Alduco Logo

Company News 2021


2021 - Alfredo Jones MD Alduco Engineering Services interview in the Africa Energy Chamber book- African Energy Road To Recovery: How The African Energy Industry Can Reshape Itself For A Post COVID-19 Comeback.

Alfredo Jones MD Alduco Engineering Services

Calling for Local and International Synergies

Established in 2002, Alduco Engineering Services offers engineering and asset integrity services to the oil and gas sector in the Gulf of Guinea. In addition to calling for enhanced collaboration between international and local service providers, the Equatoguinean firms’ vision is to enter the exploration and production scene through marginal field development when the opportunity arises.

Alfredo Jones
Managing Director
Alduco Engineering Services

How can the African oil and gas industry ensure that local service providers remain competitive when the market rebounds?

The industry can embrace local content regulations more stringently, especially by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) encouraging the formation of alliances between their local and international vendors, which will be a win-win for all. The IOCs will be complying with local content regulations and reducing cost. Meanwhile, local companies will be able to participate in the more technical aspects of projects and build up capacity through technology transfer from their international partners.

In terms of opportunities for local service companies within the region, there will be more Brownfield projects (maintenance or expansion of existing facilities) during the COVID-19 pandemic, as opposed to Greenfield projects, of which many are being put on hold or suspended, until the situation improves possibly in 2022.

How would you assess the efficacy of Equatorial Guinea’s current local content framework?

While Equatorial Guinea’s local content framework may not be as robust as that of Nigeria or Angola, our circumstances are different, and we cannot have regulations that ask for the impossible. Equatorial Guinea needs its IOCs to work with the local content department as a partner, instead of as a policeman. Great strides have been made though through the efforts of the local content department in conjunction with the IOCs, as we now have a local country manager of an IOC for the first time; appointed before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also have locals in positions of responsibility including supply chain managers, an engineering manager & superintendents, finance managers, logistics managers etc. This was unheard of a few years ago in Equatorial Guinea.

COVID-19 even though a global disaster has also had its positive side, as the IOCs have increasingly started looking at and utilizing local human resources available in-country. For example, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and due to travel restrictions some of the oil & gas facilities in Equatorial Guinea were almost fully operated by nationals. This trend is expected to continue with heightened enforcement of local content regulations, along with the difficulty of relocating expatriates due to international flight restrictions due to the current global COVID-19 pandemic.

How can African policymakers facilitate a faster industry recovery?

The Bank of Central African States needs to get its act together by implementing foreign exchange policies that will be attractive for outside investors, and which should include ease of repatriation of funds by foreign investors.

Does Alduco Engineering Services have plans for expansion?

We have experience providing various technical services to the oil and gas sector in Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Benin and Republic of the Congo. We plan to start providing services in Uganda, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Mozambique. We are also interested in exploration and production. Our vision is to operate a marginal field in Equatorial Guinea when the opportunity arises. We have plenty of local talent that has been trained by the IOCs in Equatorial Guinea and internationally.








../equatorial guinea flag nigerian flag