A N72 billion ($200 million) intervention fund, a single digit interest pool of loan designed by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Bank of Industry (BOI) set exactly a year ago today to support the growth of the local companies in the oil and gas sector, is now ready to be accessed by oil companies resident in Nigeria.
The fund, named Nigerian Content Intervention Fund or NCI Fund, is designed to provide loans to Nigerian companies involved in manufacturing in the oil and gas industry as well as firms seeking to acquire assets, especially rigs and marine vessels, Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said last year.
The fund is also expected to cover contract financing for Nigerian oil service providers, contract financing for oil and gas community contractors and contract and loan refinancing for service companies that already have facilities with Nigerian banks.
Now a year after its launch, about 11 companies are said to have been approved to access the loan at 8% interest rates out of 45 companies that applied. Details of the companies approved for the funding are not made public yet.
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