Oando Finally Acquires Nigeria Agip Oil Company As It Gets Regulatory Approval
… Shaba also successfully acquires Equinor,
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has announced that Oando PLC has completed the acquisition of 100% shares of Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC Ltd).
In the same vein, Shaba Petroleum Development Company has also completed the acquisition of Equinor. The values of the projects are put at about $1.5bn.
Gbenga Komolafe, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission disclosed this at the ongoing Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition holding in Abuja.
The success means that Oando has increased its current participating interests in OMLs 60, 61, 62, and 63 from 20 percent to 40 percent.
The NUPRC chief while speaking on Wednesday said the parties involved would sign all the necessary agreements in a few days.
On the divestment involving Shell Producing Development Company (SPDC) and the Renaissance, he said, it is undergoing due diligence, while the most controversial of all the divestments, ExxonMobil /Seplat, the chief officer of NUPRC disclosed that he has not seen the ministerial consent and no due diligence yet regarding the deal.
Commenting on the major divestments by International Oil Companies in Nigeria, Komolafe said, “For some of you who were at the panel session on Tuesday, the Chairman of IPPG (Independent Petroleum Producers Group) raised issues about the need for us to give an update on the ongoing divestment programmes.
“Now, I am here to give you real-time updates on the four major divestments in Nigeria. The NAOC-Oando divestment has been concluded. The signing ceremony is to be conducted in the coming days.
“The Equinor-Project Odinmim divestment had also been completed. Also, the signing ceremony is to be conducted in the coming days. For the SPDC–Renaissance deal, documents have been submitted by SPDC. The documents are undergoing due diligence as we speak.”
The NUPRC boss further told delegates at the conference that in the ExxonMobil– Seplat deal, the concerned parties have “expressed commitment to proceed to apply for ministerial consent to NUPRC,” adding that “we are yet to receive any as we speak.”
According to him, the NUPRC is strategic in embarking on a regulatory process to ensure compliance with the rules of law.
He said that if Nigeria must address the decline in deep water production and explore the potential in the next five years, then she should start taking the necessary measures that would help boost production from that sector.
Deep water production has declined from 40 percent to 30 percent daily production. He however said that rig counts have increased significantly from 10 in June 2023 to 34 in 2024. There is a need for more rigs, he said.
He also advised those investors who want to register for bidding in the deep water oil blocks currently on offer to do so between now and Friday when the registration would have closed.
For the country to sustain deepwater production, the issue of fiscals must be properly addressed, he said, adding that that is one of the ways the resources of the 31 deepwater blocks can be unblocked
He stated that the regulator from the regulatory point of view recognized free entry and free exit in the ongoing divestment exercise. He, however, said that the job of a regulator is that of a gatekeeper who wants to see what is happening in such a relationship.
He stated further that he does not want the problems that happened in other clime, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and so on, to rear their heads in Nigeria after the divestment has been concluded.
He stated that divestment must follow the rules and laws as laid down concerning it, as the security of national interest must be guaranteed.
In reaction to these developments, an officer of one the companies involved in the ExxonMobil/Seplat deal said the government could have expected parties to complete the process that led to completion when for two t years it was the government that used the court to tie its hands and it could move to do anything. because it did not want to be accused of contempt of court