Thompson & Grace Investment Unveils Engineering Services Installations

Fledging oil and gas servicing company, Thompson & Grace Investment Limited (T&GIL) at the weekend unveiled its multi-million Naira engineering services facilities before the business communities in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Inaugurating the facilities installed in a vast expanse of land located at Kilometre 16 Port-Harcourt-Aba Expressway, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Ernest Nwapa applauded the vision of the indigenous company, T&GIL for providing services in machining and mechanical maintenance in not only oil and gas, but other sectors of the economy such as aviation, marine and agriculture.

The engineering facilities house newly installed CNC multi-functional turning-boring milling machines for the production of complex higher precision machine parts, mega cranes and other lifting and fabrication equipment and a standard training centre.

Nwapa described the engineering facilities as “a major addition to Nigeria’s capacity for manufacturing equipment,’ adding that “as a Board, we will ensure that these facilities and others being set up are put to use and sustained for the benefit of Nigerians and the Nigerian economy.”

Nwapa noted that government is a continuum, and pledge that the Board of NCDMB will “continue to create enabling environment for companies such as yours to thrive.

With the number of equipment you have here, Thompson & Grace Investment has surpassed the expectations of the Nigerian Content Act.”

He noted that training is key and advised that “Nigerians should not limit their knowledge to what they acquired in the university or polytechnic, but from institutions such as the T&G Institute of Technology which has created opportunity for active employment of Nigerians, make Nigerians to do things by themselves and create things on the shopfloor.”

Earlier in his address, President/Managing Director of Thompson & Grace Investment Limited, Dr. Isaac Thompson Amos said that the company which is 100 per cent Nigerian is an “Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contractor in the oil and gas sector.”

T&GIL acquired WFL M120 machine “which is the first of its kind in Sub Saharan Africa to support the company’s innovative strategies.”

He explained that the machine has the “unique capabilities in the production of components with complex geometry such as Wellheads, Christmas Trees Ship Crankshafts, aircraft turbines, etc. The machine’s capabilities are driven by the number of axes, and the computer numerical controls behind it.”

Amos noted that the installed WFL M120 machine will boost the growth of the economy as it is designed to provide solutions in aviation, oil & gas, automobile, manufacturing as well as the agricultural and minning sectors, thereby revere the economic trend in Nigeria where most of the mechanical components are imported to the detriment of the nation’s technological development.

According to Amos, “T&GIL business interest began with the provision of technical support services in critical engineering procurement supply to the oil companies.” Similarly, he explained that the company renders “services in structural and pipeline fabrication.”