C & I Leasing Plc Partners OCS Services DMCC in Joint Venture

C & I Leasing Plc over the weekend in Lagos, announced a joint venture partnership with OCS Services DMCC (OCS) India.

The joint venture which would operate in Nigeria under the brand name OCS Integrated Services Nigeria Limited (OCSISNL) was set up to operate and maintain offshore assets with emphasis on floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) units used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the production and processing of hydrocarbon and storage of oil.

Speaking to newsmen at the official unveiling of the partnership to a group of stakeholders in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, Managing Director of C&I Leasing Plc, Mr. Andrew OtikeOdibi, said the partnership was like bringing together two forces, adding that, “C & I Leasing has strength in marine services and managing marine assets. OCS is a specialist in managing and operating FPSOs. OCS is an affiliate of PW Offshore, one of the top most FPSOs providers in the world. So what this does is that it brings the expertise of PW Offshore in to the country and C & I Leasing has a partner with strength in the Nigerian oil and gas industry that we can provide that specialized service to operators in the industry.”

The joint venture, he said, was expected to offer excellent, differentiated service to businesses in the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector by leveraging on the cumulative decades of experience and expertise from both organisations providing offshore support in Africa and Asia along the lines of business process outsourcing, personnel management, offshore vessel operation and maintenance.

He stated further that the joint venture operating as ‘OCSISNL’ was also committed to impacting the sector by identifying and nurturing talent in the sector and creating prospects for more jobs and skill development opportunities for interested young Nigerians.

Speaking on the size of the market in Nigeria, he said, “There are other FPSOs or FSOs like Agip’s Abo, which is being managed by BW Offshore, Oriental Energy has an FSO that it is working with, so there are opportunities even in Chevron. You might not have the total outsourcing of the maintenance, but you can have some of it and that for us creates a room for growth. We believe that once the expertise and the professionalism is seen and with the use of the Nigerian oil and gas advantage that C & I Leasing has then we should be able to gain traction in that industry.

“C&I Leasing Plc serves both indigenous and multinational organisations in Nigeria along three business lines: Fleet Management, Business Process Outsourcing and Marine Services. The Company which has its shares listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange since 1997 has been in operation since 1991 and is currently invested in two subsidiaries; Leasafric (Ghana) and EPIC International FZE (United Arab Emirates) in addition to six office locations in Nigeria,” he added.