(Ecofin Agency) - Eni’s subsidiary Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) has started the development of the Zabazaba deepwater project offshore Nigeria regardless of the low oil price environment, Vice Chairman of NAOC, Massimo Insulla revealed.

Insulla disclosed this in a statement from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).

According to the statement, the company is however, developing the Zabazaba and Etan deepwater integrated project in collaboration with Shell Nigeria Exploration Company on Oil Prospecting Licence 245.

NAOC recently works in partnership with the NCDMB to organize a workshop on the Nigerian Content opportunities available on the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading platform to be deployed for the project.

The statement added that the NCDMB, the NAOC and major stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, are dedicated to achieving high nigerian content levels in the Zabazaba development project.

“The company was embarking on the project when everybody is scared of investing in the oil and gas business around the world due to low oil prices as well as factors related to global economic downturn,” Insulla said imploring the cooperation of all stakeholders towards the success of the project.

He said different workshops would be organized for other packages of the project such as the supply of line pipes for gas export, Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) for umbilical, Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) for pipelines, flow lines, risers and installation, EPC for SPS and wellheads and EPC for Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM) buoy offloading.

The Acting Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Patrick Obah, has said that the board is determined to make sure that the FPSO package gets delivered in line with the provisions and targets set in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act of 2010.

He added that lessons learnt from the assessment and compliance observations performed on Total’s Egina deep water project would be put to use on the Zabazaba and Etan deepwater project, the Nation reports.

Anita Fatunji