NNPC says not against sale of Agip’s shares to Oando

September 7, 2023

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has denied it’s against the sales of Shares Of Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited to Oando Plc, saying that the purported letter written by the company was a routine communication in the form of a letter written by NNPC E&P Limited (NEPL) to its JV Partner, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC).

NNPCL through the letter with reference no E and P /MD/0623 dated 4^th of September, titled “Purported Divestment of Eni Shares to Oando Oil Limited” and addressed to the managing director of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), drew the attention of the company to the fact that Clause 19.11 of the JOA provides that “no party may assign or transfer any interest or any part therefore without prior written consent of the other parties, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld”

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The letter was signed on behalf of NNPC EandP Limited by Ali Muhammed Zarah, its managing director. The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Executive Vice President of Upstream and the Chief Operating Officer of Oando Oil Limited were copied.

Eni’s Nigerian Agip Oil Company Ltd (NAOC) holds operating interests in four Nigerian onshore blocks (OML 60, 61, 62, 63), the Okpai 1 and 2 power plants with a total nameplate capacity of 960 MW, and two onshore exploration leases. Operating as part of the NAOC JV in partnership with the state’s NNPC, and Oando, the deal will see Oando double its stake in NAOC JV to 40%. The assets include 24 producing fields, 40 identified exploration prospects and leads, 12 production stations, 1,490 km of pipelines, three gas processing plants, and the Brass River oil terminal, Oando said.

NNPC said: “It has come to our notice that a routine communication in the form of a letter written by NNPC E&P Limited (NEPL) to its JV Partner, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) is being interpreted to suggest that NNPC Ltd. is opposed to the sale of NAOC shares to Oando PLC. This is not correct.

“NNPC Ltd. wishes to state that the letter was sent by NEPL, an NNPC Ltd. subsidiary. However, nowhere was opposition or objection to the transaction mentioned in the letter. NEPL is only drawing attention to certain important clauses in the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) between it, NAOC and OOL; which might have been overlooked in error. Adherence to those clauses will protect the transaction, now and in the future”, NNPC said.