SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION AND DELIVERY PERFORMANCE OF OIL AND GAS FIRMS IN RIVERS STATE

This study examined the effect of supply chain integration on the delivery performance of oil and gas firms in Rivers State, Nigeria. Supply chain integration was measured using customer integration and information integration, while delivery performance was assessed as a single composite variable. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised supply chain managers, logistics officers, procurement managers and operations managers of oil and gas firms operating in Rivers State, from which 215 valid responses were retained for analysis. Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire, while the formulated hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis with the aid of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that customer integration had a significant positive effect on delivery performance (β = 0.394, p < 0.05). Similarly, information integration was found to have a significant positive effect on delivery performance (β = 0.428, p < 0.05), and it made the stronger contribution of the two. The model explained about 55.8% of the variance in delivery performance (Adjusted R² = 0.558). Based on these findings, all the null hypotheses were rejected. The study concluded that effective supply chain integration significantly enhances delivery performance, with customer integration and information integration complementing each other in oil and gas firms in Rivers State. The study therefore recommended that management of oil and gas firms should make information integration their primary priority by investing in enterprise resource planning systems, digital logistics tracking platforms and real-time partner visibility, while strengthening customer integration through joint delivery planning, dedicated client liaison mechanisms and customer feedback protocols