OPL 245, Tinubu/Oando, ENI(Agip) Recent Oil Deals: What Nigerians Don’t Know?

By: Ifeanyi Izeze

Mischief, a major preoccupation of the human mind has been perfected by the word government and governance in our clime. And its manifestations are seen everywhere and in everything those who rule Nigeria do.

It makes it very difficult or rather nearly impossible for us to discern between pure egocentricity/greed and genuine good intentions because the dividing line has become so thin that both can blend into each other without obvious signs on the outside for the gullible followers to see.

Come to think of it that when big multinational companies are leaving Nigeria in drones to other countries as a result of the nation’s poorly performing economy and harsh policies of the government, the market value of Oando Plc—run by President Bola Tinubu’s nephew, Wale Tinubu, —soared to record high from N74 billion in 2023 to N1 trillion as of September 2024, indicating more than 1,000 per cent increase in valuation as Nigeria battled its worst cost-of-living and economic crises.

Oando —an average-performing oil company before Mr Tinubu’s government— recorded N74 billion profit after tax in the financial year ended 2023, a stark contrast to the previous year when it recorded a loss after tax.

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But just a little over one year after Mr Tinubu became president, the company’s share price, which sold at six naira as of September 1, 2023, saw its market value rocket to an all-time high of N92.

The latest valuation elevated Oando to the top 10 most-capitalised companies on the Nigerian stock exchange.

Wale Tinubu and Oando have continued to deny any wrongdoing, asserting that some of the discussions that led to their latest successes took place long before his uncle assumed office.

Now, on the surface and to the unconcerned, there is no big deal or rather misdeed concerning the uptake of all the onshore assets of Nigerian Agip Oil Company, the local operating subsidiary of the Italian energy giant, ENI by Oando, a company owned by President Tinubu’s family.

However, the jet-speed approval of the Oando acquisition of Eni’s 100 per cent stake in the Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited within just few months by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is not only suspicious but it’s also raising serious concerns about the integrity of the process that gave that verdict.

Recall that Eni(Agip) first announced the deal with Oando on September 4, 2023, but it stalled after the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC)Limited, which holds the remaining 60 per cent stake in the assets, suggested it could exercise its pre-emption rights.

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Within few months from its initial stance, NNPCL retracted its position and the deal was approved by NUPRC on July 24, 2024 and completed on August 22, 2024.

This swift approval process for Oando, run by the nephew of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, definitely raises question marks on slow approvals facing other indigenous players such as Seplat and Renaissance, who also agreed to buy the onshore and shallow water assets of oil majors ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, and Shell.

Oando got express approval for Agip’s asset purchase within few months and others didn’t. No clarity on why it got accelerated approval and so far there is no public explanation on why the deal got priority and Seplat/ExxonMobil is still dragging.

So the link between the Presidency and the company, Oando as expected, will doubtless draw some comments as it’s already doing.

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Also, how do you explain that barely few months from the announced acquisition of all Agip’s onshore assets by Tinubu’s Oando, the federal government is coming out to announce to us that all contentious issues around OPL 245, Nigeria’s most lucrative deep offshore oil acreage has been resolved and lease handed back to Eni(Agip) in a contrived alliance with the Anglo-Dutch Shell?

It was at the Nigerian International Energy Summit in Abuja earlier in the year that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, disclosed that, “The President has directed myself and the Attorney General of the Federation to resolve all lingering issues around OPL 245. I am happy to announce to you that we have resolved all the issues.”

The main issue revolved around the transfer of rights on the acreage to Eni(Agip).

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had in a statement issued by his Media Office in Abuja last week actually expressed surprise that, “Within just eight months, the Nigerian Upstream Production Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) approved a deal which saw the divestment of ENI/AGIP onshore assets to Oando. Within that same period, Nigeria controversially withdrew all litigation against Shell/ENI in the OPL 245 scandal in what could best be described as very opaque transaction.

A key oil block, OPL 245 has been subject to various litigations across different jurisdictions.

It is estimated that the block holds over 9 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, representing about a quarter of the nation’s total proven oil reserves of 37 billion barrels.

Is it not clear that ENI (Nigerian Agip) may have flung, at a price that’s been widely criticised to be far below the actual value, its ownership right in the company’s onshore assets for a super-lucrative munificence in the deep offshore OPL 245?

Recall that sometimes in the middle of November 2023, under this Tinubu’s Presidency, Nigerian Government withdrew civil claims totalling $1.1 billion against Italian energy giant, Eni SpA, ending a long battle in Italian courts over allegations of corruption in the oil-bloc, OPL 245, deal.

Nigeria also “irrevocably” waive the right to any further legal action in Italy against Eni, its affiliate, the Nigerian Agip, and current and past officers of the company in regard to rights for the field, known as Oil Prospecting License (OPL 245).

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Remarkably, Eni (Agip) is also the owner of the rights to OPL 244, an adjacent block to the Malabu acreage on which it had commenced exploration and production (E&P) work.

So it is actually very curious that, “Within just eight months, the Nigerian Upstream Production Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) approved a deal which saw the divestment of ENI/AGIP onshore assets to Oando owned by the Tinubu family? Within that same period, Nigeria under the same Tinubu Presidency controversially withdrew all litigation against Shell/ENI (Nigerian Agip) in the OPL 245 scandal?

So what’s the full deal between the Tinubu Family and Eni (Agip)?

Informed and credible sources have alleged that Oando’s share of this deal may not be just the acquisition of Agip’s onshore assets but also a good chunk of the stake in the lucrative deep offshore OPL 245.

It’s only time that would confirm this allegation but whether it will not be too late then to correct this perceived misdeed is something we have to wait for a “Pharaoh” that knew not Joseph to come! God bless Nigeria!

(IFEANYI IZEZE writes from Abuja and can be reached on: [email protected]; 234-8033043009)