The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Oando Plc

  • Oando attains 1m man-hours safety record

    Oando attains 1m man-hours safety record

    Oando Gas & Power Limited (OGP), a subsidiary of Oando Plc, has achieved a milestone in safety by attaining a million man-hours zero Lost Time Incident (LTI) or fatality in all projects and operations, spanning a period of two years and three months.

    Its Head, Corporate Communication, Ainojie Alex Irune, explained that LTI is a measure of injury sustained on the job that is capable of preventing a worker from performing or continuing with a task or resulting in downtime in the operation. It is an oil and gas industry benchmark that evaluates adherence to safety and environmental requirements in the course of operations. As a result, LTI is a critical Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for Oando’s conformity with the best practices in the oil and gas industry.

    Its Executive Officer, Mr. Bolaji Osunsanya, said: “Our managerial and operational teams, along with our partners and sub-contractors, have done tremendously well to achieve 1,001,708 LTI Free Man hours within our power projects and expanding gas pipeline grid. This is a prime example of our commitment towards ensuring safety and high quality work performance on all our installations. The health and well-being of our employees and those visiting our workplace are important at all Oando locations, and we are truly pleased with this safety milestone.”

    It will recalled that OGP provides gas and power solutions to the Akute independent power generation plant which supplies electricity to the Lagos State Water Corporation, thereby increasing the supply of water to Lagos residents.

     

    Oando Plc’s Chief Environmental Health Safety Security and Quality Officer, Mr. Chjioke Akwukuma also praised the LTI achievement saying: “This is a commendable feat in the history of OGP, as the operations team has worked for 41,737 days without any disruption due to personnel injury, and this proves our dedication to the safety culture that exist company-wide and our adherence to policies and procedures covering product quality, safety, environment, health, security and emergency readiness. These ensure that all operations always meet international safety requirements.”

  • Oando’s COPN acquisition nears completion

    Oando’s COPN acquisition nears completion

    Oando Plc, Nigeria’s leading indigenous energy group listed on both the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchange, is on the verge of completing its purchase of ConocoPhillips’ Nigerian (COPN) assets.

    According to SBG Securities Oil & Gas Analyst, Gbenga Sholotan, Oando has succeeded in securing all the financing required towards the acquisition of ConocoPhillip’s entire Nigerian business for a reported $1.66 billion.

    Sholotan said: “Oando recently raised an aggregate of $442m through the sale of the East Horizon Gas Company for $250 million and a special placement of 2.05billion shares for $192 million. All funding sources have now been secured to be in a position to close the COPN asset acquisition. We do not consider the need to obtain the minister of petroleum’s consent as a major risk to this transaction, given antecedents of divestments over the last three years.”

    Oando had paid an initial deposit of $450 million, and has received additional funds through debt commitment letters received from financial institutions ($815 million), private placement of shares ($200 million), and the recent sale of its EHGC asset to Seven Energy for $250 million.

    Once concluded, the ConocoPhillips transaction will substantially boost Oando Energy Resources’ (OER) operations, with circa production of 50,000boepd post acquisition, generating extensive growth in revenue and profitability. Additionally, the acquisition will immediately position OER as the largest indigenous oil producer in Nigeria, as the company will also grow its 2P reserves and 2C resources by 221MMboe and 492MMboe respectively.

  • Recapitalisation will enhance values for shareholders, says Oando

    The success of the ongoing rights issue by Oando Plc would enable the company to optimise opportunities in its upstream business and deliver better values for shareholders.

    Its Group Chief Executive Officer, Oando Plc, Mr Wale Tinubu, said the successful outcome of the rights issue will position Oando to increase value for shareholders in the upstream through focused portfolio growth in production, cash margins and improved returns on capital deployed.

    He said directors of the company count on the consistent support of shareholders to seize the opportunity to take up their rights and benefit from the higher margin value creation the upstream offers.

    Oando Plc last Thursday started the process of raising N54.579 billion from the capital market following the opening of its rights issue of N4.548 billion, which took off on December 28 in Nigeria and to open on Thursday, January 4, 2013 on Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

    He said the recapitalisation was in the final stages in the execution of their overall strategy to increase their exposure to the upstream sector.

    “ In 2010 we raised N21.1 through a Rights Issue, it was a highly successfully event, as it closed 28 per cent oversubscribed and we look forward to a similar outcome in this exercise. We count on the consistent support of our shareholders to seize the opportunity to take up their rights and benefit from the higher margin value creation the upstream offers,” Tinubu said.

    According to him, the rights issue is in line with the company’s corporate strategy for balance sheet optimisation and the financing of growth initiatives in the upstream sector.

    According to him, pursuant to the recent signing of agreements by its affiliate OER with ConocoPhillips, to acquire their entire Nigerian asset base for $1.79 billion plus customary adjustments, OER will be transformed from a small size oil company to a midsize oil producer.

    The offer, being made at N12 per share on the basis of two new shares for every one share already held, is expected to close on February 6, 2013.

    Net proceeds of the offer would be used to repay part of N60 billion syndication loan used to acquire upstream assets and swamp drilling rigs among others.

    Specifically, the funds would be used to repay part of loan used to acquire upstream assets and swamp drilling rigs, part-financing of acquisition of upstream and midstream assets by Oando’s upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources and investment in working capital to support increased level of business.

    Vetiva Capital Management Limited is the lead issuing house to the offer while FBN Capital Limited and FCMB Capital Markets Limited are joint issuing houses.

  • ConocoPhillips continues assets divestment in Africa

    Barely one week the American oil giant, Conoco Phillips, sealed deal with Oando Energy Resources (OER), an affiliate of Oando Plc, to ConocoPhillips to acquire its entire business interests in Nigeria for a total cash consideration of $1.79 billion plus customary adjustments the company has also agreed to sell its Algerian business unit to Indonesian state energy company PT Pertamina for $1.75 billion, plus customary adjustments, as part of its ongoing asset-disposition programme in Africa.

    ConocoPhillips Algeria Limited, according to Dow Jones Newswires, holds interests in three major onshore oil fields that averaged 11,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day through October. ConocoPhillips said the net carrying value of its Algerian assets was roughly $850 million as of October 31, 2012.

    The report said that ConocoPhillips expects to close the transaction by mid-2013 adding that the Houston-based energy company is in the midst of a three-year repositioning aimed at improving its balance sheet and focusing on more profitable, less risky unconventional fields in North America. ConocoPhillips has sold or plans to sell more than $7 billion in assets in 2012, including a $5 billion sale of its stake in Kazakhstan’s Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea announced last month. The company also spun off its refining arm earlier this year to Phillips 66.

    Oando, during the transaction said, in a statement by its spokesman of Oando, Mr Meka Olowola, that the transaction includes the intended purchase of Phillips Oil Company Nigeria Limited, which holds a 20 per cent non-operating interest in Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 60, 61, 62, and 63 as well as related infrastructure and facilities in the Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) Joint Venture.

    He also said the other partners are the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with a 60 per cent interest and NAOC (20 per cent and operator); and Phillips Brass Limited, which holds a 17 per cent shareholding interest in Brass Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Limited, which is developing the Brass LNG project, a Greenfield project to develop a two-train, 10 million ton per year liquefied natural gas facility in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The other partners in this project are NNPC (49 per cent); Eni (17 per cent) and Total (17 per cent).

    In the offshore business arm of the deal, Oando said it would also acquire ConocoPhillip’s’s 95 percent interest in OML 131 in which Medal Oil owns five per cent; and ConocoPhillip’s 20 per cent non-operating interest in oil prospecting licence (OPL) 214.

    The other partners in OPL 214 are ExxonMobil (20 per cent and operator), Chevron (20 per cent), Svenska (20 per cent), Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (15 per cent) and Sasol (five per cent).

    Pursuant to the proposed acquisition, Oando will purchase all of the issued share capital of ConocoPhillips’ onshore and offshore affiliates in Nigeria. Upon closing, the effective date of the proposed acquisition will be today.

    According to Olowola, in connection with the proposed acquisition, Oando has retained The Petroleum and Renewable Energy Company Limited (Petrenel), OER’s independent reserves evaluator, to prepare a report on the reserves and resources of OMLs 60, 61, 62 and 63, which are onshore and OML 131 and OPL 214, which are offshore assets, proposed to be acquired under the proposed acquisition.

    Oando has got approval from Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise N54.6 billion through right issue, which opened on December 28 and would close on February 6, 2013.