Pitan, Treasurer Abioye Omoseni, Hisham Zebian, IADC Representative Middle-East and Africa and Chuks Enweriji, Chairman IADC Nigeria Chapter.

Mr. Enaibe told the general meeting that IADC Nigeria deepened its relationship with government agencies under his watch.  DPR, the industry regulatory agency and NipeX, the arm of the state hydrocarbon company NNPC with responsibility for administering the contractors’ database, featured prominently at IADC Nigeria’s HSE Awards ceremony. Such is the depth of the IADC Nigeria/NipeX relationship that no service company can partake in bidding process in NipeX-for drilling- without an IADC Nigeria Local Certificate. Nor can any local company partake in rig bidding be it land, swamp, offshore or deepwater without possessing the IADC Nigeria Chapter Certificate.

1. Enaibe was also a magnet for new members. From 2018-2019, membership size increased, with 10 new members joining the fold, 4 Full Members joined with fees of ₦1,650,000 ($4,541) and six Associate Members joined with ₦650,000 ($1,789) only. The Full members are largely rig operators while Associate membership is open to non-rig operators.

ACTIVITIES BEGAN IN 2019 with set mandates and the sum of ₦23,625,000 (¬$65,000) approved as budget by the Board of Trustees (BOT) at the 2018 AGM to achieve the IADC Nigeria’s functions for the year. Technical session for the first half of the year was held in the same event with the HSE Award on June 11. The Chinese Consular-General in Nigeria presented a paper on Chino-Nigerian business relationship, after which Rotimi Ashely-Dejo (one time top drilling engineer with Chevron Nigeria Limited), delivered a talk on Well Control. KCA Deutag won the HSE Award for the year 2018.

The IADC Nigeria resolved in the year to

• Be the “go-to” resource base for drilling contractor services in Nigeria, including monthly rig counts.
• Participate on platforms that discuss topical industry issues affecting drilling and completions services such as the DPR- Rig Owners/Operators Workshop that took place October 2019 in the South-South city of Warri with Chairman Ote Enaibe delivering a paper.
• Increase visibility within the oil and gas community and among Industry regulators.
• Collaborate in resolving industry issues- Permits, licences, Offshore Safety Permits for rig workers, streamlining inspections-Category “A” licences and Rig Drilling Licences.

The association’s constitution dictates the Chairman’s position to be replaced by the Vice-Chairman who served with the former. The three elective positions are Vice-Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary. The voting process for Executive Committee members must have a member company recommending a person from their rank who’s then ratified by two member companies and if unopposed gets selected for the role.

With former Vice Chairman Chuks Enwereji (who works as Security Manager, West Africa at Shelf Drilling) taking over as Chairman from Enaibe, Valentine Iheasirim of OES Energy Services becomes the new Vice-Chairman, Abioye Omoseni of Aviam Offshore Services who was Acting-Treasurer, becomes the Treasurer while Temitayo Pitan, Depthwize’s Head of Legal Services, becomes the Secretary General.