To some, saying we are what and where we are by the grace of God sounds like a cliché, but it is true.How do you explain that Kayode Thomas (KT), a Business Analyst and I, an IT Project Manager, neither of whom had lived, nor worked in Nigeria (post-university education) nor in the industry, could share a dream about setting up and building an upstream Oil & Gas service company that is still around in 20years? God has truly been gracious.

God ordered our steps in the first instance to join forces to form a troika. The significance of John Akindele Rockson (JAR), joining KT and I– being three equally different personalities pulling in the same direction to achieve a common vision- cannot be overemphasized. This gave us the stability to grow trust within the team, an attribute that served us very well. It also gave us a richer network of friends and family to help us in those formative years. I give the glory to God.

Each of the three founding directors got their dream job. The first three offices we had in London (Hammersmith), Lagos and Port Harcourt were all rent-free favours from well-meaning people who just wanted to help us get off the ground. We had a mentor in London who was very familiar with the Nigerian Oil & Gas industry and was generous with his time, knowledge, and experience. We met with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) representatives who chose to be very helpful and kind.

While we were trying to determine what product lines to focus on, Glassfibre Reinforced Epoxy (GRE) piping solutions selected us. And just as we were debating dropping it for something less niche, we ran into an advert in the newspaper that indicated it may be a good product line to hold. As if these were not enough, a prospective client presents us with an opportunity to partner with them on the first Nigerianbuilt FPSO –Shell’s Bonga. This first major assignment was to go and do some remedial work with a team of two people for one month. Only God can explain how that turned into an eighteen-month project with a 24-man team.

Just the same way, a few years later, only God can explain how a company that had turned down our request for collaboration could call back two months later to offer us the opportunity to partner with them on a multi-million-dollar Line pipe project for Addax on OML 123.

In the journey from adolescence to adulthood, Bell Oil & Gas enjoyed favor with many people who wanted to see us succeed. The legal firm Aina Blankson & Co, who registered us with CAC, offered us their office as our first business address in Lagos at no charge. Beyond that, they did not charge us for legal advice and company secretarial services for so many years because their principal interest was to see us grow.

God also brought in many exceptional individuals who started their Oil & Gas careers with us, contributed to our growth, and have now gone on to become C-suite executives within the industry.

What about the mercy of God? How else can we explain that we have not had any Lost-Time-Injury (LTI) in just under three million man-hours of work across various terrains in twenty years? We have sent people into confined spaces and tanks, and we have worked at eyewatering heights. We have worked with hazardous chemicals and with radioactive chemicals in Well Testing campaigns. And we are recognized as the experts of working with Glassfibre and other composite material across west Africa that generates dangerous fiber-dust. We have had campaigns that required our team to work through the night and on the odd occasion, we have had eighteen-and twenty-four-hour assignments at critical points in projects on behalf of our clients. We have had people traveling across the Niger Delta region at all hours of days and nights, and to the glory of God, we have not had any serious incidents. I attribute these to the mercy of God beyond all else.

But we have not shied away from our responsibilities either. The Lord led us to pursue achieving ISO safety and quality standards which we achieved by 2010. He blessed us with indigenous staff and consultants alike who pulled out all the stops to ensure that this young company that provides services to the most safety-conscious clients in the country would be able to not only achieve the ISO safety standards but will be able to implement a world-class Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that will enable us serve
our customers better.

About ten years ago, we conceived the idea that Bell Oil & Gas should one day be a manufacturing company. This began the journey of traveling across the globe to find suitable partners and has led to the capital raise that has made “Project Evolution” possible. Project Evolution is our recently completed facility situated at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos state that has given us new capabilities in OCTG threading as well as Valve Assembly and Repair. In addition, it has also allowed us to relocate our Glassfibre Spooling Workshop to this bigger facility. Through this part of our journey, I have also seen the hand of God rest upon, and lead us through.

The company has been blessed with so many staff who have worked as if they own the business. We have seen so many awake to their true potential. I have seen young adults become responsible married men and women who now have families. At each stage of our growth, the Lord brought us the kind of people we needed for that particular phase.

When I look at the journey over the last 20 years, all I see is the goodness of God. He kept us alive, protected us, and provided for us through each of the wilderness seasons. Most importantly, He has given us a vision much bigger than ourselves that the entire Bell Oil & Gas family is witnessing.’

Thank you, Lord, for your grace and mercy.

Ayo Aderibigbe
Deputy Managing Director