Kaztec Engineering Ltd

Kaztec Engineering is working fast to complete a 35-hectare fabrication yard, a move which will create 20,000 jobs and push the company closer to the goal of becoming leader in the West African sub-region.

The fabrication yard on Snake Island in Lagos, Nigeria, will bring immense benefits to the oil and gas sector in the surrounding region, including in the area of wealth and job creation, according to Nigeria’s Minister for Transportation, Idris Umar.

The 35-hectare fabrication yard has been reclaimed and is in use for steel storage and erection, said Onochie Anyaoku, Chief Consultant for Kaztec Engineering Limited.

More than 2,000 metric tons of steel has been delivered to site and deck fabrication for two awarded projects is ongoing.

The workshop and warehouse structures are being erected in parallel with this. The foundations of which have already been poured and cured. The sheet pile quay wall has been completed as has the dredging of the fabrication yard’s barge mooring basin. 

Equipment such as gantry cranes, state of the art 200-tonne erection crawler cranes and self-propelled modular trailers (SPMT) have already been delivered or are in the process of being cleared.

Bringing benefits

Technical Director for Kaztec Engineering Limited, Adebanji Babarinde, said: “We are very proud because it (Snake Island project) will bring a lot of benefits to the local area.

“We have engaged quite a lot of people in the village in site planning, site operations and equipment installation, which is going to have an effect on the people around.

“There are jobs for them to do and I believe that will continue, you cannot quantify the effect of that on the families, so it is quite welcome there.”

The Snake Island Project is believed to be a $1 billion plus project to convert unused swamp land into a massive engineering facility.

This facility, the likes of which has never been seen in Africa, will service the oil and gas sector and will boost rig construction and the industry involved with other such complex offshore structures and equipment in the region.

The project should be completed by 2016 and will include a leading training academy.

Rising high

Kaztec, renowned for being a wholly indigenous company, will see its employee count increase from roughly 400 to about 5,000 thanks to the site.

The ambition of the company is to become the number one indigenous EPIC contractor in Nigeria.

Anyaoku said: “In five years’ time, Kaztec will be the number one indigenous EPIC contractor in Nigeria. This will be achieved by helping our clients lower their capital costs and by continuing to put up sterling performances in the projects that we are involved with now.”

Babarinde added: “We should be leader in the West African region in the kind of business that we are doing, thanks to our fabrication yard.

“That should place us as number one in the West African sub-region, because of the plan and the way that we have started it. I think we should be the leader in fabrication and for the very heavy offshore facilities in the next five years.”

He added: “We will focus on training, update our assets and our expertise and develop our human capacity.”

Poised to capitalise

Kaztec is also working on a large project 60 km south of the shore of Calabar for Addax Petroleum, installing subsea pipelines.

This has taken three years so far and involves fabrication, installation of pipeline and other sub-sea facilities and platforms commissioning of facilities.

Anyaoku said: “It is quite a big step for the company, before we started this project our concentration was on the onshore works, but this project has taken us to offshore installations and it is the biggest project that we have worked on and we are still working on it.”

He added: “The big change now in Nigeria is seeing oil companies move away from the onshore shallow water to deep offshore. Kaztec is preparing to take advantage of every opportunity that will be available by way of the experience, assets and manpower that we are putting together.”

Chrome Group

Kaztec is part of Nigeria’s multibillion-dollar Chrome Group. Babarinde said that the Group and its sister companies provide a network of resources and services. 

By combining the core competencies of those companies it allows Kaztec to provide a more comprehensive approach in both the tender and execution phase of EPIC projects.

Now Kaztec is following a current trend which is seeing the utilisation of purpose-built dynamically positioned offshore diving and construction vessels. 

The requirement of these is becoming stricter due to the minimised risk of damage to subsea assets.

“Ownership or long-term commitment of such vessels could better position Kaztec for future projects,” said Babarinde.

Assets

Kaztec has a pipelay barge called the Ekulo Cheyenne and a towing, anchor handling and utility tugs called the Ekulo Spirit and Ekulo Explorer which are designed to meet offshore anchor handling and vessel tow challenges safely and efficiently.

The company also owns an accommodation vessel, the Ekulo Tornado, which also has a dive-support capability.

The Tornado, a four-point mooring dive support vessel, has accommodation for 83 persons in fully air-conditioned cabins, clear 350m2 deck space (Shelter deck space 230m2) complete with 19 tonnes deck crane and a moon pool making it an ideal platform for maintenance and diving/ROV support operations.

These are made in places such as China and the UK and are global industry-standard.

“Our assets are quite fit-for purpose,” said Babarinde. “We have been using the DLB (Ekulo Cheyenne) for offshore pipe laying, lifting and installation of decks and platforms offshore and is quite suitable for most of the jobs we are handling, and I think that presents us with a unique and competitive advantage over some of our competitors.” 

Nigerian to the core

A major area of difference that Babarinde and Anyaoku emphasised is that Kaztec is a 100 percent indigenous company, conducted and owned by Nigerians.

Another is the company’s passion for Health and Safety. It has recorded a good record on health and safety with numerous certificates of commendation.

Kaztec also likes to give opportunities to its local staff.

Babarinde said: We do not relegate them to the background, we give a lot of responsibilities to them. I think that is quite significant when you compare with other companies.”