MIDWESTERN OIL & GAS ACHIEVES MILESTONE OF 10 MILLION MAN-HOURS SAFETY

An indigenous oil firm, Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Limited, owned by a group of Nigerian investors and the Delta State Government, has achieved operational safety milestone of 10 million man-hours without lost time injury (LTI).

Speaking at the company’s 10 years anniversary, the Executive Director, Technical, Victor Okolo, said achieving such a safety feat, especially in a challenging environment such as the upstream arm of the oil and gas industry, is outstanding, adding that the 10 million man-hours operation without incidence of lost time injury was achieved on September 17. The company has 16 wells.

In Okolo’s own words: “Midwestern Oil and Gas was incorporated in 1999. In 2001, we started our operations. In 2003, the firm was awarded 70 per cent interest in Umusadege field in oil mining lease (OML) 56 located in Kwale, Delta State. We were awarded the operatorship of that field with SunTrust Oil Company Limited as our joint venture partner that holds 30 per cent interest.

“Midwestern Oil and Gas was one of the 29 marginal fields the Federal Government put on offer at that time. The company currently has capacity to produce about 30,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from 3,000bpd. But we have other interests in OML 18, one of the divested assets of Shell Petroleum Development Company through Eroton Exploration & Production Company Limited. We also operate a pipeline through Umugini Asset Company Limited (UACL), a pipeline company which constructed a 51.4km pipeline from Umusadege to Eriemu for injecting crude into the Trans Forcados Pipeline.

“Our space is the upstream oil and gas and it is a challenging environment where we need to exercise a lot of caution in our activities, which spans drilling to production and crude export. All these activities have elements of risks attached to them. In conducting these operations, it is important that all the personnel who are involved in these activities, at a minimum, are able to go back home to meet their families and loved ones. This is what we have achieved as at September 17. 10 million man-hours have been performed without incidence of lost time injury (LTI), which is a significant milestone. Ten million man-hours is a lot of years in the life of a person, but we appreciate that several people are working simultaneously in our operations and cumulatively were able to achieve it. "(Guardian)