PETAN urges indigenous firms to consolidate for bigger oil projects
By Yunus Yusuf
The Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Mr Wole Ogunsaya, has urged indigenous oil and gas companies to consolidate their technical and financial capacities to compete for larger projects.
Ogunsaya said consolidation would also enable Nigerian companies to take advantage of opportunities arising from the divestment of oil and gas assets.
He made the call during a panel session at the 2026 NAEC Energy Conference in Lagos.
According to him, Nigerian companies cannot continue to operate as fragmented small players if they want to compete for projects worth millions and billions of dollars.
He said consolidation would help indigenous firms build stronger brands, pool resources and deliver larger contracts.
Ogunsaya said the growth of local content had created more Nigerian players in the industry, but the next stage was to build companies with the scale and capacity required to execute major projects.
He urged companies to pool their resources where individual firms lacked the capacity to execute large contracts.
“What we are starting, and have started, is what we call Technical Interest Groups, or TIGs. What this means is that members providing similar services are grouped together,” he said.
He explained that where a company could execute only part of a major contract, other firms within the group could combine their capabilities to deliver the full project.
“We say, look, if there is a $10 million job and you can only do $2 million, all other members within your Technical Interest Group should come together and ensure that you deliver that job at cost and on time,” Ogunsaya said.
He said the approach had already been applied in the fabrication sector, where indigenous companies combined their capabilities to build local fabrication capacity and compete for projects previously executed outside Nigeria.
According to him, the experience demonstrated that local companies could develop the capacity to handle larger projects by working together rather than operating with fragmented capabilities.
“We have many players in the industry. At a point, we have to consolidate,” he said.
Ogunsaya said consolidation could involve mergers and other forms of collaboration, similar to the consolidation that took place in Nigeria’s banking sector.
“I see that happening within the industry as these opportunities emerge and mergers take place,” he said.
The PETAN chairman, however, stressed that consolidation should not prevent new companies from entering the industry.
“The intention is not to prevent other people from coming in. The consolidation is what will help us make sure we are prepared for these big projects that we are looking forward to,” he said.
Ogunsaya also called for indigenous companies to be given priority when oil and gas assets were being divested.
“When assets are going to be divested, the indigenous companies should be considered first,” he said.
He said greater participation by Nigerian companies in oilfield services and asset ownership would help retain more value within the domestic economy and deepen local capacity.
Ogunsaya said the objective should not only be to increase the number of Nigerian companies in the industry, but to develop indigenous firms with the scale, technical capacity and financial strength to compete for major opportunities across the oil and gas value chain.
