We see, Nigeria Content as Competence, Not Patronage —Solomon Ewanehi

Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mr Solomon Ewanehi,SOLEWANT Group speaks to correspondent of Nigerian NewsDirect during the open day  of the company in Port Harcourt recently. Excerpts:

Tell us about Solewant Group

Solewant Group established in year 2,000,  is an integrated oil and gas organization, that provides steel pipes, pipe  coating solution,  pipe/metals fabrication and pipeline construction solutions, to Oil, Gas and Water Industries . Our business is built-on expert knowledge, professionalism, outstanding customer service, timely delivery of projects at the highest level of quality and laudable safety and environmental management standards for all the clients that we serve.

We pride ourselves with trained and experienced personnel, cutting -edge technology based facilities, excellent supply-chain partners and well-articulated procedures designed to improve the earliest project execution.

Kindly tell us more about your services?

In the early years of our operations, Solewant started off from the field, providing field coating and specialty services to our  clients at onshore, swamp and offshore locations. We later upgraded our systems and facilities to provide Factory applied anti-corrosion, concrete weight coating and world class laboratory services which was commissioned in November 2016. Furthermore, we saw the need to provide a one stop shop for fabrication and construction services which saw us set up our fabrication facility at our pipe/metals industrial area.

Solewant Industrial area is a 132,000 sqm facility which houses our pipe coating plant, concrete weight coating plant, ultra-modern laboratory, fabrication facility,  storage and preservation facilities.

What are your takes about the Nigeria  content Development policy in the oil and gas sector?

For us in Solewant we see Nigeria Content Development as Competence, Not Patronage. As a member of the Petroleum Association of Nigeria (PETAN), We are grateful to the Federal Government for the local content policies that have helped in the growth of our organisation and the industry at large. The Nigerian oil and gas industry need for steel line pipes is increasing rapidly and local content policies has strategically positioned organisations like ourselves to harness this opportunity. Before now, IOCs or  Foreign Engineering, Procurement and Construction Companies will opt to get these line pipes from the Euro-American or Asian markets, coat the pipes, and ship finished product into the country without any value added in Nigeria. Now, Nigerian content Development policy has helped investors of  pipe and pipe coating industries  in Nigeria. We wish to thank Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for  their continued support, opportunity and platform they provided .

Tell us about the partnership Solewant has with other foreign companies?

Solewant is strategically positioned to provide the services that we render to the oil and gas industry. With our strategic foreign partnerships, we ensure that our clients are provided with the best-in-class services to assist in their project delivery.

Solewant is in partnership with KEMA Coatings of Canada, Vallourec SA of France, Canusa CPS, a Member of the Seal For Life Group, SMS Group of Germany, Selmers BV of Netherlands and many more.

Tell us more about the expansion of your Canusa Heat Shrink Sleeve processing centre?

Our partnership with Canusa CPS (A member of the Seal For Life Group) is strong and they are the world’s largest provider of advanced pipeline coating systems with over 86 years of experience. Canusa CPS is the formulator of pipeline polyethylene wrapping tapes, Pipeline sealants and liquid coating solutions. Our unique partnership oûers the Nigerian pipeline owners and their partners better value than simply importing the already manufactured  and finished products to Nigeria.

Through this partnership, Solewant will start the installation of a world class heat shrinkable processing plant, inventory stock-up, and also provide  pipeline field coating application solutions. This processing plant and field applications will assist the Nigerian oil and gas industry in the following ways:

• Assist NNPC, IOCs and EPC companies in fulûlling their obligation by fast tracking project execution in the oil and gas industry.
• Domesticate the production of Canusa world-class heat shrink sleeves (HSS) and epoxies in Nigeria and to increase indigenous participation in oil and gas industry.
• Employment generation and increase in the training of personnel.
• Support Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in the delivering of its objectives of increased local content drive on pipeline construction and protection solution in all oil and gas project operations in Nigeria.
• Technology transfer and know how to Nigerians.

What impact has your products made in the oil, gas and water sector?

We use oil , gas and water  every day and pipelines are the safest way to deliver these products from source to point of need. Quite frankly, we rely on oil and gas products to meet most of our daily energy needs along the oil and gas value chains. You will agree with me that most water reservoirs are functioning but the transportation pipelines are essential to deliver water to citizens. So, our pipe production facility and pipeline protection solutions that we offer for oil, gas and water onshore and offshore project execution assists in, increase in-country capacity in line with the objectives of NCDMB, enables project owners to save time and minimize costs due to quick turnaround and delivery time, employment generation and foreign exchange conservation.

 Who  are your clients and  prospects?

As a result of the development of our pipe/metals industrial Area , we work for almost all international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria , Federal and State Ministry of water resources, Private Water Industries, the Nigerian oil companies(NOCs),Engineering, procurement and Construction Companies.