The multi-functional Tank Replacement and Upgrade project (TRU) team has been commended for its excellent performance in the execution of the project.

The team got the commendation during the handover ceremony of Tank 5 to the operations group at the Escravos Tank Farm and Terminal. TRU is an initiative by the company to improve the integrity of terminal tanks to meet regulatory and Operational Excellence requirements.

The team, which comprised NNPC/ Chevron employees and third party contractors, successfully executed the project with no recordable incident or Lost Time Injury (LTI). Apart from the high quality job delivered and its safety performance, the project has further enhanced the capacity of Nigerians because it was executed by an indigenous company, Baywood Dextron Venture (BDV), thereby extending the scope of Chevron’s intervention in the Nigerian Content Development initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Speaking during the commissioning,the Group General Manager NAPIMS, Mr. M. A. Fiddi who was represented by the Deputy Manager, Mechanical for NNPC/NAPIMS, Mr. Akin Britto, said that NAPIMS had been involved with the project from inception and commended the team for not giving up in the face of challenges. He noted that NAPIMS would continue to support the tank repair and upgrade project because of its importance to the JV operations.

In his speech on the occasion, Mr. Augustine Emelobe, General Manager, NNPC/JV Operations, commended the team for its significant achievements in repairing and upgrading the tank without any safety incident. Mr. Emelobe said he was happy that the team followed the company’s Standard Operating Procedures and other safety guidelines, though they might have looked stringent to the contractors that worked on the project. “I am happy that those initial challenges were overcome. I am also happy about the new competencies acquired by Nigerians on the project through capacity and mentorship initiatives that members of the team were exposed to during the execution of the project”.

Mr. Ememe Ugo, Project Manager, thanked both the group and the first team that did the Front End work in the early Chevron Projects Developments Execution Phase (CPDEP) of the project for ensuring safe and seamless execution. He also commended the safety records of the team but cautioned that complacency must be avoided to sustain the good records.

He thanked the JV partner and CNL management for their strong support to the project, adding that Lessons Learned Sessions would be held soon to enable quicker execution for the next tanks (3 and 9). He also thanked the Policy, Government & Public Affairs (PGPA) team for its support in resolving issues as they arose during execution. In his remarks, Mr. Henry Ehondor, Manager, Terminal and Infrastructure, spoke on the significant achievement by the team. “I am proud of the team for the high quality of the job delivered, working like a team and achieving 700,000 man hours with no lost time,” he said.

Mr. Chris Baywood, the chief executive officer of BDV, thanked the JV partners for the opportunity given to them to work on the tanks project and assured that safety would remain its watchword with regard to the project. The attendees later toured Tank 5 where the facility was officially handed over by the Facilities Engineering group to the Operations group.