Nigeria has made its first concrete steps to ship the country’s crude oil exports in domestically owned vessels with the naming of two tankers.

Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan attended the naming of the 45,000 dwt tankers Abiola and Igbinosa at New Port in the Nigerian Port Authority complex on 23 August. The tankers are owned and managed by Ocean Marine Tankers, part of Nigeria’s OMS Group.

“Nigeria is back in the international shipping business; the shipping line that went out of Nigeria 17 years ago. Today, our hope is restored and our dreams have come true,” Jonathan, was quoted as saying in local reports.

Nigeria’s oil exports are shipped entirely by foreign owned and flagged vessels.

Under the Nigerian Content Act that was enacted three-years ago Nigeria is for a greater level of local content in activities related to its oil production industry.

“In 2012, the guidelines were not fully implemented. The excuse was that there was no Nigerian owned tanker but the message was sent around the world that the Jonathan government was insisting that a portion of Nigerian crude must be carried by Nigerian tankers,” executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Ernest Nwapa said.

Samsung Heavy Industries set up in Nigeria at the end of 2012 and plans to do some of the works on a $3bn FPSO, set to be the world’s largest, which is to be deployed offshore Nigeria in 2017.