Alook into oil inspection and certification in Africa

Starting us offin the the first edition of 2025 is Roland Ntabanou, the Business Development Lead, Bureau Veritas Fuels Division in Africa. Roland has 20 years of experience in oil inspection which he has gained from working with different companies. He takes us through this landscape in Africa and how Bureau Veritas is involved.

1 Could you describe your journey in the oil industry from your first job to your current position?

My career so far has been very exciting, cutting across almost all segments of the Oil Industry. My journey began 20 years ago when I gained employment in an Oil Inspection company as a chemist. After my initial industry training, I was immediately assigned to work as a chemist on an Offshore Crude Oil Production Platform; a position that I held for a few years and that contributed immensely in developing my passion for the industry. Thereafter, I was promoted to the position of laboratory supervisor assigned to support 3rd party petroleum inspection operations in a local refinery. Iwas privileged in this position to learn the fundamentals of petroleum refining and products quality specifications and to develop skills in technical leadership and mentorship.

After spending about 8years with my first employer, my journey then continued with my next employer into the Oilfield service industry where Icommenced my international career working as a field engineer in the reservoir sampling and analysis segment, supporting many oil & gas well testing projects in East Africa and the Middle East. In this position, I occasionally worked as Test Data Acquisition specialist and Drill stem testing specialist. My oilfield journey lasted for 5years.

My next employment was back in my home country, Cameroon, for an international downstream petroleum distribution company where I spent five years in several positions such as laboratory manager, lubricant quality leader, and Lubricant field sales &technical support Manager. This was the experience that led me into the fascinating lubricants industry and began my journey in a sales organization.

For the past 2 years I have been privileged to work for Bureau Veritas Fuels division, where Iam responsible for business development of the Oil and Petroleum service line in Africa. This role enables me to apply all the knowledge, experience and skills which I have gained over the past 20years to contribute to improving my company’s bottom-line.

2 What does your work entail as the Business Development Lead for Bureau Veritas Group in Africa entails?

At Bureau Veritas (BV), Business development combines aseries of initiatives meant to help grow the company’s activities organically and inorganically. Business development goes beyond sales and encompasses market intelligence, design and application of new solutions, establishing new business units in new territories, equipping field teams with the appropriate capabilities, leveraging and benchmarking expertise across several geographies and ensuring high service levels are maintained for business continuity.

3 Could you tell us more about Bureau Veritas and its activities in Africa?

Bureau Veritas is aleading testing, inspection and certification company providing expert conformity services across various industries. In Africa, our ‘Fuels’ division which I represent, covers a range of services mainly bulk petroleum quantity & quality inspection and certification services; blending, additivation and cargo treatment services, onsite laboratory management, oil condition monitoring, petroleum storage facilities audit, monitoring loss investigation services, calibration services and meter proving. The usual commodities are crude oil, petroleum products, LNG & LPG, marine fuels, Hydrogen, bio feedstocks, base oils and lubricants.

4 How is Bureau Veritas involved in the lubricants industry?

Bureau Veritas has a rich service portfolio in the lubricant industry. Lubricants testing especially oil condition monitoring is one of the pillars of BV Fuels. Bureau Veritas operates Oil Condition Monitoring (OCM) laboratories around the world and in Africa. Our test slates identify trends in wear and contamination and pinpoint changes in the physical properties of lubricants, fuels and coolants to improve equipment reliability in both the industrial and heavy-duty markets. From setting up test programs to taking representative samples to managing the data using our online AI supported LOAMS flatform, Bureau Veritas has an OCM program to fit every individual need.

5 Bureau Veritas has been engaged in the oil industry’s Testing, Inspection, and Certification services (TIC). What are the different things that are tested specifically for lubricants?

Our laboratories are accredited, and they test physical and chemical properties of petroleum products and lubricants using standard & industry approved test methods.

Generally, the parameters tested on oils-in-service can be divided into three (03) categories: First, the oil degradation, that is the Physical & chemical properties of the lubricants with respect to the blenders or industry specifications; second, the state of contamination from foreign materials like water and dust and last, the state of wear of the organs being lubricated.

6 Looking at Africa’s lubes industry, how would you rate the knowledge of the continent on the different tests done on lubricants and the understanding of their importance?

In Africa, there is awide knowledge gap in the segment of lubricants and lubrication. From blending and manufacturing, to storage, applications and quality control, some lubricant users lack the basic knowledge to optimize their lubrication activities. Lubricant chemistry is a niche sector with a significant shortage of specialists across many African countries so many end users are not sometimes able to understand and interpret laboratory reports. Alot must be done to bridge the knowledge gap and fortunately some organizations and peer associations like Petroleum Institute of East Africa (PIEA) are constantly taking initiatives to improve awareness and knowledge sharing through webinars, conferences and industry publications.

7 Bureau Veritas started operating a lubricant testing laboratory in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2024. How has the reception and business been?

Bureau Veritas saw a gap in the market offering reliable independent lubricant testing facilities and decided to embark on the project which is afull capability testing laboratory providing independent testing on engine oils, gear &transmission, hydraulic and other industrial oils. The response has been tremendous so far with many blenders, distributors and marketers using our facility.

8 Does Africa have enough testing capacities in the lubricants industry? If so, is it used to maximum capacity, and if not, what needs to be done to increase the capacity?

Lubricant chemistry is a niche sector with a significant shortage of specialists across many African countries so many end users are not sometimes able to understand and interpret laboratory reports.

The landscape for petroleum testing facilities in Africa is limited especially with respect to lubricant testing. Even the few existing lube oil laboratories do not have full capabilities to test every type of lubricant oil, greases or specialty products. It is worth noting that expanding laboratory capabilities requires huge capital investments that must be backed by a market demand for these analyses.

No, the landscape for petroleum testing facilities in Africa is limited especially with respect to lubricant testing. Even the few existing lube oil laboratories do not have full capabilities to test every type of lubricant oil, greases or specialty products. It is worth noting that expanding laboratory capabilities requires huge capital investments that must be backed by a market demand for these analyses. To steer up the market demand for these tests, increased awareness on the importance of testing, astrong regulatory framework and quality enforcement programs are necessary.

9 What are some of the challenges you have come across in the lubricants testing space?

There are challenges such as high initial investment cost and high operating costs - most equipment, spares, reagents and consumables are imported into the continentlack of sufficient skillful maintenance professionals, low market pricing for analysis, low knowledge of the importance of lubricant quality by end users hence relatively low demand for testing.

10 Regarding the skill set required to conduct the different tests in the lubricants industry, what is your take on the availability of these skills in Africa?

Lubrication, if properly done and if associated with oil condition monitoring programs can bring many benefits to an organization such as avoiding unplanned downtime, extending the life of assets, energy savings and overall reduction of operating costs. Lubricant chemistry and quality control is a beautiful and passionate sub specialization and the backbone of lubrication. Unfortunately, there are not many higher skilled professionals in this sub-specialization. Although many initiatives are being taken by oil marketing & TIC companies through in-house and B2B training workshops, a lot still has to be done to boost general competencies in this domain amongst young African professionals and the entire lubricant user population. Some initiatives could be introducing specialized academic programs in universities and higher institutions, increased awareness and participation of Africans in international Lubrication bodies like ICML &STLE with access to their certification programs, as well as increased participation within local peer associations platforms like PIEA. .