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Challenges before Chima Ibeneche, new NLNG helmsman
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Chima Ibeneche
When Christopher Michael Haynes, outgone managing director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, joined the company in 2004, NLNG had only three trains with a total output of 13 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum.
When Christopher Michael Haynes, outgone managing director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, joined the company in 2004, NLNG had only three trains with a total output of 13 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum. It could only boast of three million metric tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) per annum.
The NLNGPlus and NLNG Train Six existed only in the papers and minds of the project promoters.
Again, before Chris came on board, the company had entered into sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) with five buyers from Europe, while the Bonny Gas Transport, over which Chris later sat as vice president, had only 10 ships.
However, in less than four years, Chris was able to move the company from a three-train facility to a six-train affair, with a total production capacity of 22 million metric tons per annum of LNG and five metric tons of LPG.Chris added Train Four and Five in 2005 and 2006 respectively, with Train Six coming on stream last year.
With 16 sales and purchase agreements (SPAs), the number of buyers also rose from five to 11, while its ships increased to 23 that deliver gas, not only to receiving terminals in Europe, but also to the United States and the Far East. The impact of NLNG in the LNG market has positioned Nigeria as the second largest producer of LNG after Qatar by 2011.On the domestic front, the company came to the country’s rescue when acute scarcity of LPG, otherwise known as cooking gas, hit the country from late last year to the beginning of this year.
The company signed six SPAs with six companies to supply the local market 25, 000 metric tons each and additional 50, 000 metric tons. This was the state of affairs of NLNG when Chris handed over the baton last week to Chima Jonathan Ibeneche,, having attained the age of sixty years.
The former managing director had successfully transformed the plant from construction to production.
However, despite the remarkable progress of the company, there are still challenges before the new managing director. Analysts say his role will be to make a successful company even more successful and bring more value to all the stakeholders- shareholders, customers, host communities and the government.
These are indeed enormous challenges.The new helmsman admitted that though the company had been very successful, it could be more successful.
The performance in the area of safety is good, but the company still records fatalities in its operations.
Chima alluded to this fact but quickly pointed out that the company could still do better in safety performance.” For me, the only acceptable standard in safety is of course, no injuries, no fatalities and then we operate day in day out with no harm to anybody who works with us.
We have some way to go in that direction,” he explained. There is also the challenge of making the Nigerian employees of the company to get the maximum opportunity to show what they can do, to demonstrate that they can deliver if given the opportunity.
Again, there is the challenge of delivering adequate returns on investment. The shareholders are concerned with the profitability of their investment and the new managing director has to demonstrate that their holdings are not only secure but also profitable.
The challenge of delivering maximum returns on a $6 billion investment is indeed enormous, but analysts say Chima, a renowned petroleum economist, is not new to challenges.
Finally, there is the challenge of the environment. The company has to consistently earn acceptability by the host communities. Chima acknowledged these three major challenges and promised to pay attention to them.
”So, my challenge will be to balance these three forces: the desire for returns by the shareholders, the expectation from the Nigerian economy and the Nigerian state, and the expectation from the neighbourhoods in which we work.
And you cannot succeed in one and leave the other. You have to succeed in all three. For me, getting the balance will be a fundamental achievement and I intend to do it,” he said.
Oil and gas analysts who had watched the antecedents of the petroleum economist say he is equal to these challenges.
According to Siene Allwell-Brown, general manager, External Relations of NLNG, “that Chima is coming from one successful venture to another successful venture should make things easier for him.
But NLNG is another ball game altogether. In so many things, NLNG is described in superlative terms. But Chima knows,” She said.Indeed, the new NLNG boss has distinguished himself in other assignments that required enormous experience in the oil and gas industry, as well as international exposure. In 2004, Chima Ibeneche was appointed managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), the company that pioneered deepwater oil exploration in the country.Today, the project, which is called Bonga, is contributing 225, 000 barrels a day to the country’s daily crude oil output.
Bonga ranks among the best within Shell experience, and is used as a benchmark by other deepwater projects in the country.
Initially, the issue was whether such deepwater field could come on-stream in this part of the world, a territory without deepwater infrastructure.
Before Bonga, experts noted that was no such project had been undertaken in sub-saharan Africa. The technical success of Bonga is legendary. Its success is used as a benchmark, not only in the Shell Group, but also in other western oil majors. In fact, Bonga is said to be the basis for learning by projects like the ExxonMobil’s Erha deepwater, Chevron’s Agbami and Total’s Akpo field.
Chima has spent 29 years working within the oil and gas environment- 26 years in Shell and three years in Schlumberger, where he started out in 1978 after graduating from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with a first degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering.Before becoming the managing director of SNEPCo, Chima had held several other positions in Shell Group.
He was sent overseas on assignment as senior petrophysicist, Land Operations in Nederlandse Aardolle Maatschaappij, a Shell/Esso company in Assen, Northern Netherlands.
He later returned to Nigeria to become the divisional chief petrophysicist in charge of all subsurface formation well data acquisition. Chima was also chief petroleum engineer in the Western Division of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
He was later sent overseas as petroleum economist, Europe and Africa, at the Shell International Headquarters in The Hague, Holland. On his return to Nigeria, he was the acting petroleum engineering manager, western division and later, human resources manager.
The new helmsman thereafter became the deputy development director and corporate well engineering manager at SPDC, a position he held until 2002, when he became services director.
With his array of experience in the oil and gas industry, analysts predict that Chima will be a success story in his new assignment.
The NLNGPlus and NLNG Train Six existed only in the papers and minds of the project promoters.
Again, before Chris came on board, the company had entered into sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) with five buyers from Europe, while the Bonny Gas Transport, over which Chris later sat as vice president, had only 10 ships.
However, in less than four years, Chris was able to move the company from a three-train facility to a six-train affair, with a total production capacity of 22 million metric tons per annum of LNG and five metric tons of LPG.Chris added Train Four and Five in 2005 and 2006 respectively, with Train Six coming on stream last year.
With 16 sales and purchase agreements (SPAs), the number of buyers also rose from five to 11, while its ships increased to 23 that deliver gas, not only to receiving terminals in Europe, but also to the United States and the Far East. The impact of NLNG in the LNG market has positioned Nigeria as the second largest producer of LNG after Qatar by 2011.On the domestic front, the company came to the country’s rescue when acute scarcity of LPG, otherwise known as cooking gas, hit the country from late last year to the beginning of this year.
The company signed six SPAs with six companies to supply the local market 25, 000 metric tons each and additional 50, 000 metric tons. This was the state of affairs of NLNG when Chris handed over the baton last week to Chima Jonathan Ibeneche,, having attained the age of sixty years.
The former managing director had successfully transformed the plant from construction to production.
However, despite the remarkable progress of the company, there are still challenges before the new managing director. Analysts say his role will be to make a successful company even more successful and bring more value to all the stakeholders- shareholders, customers, host communities and the government.
These are indeed enormous challenges.The new helmsman admitted that though the company had been very successful, it could be more successful.
The performance in the area of safety is good, but the company still records fatalities in its operations.
Chima alluded to this fact but quickly pointed out that the company could still do better in safety performance.” For me, the only acceptable standard in safety is of course, no injuries, no fatalities and then we operate day in day out with no harm to anybody who works with us.
We have some way to go in that direction,” he explained. There is also the challenge of making the Nigerian employees of the company to get the maximum opportunity to show what they can do, to demonstrate that they can deliver if given the opportunity.
Again, there is the challenge of delivering adequate returns on investment. The shareholders are concerned with the profitability of their investment and the new managing director has to demonstrate that their holdings are not only secure but also profitable.
The challenge of delivering maximum returns on a $6 billion investment is indeed enormous, but analysts say Chima, a renowned petroleum economist, is not new to challenges.
Finally, there is the challenge of the environment. The company has to consistently earn acceptability by the host communities. Chima acknowledged these three major challenges and promised to pay attention to them.
”So, my challenge will be to balance these three forces: the desire for returns by the shareholders, the expectation from the Nigerian economy and the Nigerian state, and the expectation from the neighbourhoods in which we work.
And you cannot succeed in one and leave the other. You have to succeed in all three. For me, getting the balance will be a fundamental achievement and I intend to do it,” he said.
Oil and gas analysts who had watched the antecedents of the petroleum economist say he is equal to these challenges.
According to Siene Allwell-Brown, general manager, External Relations of NLNG, “that Chima is coming from one successful venture to another successful venture should make things easier for him.
But NLNG is another ball game altogether. In so many things, NLNG is described in superlative terms. But Chima knows,” She said.Indeed, the new NLNG boss has distinguished himself in other assignments that required enormous experience in the oil and gas industry, as well as international exposure. In 2004, Chima Ibeneche was appointed managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), the company that pioneered deepwater oil exploration in the country.Today, the project, which is called Bonga, is contributing 225, 000 barrels a day to the country’s daily crude oil output.
Bonga ranks among the best within Shell experience, and is used as a benchmark by other deepwater projects in the country.
Initially, the issue was whether such deepwater field could come on-stream in this part of the world, a territory without deepwater infrastructure.
Before Bonga, experts noted that was no such project had been undertaken in sub-saharan Africa. The technical success of Bonga is legendary. Its success is used as a benchmark, not only in the Shell Group, but also in other western oil majors. In fact, Bonga is said to be the basis for learning by projects like the ExxonMobil’s Erha deepwater, Chevron’s Agbami and Total’s Akpo field.
Chima has spent 29 years working within the oil and gas environment- 26 years in Shell and three years in Schlumberger, where he started out in 1978 after graduating from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with a first degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering.Before becoming the managing director of SNEPCo, Chima had held several other positions in Shell Group.
He was sent overseas on assignment as senior petrophysicist, Land Operations in Nederlandse Aardolle Maatschaappij, a Shell/Esso company in Assen, Northern Netherlands.
He later returned to Nigeria to become the divisional chief petrophysicist in charge of all subsurface formation well data acquisition. Chima was also chief petroleum engineer in the Western Division of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
He was later sent overseas as petroleum economist, Europe and Africa, at the Shell International Headquarters in The Hague, Holland. On his return to Nigeria, he was the acting petroleum engineering manager, western division and later, human resources manager.
The new helmsman thereafter became the deputy development director and corporate well engineering manager at SPDC, a position he held until 2002, when he became services director.
With his array of experience in the oil and gas industry, analysts predict that Chima will be a success story in his new assignment.
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