Learning from AMEC's Oil and Gas Asset Support ... - CommDev

standards. In practice, this may involve little more than an extended briefing at the end of themonthly sub-contractors forum, open to those firms interested in progressing to specificinternational standards. If it is the case that Fluor-AMEC does not have the right expertise, thenother organisations could be invited to the event to provide an additional input, for example, thePhilippines provincial business councils or the Bureau of Product Standards within theDepartment of Trade and Industry 36 .• Comprehensive Business Development (cost – high; risk – moderate). Sub-contractors andsuppliers may also need business finance assistance. For example, in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, anew special purpose subsidiary of Shell International recently joined forces with the WBG’s IFCand a local bank to provide a finance and business management support to local suppliers andsub-contractors. The result was a financial credit scheme– the Oil Services Local ContractorRevolving Credit Scheme that targets oil field service SMEs with over 30% locally ownershipand/or 30% employment of residents from the province. The aim of the scheme is to help localfirms move up the ‘value chain and technology ladder’ 37 . The main international servicecontractors to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria are not yet involved inthe scheme, although it is not inconceivable that long-term service contractors might contribute tothe fund.There is some evidence of contractors providing training and business support to local suppliersand sub-contractors in conjunction with such financial support schemes. For instance largecontractors in the Enterprise Centre for BP’s operations in Azerbaijan undertake businesssupport activities 38 .In the Malampaya project, the importance of the PHC contract for all asset-based procurement 39 ,combined with the precedence for local sub-contractor support set in other oil and gas producingregions, presents an opportunity for Fluor-AMEC to propose a similar finance and businesssupply chain management support facility to SPEX. Fluor-AMEC’s experience in providingcompetency and systems-development support to the majority of the Malampaya supply chainmakes it well positioned to make a credible proposal to SPEX. The proposal should preferablybe directed at sub-contractors and suppliers based in or employees drawn from the provinces ofOriental Mindoro, Palawan and Batangas. The proposal should also seek the cooperation ofother parties to provide some of the risk finance and business support services. Such groupsinclude the provincial business councils, provincial governments of Oriental Mindoro, Palawan36contact point for ISO in the Philippines: Bureau of Product Standards, Department of Trade and Industry in Manila, 3rd Floor Tradeand Industry Building, 361 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue, PH-Metro Manila 1200 – http://www.bps.dti.gov.ph37International Finance Corporation (2003) IFC’s Board Approves Support for Credit Facility in Nigeria’s Niger Delta –Press Release,June 29 th , 2001.38Enterprise Centre: http://www.ecbaku.com/39as voiced by one SPEX employee during the April 2004 visit: “We’re totally dependent on these guys [Fluor-AMEC] for the successof the [Malampaya] project”.41