Article: Of Nigeria's Oil Barons & PIB

I know we all hate reading long articles, but this is quite informative. Take the positives (ideas, PIB etc) and leave out the negatives (stolen common wealth). Enjoy.



The Verdict By Olusegun Adeniyi. (www.thisdaylive.com)



Statistics, according to Aaron Levenstein, are like a woman’s bikini bathing suit. While what they reveal is usually suggestive and interesting, what they conceal is even much more vital. That perhaps is the only way to explain the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) debate last week in the Red Chambers, which led some Senators into bandying all manner of figures about which region controls what percentage of Nigeria’s oil and gas assets. Even when the essence of some of the comments was to score cheap political points, the patently false claim by Senator Ita Enang that industry players from the North control 83% of the oil blocs in the country has become not only politically divisive but has indeed further exposed our delicate fault-lines.


Because of the distractions in the polity as a result of the ‘revelations’ I had to work my government contacts to secure the complete list of indigenous oil companies operating in Nigeria, including the names of their directors, their operating acreage numbers and the dates they were granted. I am also unveiling the license shareholders in the marginal fields, so that those interested in which parts of the country the operators come from can begin their own meaningless arithmetic. The essence of my intervention is to lay to rest all the speculations and innuendoes that do not in any way advance the current debate, so that we can then move to the more substantive issue of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).


It is indeed rather disturbing that many otherwise respected persons actually believe Senator Enang’s claims and are, on that basis, making incendiary comments. What is even more unfortunate is that the multinational oil companies who together officially account for 88 percent of Nigeria’s current production figure of 2.4 million barrels of oil per day, based on operatorship responsibility and unofficially actually run the entire show, will be laughing at us. Because we are literally fighting among ourselves over what Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, has appropriately described as crumbs!


As at today, the total number of Oil Mining Lease (OML) in operation in our country is 109, while the total number of Oil Prospecting License (OPL) is 92. But the 2012 target of 2.48 million barrel of oil per day (MBOPD) was made up of 1.5 MBOPD from the onshore and shallower water terrain and 900800 BOPD from the Deepwater; which to date is currently controlled by the multinationals. The NNPC and some indigenous partners are mere concessionaires. However, if production is calculated on equity basis, the percentage of our production controlled by the multinational companies is 43% Joint Venture and 65-70% in the Performance Sharing Contracts (PSC).

It is noteworthy that Deepwater PSCs are mainly controlled by IOCs, while the entire production by indigenous companies totals 276,000 barrels per day. This is about 11 percent of our national production. Interestingly, this is inclusive of the government-owned NPDC, Seplat, Pan Ocean and other independent marginal producers. The remaining 88 percent production, as I mentioned earlier, is by the multinationals and their partners/concessionaires in the JV and Deepwater operations.For readers to understand how miserable the domestic stake in our oil production is, here is a breakdown of the current figures of barrels of oil per day by the oil companies operating in our country: Shell (605,539); Exxon Mobil (528,000); Chevron (489,999); Total Elf (400,134); Agip (98,284); Addax (90,489); NPDC (125,828; Seplat (40,033); Pan Ocean (7,387) and the others described as Independent Marginals (102,797). It is clear from the foregoing that Nigerians are small players in the sector, yet we now criminalise one another when we should be thinking of how to reposition the industry and make it transparent, so it can benefit a greater majority of our people.

Notwithstanding the posturing by politicians, the point must be made that rent seeking, which is the name of the game within our oil and gas sector, is the most detribalised commodity in Abuja where patronage politics has no tribal mark. Even at that, anybody with elementary knowledge of the industry knows that what matters most are the production figures and to that extent, it is not too difficult to ascertain which section of the country most of the big boys (and a big girl!) actually come from.I am aware of expressions of indignation in some circles, especially among Niger Delta people, about the it-can-only-happen-in-Nigeria, albeit legitimate, T.Y. Danjuma’s $1.75 billion SAPETRO upfront take from the $2.268 billion transaction with the Chinese. But for those who see North/South in every issue, even that has been counter-balanced by the controversial (for want of a more appropriate word) $1.1 billion dollars paid to Dan Etete by Shell/Agip for Malabu, through the instrumentality of the current administration. Incidentally, both deals have an imprint of the late General Sani Abacha who actually allocated the choice blocks to the two individuals before death played a fast one on him to put asunder all his cold calculations.It is, however, significant that the entire controversy was started by Northern senators who opposed certain aspects of the PIB on what ordinarily could be considered genuine grounds. But the unfortunate subtext was that they deliberately conveyed the impression that the clauses were inserted because the President is from the Niger Delta, even when nothing can be farther from the truth. As a matter of fact, the idea of the Host Community Fund (HCF) on which they raised serious objection did not originate from President Goodluck Jonathan— he inherited it from his predecessor, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who happened to be a Northerner. One day, I will explain its significance because I was in all the meetings and still have all the working papers. But it was part of the components of dealing with underdevelopment and restiveness in the Niger Delta by factoring in the interest of the host communities. And this is another point which the Northern Senators fail to appreciate.

Anybody who has ever traversed the landscape called Niger Delta will understand that nothing they get (or demand) from the federation account can be too much, given the level of environmental degradation that has practically turned vast areas in the region to a wasteland. Even when the wealth that sustains our nation is derived from there, the experience of most people, especially in oil producing communities is that of grinding poverty. That explains why, even when the argument that the 13 percent derivation has not been properly directed may be true, it is difficult to use it as justification to deny the legitimate demands of the Niger Delta people. I recall that the late Yar’Adua’s argument at every meeting was always that the 13 percent derivation money was being misapplied by the Niger Delta Governors because it was never meant to be aggregated among other accruals and should not be for overhead. His thesis, and he repeated it all the time, was that the 13 percent to these states was to be warehoused by the governors and used solely for the development of oil producing communities, not their entire states. But it was an argument he never won, so the idea of the Equity Matrix formula for the HCF, developed at his instance by the Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah committee, was to resolve that problem in favour of the oil producing communities.


However, I also share the misgivings of the Northern Senators. Coming from Kwara State, I am aware that a state like Bayelsa which has far lesser population than my state sometimes collects from the federation account in one month what Kwara earns in a year. While I do not begrudge the Niger Delta region their due, to now add more money to those states at the expense of Kwara cannot be an equitable way to run a federation. To that extent also, all the current attempts by some Niger Delta Senators to blackmail the North on the issue is not only wrong-headed but counter-productive. Fortunately, the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, is not adopting such an approach and I want to commend her on that score.I have had extensive interactions with industry stakeholders on the PIB and it is instructive that the minister is on course here. While the downstream sector of our petroleum industry was grossly mismanaged in 2010 and 2011 to put it mildly (apparently to buy an election), the leadership of the petroleum ministry has realized that the nation now has a golden opportunity to use the upstream sector to remedy some of the rot in the industry. Delivering the PIB is central to making this happen.For instance, the two key concerns of the Northern Senators are gas supply to the North, since effectively only one (Geregu) of the 16 thermal power stations is located in the region; because of the challenge with the Ajaokuta-Kano gas pipelines. The second misgiving is that funding the HCF gives additional 10 percent of the profit of all Oil and Gas companies to the Niger Delta states and communities.

In trying to address these issues, I understand that the minister has already initiated appropriate compromises and trade-offs. I have it on good authority that the federal government has acceded to the position of the Northern Senators on the incorporation of the terms of the Domestic Supply Obligations (DSO) and Pricing Regulations signed by my late boss in the new legislation. As further assurance on the issue, provision is being made for the Calabar-Ajaokuta-Kano gas pipeline. Also, to allay the fears of the Northern Senators, a new National Frontier Exploration Services (NFES) is being established to explore other basins: Benue Trough, Bida Basin, Gongola Basin, Sokoto Basin, etc. The idea is to leverage upon the NFES as a trade-off for the HCF which provides long-term benefit to the nation, given the opportunity-cost that its establishment would offer when compared to the billions expended on security for petroleum facilities by the federal government and the IOCs.

Also, as a way around resolving the financial cost of the HCF, there are proposals for the dissolution of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and possibly too the Ministry of Niger Delta. The thinking is that the HCF will be more effective than the NDDC and Niger Delta Ministry as, unlike these two agencies, the Fund is targeted at the host communities. But since all options seem to be on the table, I will also recommend that the Amnesty Office too should go, because it was never conceived to be another bureaucracy or the slush fund that it has unfortunately become. If all these issues are successfully resolved, then chances are that Alison-Madueke may be able to deliver on the PIB and it this be a major achievement for her.

For now, for the benefit of those interested in who owns what and from where, below are the facts about indigenous companies operating in the upstream sector of our oil and gas industry:Alfred James Petroleum, granted OPL 302 for ten years on June 26, 1991 has as directors Adewunmi Sijuade, Goke Sijuade, Adedeji Sijuade, Olayinka Sijuade, Adeyemi Osiyemi and Femisola Awosika with A. O. Adeyinka as chairman. Solgas Nigeria Limited, granted OPL 226 for five years on February 27, 1991 has as directors Oscar P. Udoji, P.E Udoji, E.E. Nwosu with J.O. Udoji as chairman. NorthEast Petroleum, granted OPL 215, 840 and 902 on October 21, 1991 for ten years has as directors Kommer Complex Limited, Nwokema, Ngozi Mbu, Abubakar Jubril and Ashiru B. Aliu, A. Ayankoya with Saleh Jambo as chairman.

Optimum Petroleum granted OPL 310 for ten years on February 3, 1992 has as directors R.D. Adelu, Yusuf N’jie and O.A. Aremu with Ibrahim Bunu as chairman. Sunlink Petroleum, granted OPL 238 for five years and OPL 311 for ten years both on January 21, 1993 has as directors Olaniyi Olumide, Hayford Alile, Samuel Bolarinde, Richard Adelu, Martin Olisa, John Brunner and Emmanuel Ojei. Express Petroleum, granted OPL 108 and 227 for 20 years on November 1, 1995, has as directors Ahmadu Rufai Dantata, Tajudeen Dantata, Dalhatu Gwarzo, Lawan Omar with Aminu Alhassan Dantata as chairman. Dubri Oil Co. Nig Ltd, granted OPL 96 for 20 years on August 6, 1987 has as directors B.N. Itsueli, C.A Itsueli, O.O. Itsueli, A.E. Ihuegbu with U.J Itsueli as chairman.

Amni International Petroleum, granted OPL 112 and 117 for 20 years on February 2, 1998 and August 2, 1999 respectively, has as directors E.C. Edozien, Tunde Afolabi with Sani Bello as chairman. Atlas Petroleum International Nigeria Limited, granted OPL 109 for 20 years on May 25, 1996 has as directors Umaru Ndanusa, Ikechukwu Joseph, Mohammadu Murtala with Arthur Eze as chairman. Consolidated Oil, granted OPL 103 on June 2, 1993 for 20 years and OPL 458 and 136 for five years in 1998 and 2006 respectively, has as directors O. Adenuga and Ebi Omatsola with Mike Adenuga as chairman. Oriental Energy Resources granted OPL 115 for 20 years on May 5, 1999, has as directors Usman Danburan, Jubrilla Mohammed Indimi with the senior Mohammed Indimi as chairman.

Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria Limited granted OPL 110 for 20 years on August 7, 1996, has as director Gambo Gubio with Mai Deribe as chairman. Allied Energy Resources Nigeria Limited granted OPL 120 and 121 on February 27, 2001 has Mickey Lawal as a director with Kase Lawal as chairman. Peak Petr granted OPL 122 on May 17, 2001 for 20 years, has as directors Adekunle Olumide, W. Bolaji, Florence D. Oluokun and Ayodeji Oluokun with M. A. Oluokun as chairman. Summit Oil Nigeria Limited granted OPL 205 and 206 on September 2, 1990 for 20 years, has as directors L.K.O Abiola and Radio Communications Nig Ltd with M.K.O Abiola as chairman. Crownwell Petr Limited granted OPL 305 and 306 in August 1993 for 10 years has S. K Adejumo as director with Sagir Kumashi as chairman. Famfa Oil Limited granted OPL 216 (OML 127) for ten years in August 1993 has as director Folorunsho Alakija with Modupe Alakija as chairman.

MoniPulo ganted OPL 114, 239, 234 and 231 for 20 years in 1999, 2008, 2008 and 2007 respectively has as Director F.A. Agama with O. B. Lulu-Briggs as chairman. Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company, granted OPL 113 for 20 years on June 11, 1998, has as directors S. T. Folawiyo, T.B Folawiyo with W. I. Folawiyo as chairman. Zebbra Energy Limited granted OPL 248 for 20 years on April 4, 2004 has as directors S.A. Okolo, Boni Madubunyi, Zimako O. Zimako with A.B.C. Orijako as chairman. Oil and Gas Limited granted OPL 249 and 140 for 10 years on May 5, 2003 and 2006 respectively has as director M.O Idrisu with Reggie Uduhim as chairman.

Continental Oil and Gas Limited granted OPL 59 for 30 years on June 6, 1998, has as directors Agbolade Paddy, Subair Shefiu with Mike Adenuga as chairman. Emerald Energy Resources Limited granted OML 141 on August 10, 2001 for five years has as directors J.O Amaefule, P. L. Caldwell, A.C Uzoigwe, Amos NUR, C. N. Chieri, Femi Akingbe, F. A, Njoku with Emmanuel Egbogah as chairman. OrantoPetr Limited granted OPL 320 March 2002 for 10 years has Arthur Eze as chairman. Dajo Oil Limited granted OPL 320 for 20 years on March 23, 2004, has as directors R.B. Domingo, M.O Domingo, UR. Domingo with Domingo Obande as chairman. Malabu, granted OPL 245 has Dan Etete as chairman. Orient Energy granted OPL 915 and 916 has N. Nwawka as director and Emeka Anyaoku as chairman. Sahara Energy Exploration granted OPL 284, 228 and 332 in 2005 and 2006 has Buba Lawal, Cole Tonye and Odunsi Ade as directors. Enageed Resources Limited granted OPL 274 in 2007 has Buba Lawal, Cole Tonye and Odunsi Ade as directors.

Seplat granted OPL 4, 38and 41 in 2010 with ABC Orjiako and Austin Avuru as directors. Ekcrest E &P Limited was granted OPL 40 in 2012 with Emeka Offor as chairman. First Hydrocarbon was granted OPL 26 in 2011 with O. A. Azazi as chairman. Neconde was granted OPL 42 in 2011 with Amesi Azudialu, John Umeh and Nnnena Obiejesi as directors. Niger Delta Western was granted OPL 34 in 2012 with Olayiwola Fatona, David Richards, P.O. Balogun and T. Omisore as directors. Newcross Petroleum granted OPL 276 with Prince Sijuade and Bolaji Ogundare as directors. Transcorp granted OPL 281 in 2011 with Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu, Femi Otedola, Funso Lawal, Jacob Ajekigbe, Tony Ezenna, Ndi Onyiuke Okereke, Fola Adeola and Nicholas Okoye as directors. Starcrest, Cross River Energy and NPDC granted OPL 242 in 2011 with Emeka Offor and Chris Garuba as directors. Starcrest granted OPL 291 with Emeka Offor, Gidado Idris and Yzoni Yaw as directors. South Atlantic (SAPETRO) granted OPL 246 (130) for 20 years on February 22, 1998 has Miguel Guerrero, Joy Ikiebe and Guerrrero as directors with T.Y. Danjuma as chairman.

OANDO granted OPL 278/236 in 2005and 2006 has Magoro, J. A Tinubu, O. Boyo, M.O Osunsanya, O. Adeyemo, O. Akpata, Oba Gbadebo, A. Peppe and Appiah Korang as directors. Ashbert granted OPL 325 has Albert Esiri and Ifeoma Esiri as directors.Oil World granted OPL 241 in 2007 has Gbenga Olawepo, Adekunle Akintola, Ibukun Olawepo and Rachael Akintola as directors. Pan Ocean granted OPL 98/275 in 1976 and 2007 has F. A Fadeyi, M.D. Yusuf and S.D Adebiyi as directors. Cleanwater Consortium granted OPL 289 in 2007 with Arumeni-Ikhide Joseph, Okey Nzenwa and Abu Ibrahim as directors. Afren Global Energy Resources granted OPL 907/917 I 2005and 2008 with Rilwan Lukman, Osmah Shahenshah, Evert Jan Mulder, Peter Bingham, Guy Pass, Bet Cooper, Constantine and Egbert Imomoh as directors. Centrica/CCC/All Bright Consortium granted OPL 276 and 283 in 2005 and 2006 has Jake Mirica and John Sheers as directors.

Gas Transmission and Power Limited granted OPL 905 in 2005 has Ahmed Joda, Babangida Hassan Katsina, Makoji Aduku and Abubakar Joda as directors. Global Energy Company Limited granted OPL 135 in 2005 and 2010 has S.A Onabiyi, M.A Koshoni, T.T Anyasho and J.N Obiago as directors. New Nigeria Development Company granted OPL 733, 809, 810 and 722 has Northern States Governors as directors. Tenoil Petroleum Energy Services Limited granted OPL 2008 in 2007 has Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu, Femi Otedola, Jacob Ajekigbe, Tony Ezenna, Ndi Okereke Onyiuke, Fola Adela, Funso Lawal and Nicholas Okoye as directors with Tony Elumelu as chairman.

Before I throw in a few words on the foregoing, it is important to reveal also who the License Shareholders in our Marginal fields are: Niger Delta company was granted the Ogbele field (OML 54) in 1999 with Aret Adams, Uduimo Itsueli, Sammy Olagbaju, David Richard, Udi Ibru and Fatona Layi as shareholders. Prime Petroleum Limited and Suffolk Petroleum Limited (in ratio 51/49) have Asaramaroru field (OML 11) granted in 2003 with MacPepple Henry, Macpepple Joy, Macpepple Emmanuel, Macpepple Elfrida and Macpepple Victoria as shareholders. Oriental Energy has Owok field (OML 67) granted in 2006 with Alhaji Indimi and Usman Danburran as shareholders. The same company also has Ebok field awarded in 2007. Universal Energy has Stubb Creek field (OML 13/14) with Amana Nkoyo, Mianaekere Nelson, Abubakar Hayatu, Mboho Emmanuel, Ekpo Akpan, Inyang Etim (Akwa Ibom govt) awarded in 2003.

Uerafric Energy Limited has Dawes Island field (OML 54), granted in 2003 with Onoh Anthony, Onoh Christiana, Onoh Ngozi, George Udoekong and Nwauche Erastus as shareholders. Pillar Oil Limited has Umusati/Igbuku field (OMOL 56) since 2003 with Onosode G. O., Fadahunsi O., Amakiri J. Hassan-Katsina Usman, Tonwe Basife, Obaseki Godwin, Akpoyomare Ambrose, Fisher Abayomi, Anaekwena Anthony, Avuru Spencer, Onosode Spencer and Hassan-Katsina Babangida as shareholders. Bayelsa Oil Company Limited has Atala field (OML 46) with Bayelsa Government, Brigidi David, Alamieyesheiga Anitonbrapa, Ifimain Ekine, Jonathan Selereipre, Enddeley Francis, Chitwetelu Chris, Williams E. J and Aliyu Abubakar as shareholders. Movideo E & P has Ekeh field (OML 88 with Idau Sadiq, Jacobs Kayode, Enahoro Victor, Mohammed Aishatu, Tuggar Yusuf, Okwuaive Iyabo, and Sadare Roymand as shareholders.

Bicta Energy has Ogedeh field (OML 90) with Adesemowo G. A, Bashir MM, Onumodu Soye, Akinro C. A, Malherbe T and Umejei T as shareholders. Guarantee Petroleum and Owena Oil and Gas have Ororo field, (OML 95) in ratio 55/45 with Rufus Giwa, Ayodele Johnson, Fayose Abiodun, Unuigbe Odion, Omobomi Samuel, Rotimi Luyi, Adefarati Tunde, Duyie Korede, Ojo Segun, Ogedengbe Dele, Aidi Abass, Adegbonmire Wunmi, Amoye Mofiso, Ebiseni Sola, Oladunni Solomon, Agoi-George Segun, Akinruntan F.E, Hassan AlGazali, Eburajolo Victor and S.A Ajayi as shareholders. Platform Petroleum Limited has Egboma field (OML 38 with Edmund Daukoru, Avuru Austin, Amachi Moshe, Adegoke Oluwafeyisola, Addo-Bayero Nasir and Ewendu Chidi as shareholders.

Sogenal Limited has Akepo field (OML 90) with Funso Lawal, Joda Abubakar, Harriman Hope, Odu Bunmi, Edohoeket Samuel, Yahaya Mohammed, Dada Nicholas and Yelllowe Kenneth as shareholders. Chorus Energy has Amoji field (OML 56) with Akerele Chris, Mamman Samaila, Ihetu G. S. Braide Kombo, Banks Nigel, Clubb James, Uhuegbulem Ben and Baba Gana Abba as shareholders. Millennium Oil and Gas has Oza field (OML 11) with Alli Chris, Maseli John, Karra Sastry, Shama Yogi, Igweze Emeka and Bashir Farouk as shareholders. Brittania U-Nigeria has Ajapa field (OML 90) with Ifejika Uju, Ifejika Emmanuel, Omu Paul, Otiji Igwe, Ikpeme Ita, Cardoso Tokie, Okonkwo Annie, Inua Mogaji, Mbanefo Louis, Ombu AVM, Horsfall A. K, Ukpong Uche, Ogoro Emomena, Ifejika E.I., Umar Alhaji and Ikpele A. O.

Network E & P has Qua Ibo field (OML 13) with Ajose Adeogun Ladi, Adesomoju Akin, Alex-Duduyemi Oyekunle, Adewusi Adebowale, Ifode Yeletide, Gusau Ismaila Musa, John Etop and Olagbede Olufemi as shareholders. Waltersmith Petroman and Morris Petroleum have Ibigwe field (OML 16) in ratio 70/30 with Isa Abdulrasak, Saleh Danjuma, Utomvie Nyingi, Ita Princess, Okoli Ndubuisi, Kakpovie Anthony, Okpala Eugene, Idrisu Mammudu, Idrisu Lawal, Isokrari Ombo, Nzeakor Nick, Abdulsalami Abdul and Nwabudo Ignatius as shareholders. Midwesterm Oil and Gas and Suntrust Oil Company have the Umsadege field (OML 56) in ratio 70/30 with Igbokwe Ken, Afejuku Anthony, Daultry Akpeki, Sagoe Kweku-Mensah, Gambo Lawan, Oshevire William, Mordi Sylvanus, Maidoh Daniel, Fatayi-Williams Babatunde, Mohammed Waziri, Emerhor Otega, Dublin-Green Winston, Mohammed Abubakar, Oduah Stella, Okafor Ugo and Baba-Ahmed Mouftah as directors.

Independent Energy Limited has Ofa field (OML 30) with Ikelionwu Emeka, Ohunmwangho Steve, Yar’Adua Murtala, Okudu Anthony, Bello Shamsudeen, Obaoye Michael and Monanuma Said as shareholders. Del Sigma has KE field (OML 55) with Amachree Sokeiprim, Ungbuku K.D., Bakut J.I and Chaff Kabiru as shareholders. Associated Oil and Gas and Dansaki Petroleum Unlimited have Tom Shot Bank field (OML 14) in ratio 51/49 with Machunga Laraba, Gwadah Bitrus, Balat Isaiah, Uzor Azuka, Ibok Udo, Uzoechi Isaac, Kadiri Samuel, Afolabi Aderenle and Aina Yinka as shareholders. Frontier Oil Limited has Uquo field (OML 13) with Dada Thomas, Lolomari Odoliyi, Kolade Victor, Yisa Solomon, Nwasikeobi, Alechenu Emmanuel and Bello Falalu as shareholders.

Energia Limited and Oando Production and Development Limited have Ebendo/Obodeti field (OML 56) in ratio 55/45 with Horsfall A. U, Aribeana Stephen, Shawley Coker, Bello Lawal, Ene Emeka, Afolabi Ade, Coker Sam, Esiri Albert, Dibiaezue Ifeoma, Hammed Charles, Macgregor Olushola and OANDO as shareholders. Goland Petroleum Development Company has Oriri field (OML 88 with Kingsley Ngelale, Mogaji Gambo, Slako Johnson and Anthony Dotimi as shareholders. Excel Exploration and Production has Eremor field (OML 46) with Abiodun Awosika as shareholder. Sahara Energy and African Oil and Gas Limited have Tsekelewu field (OML 40) in ratio 70/30 with Baba Lawal, Cole Tonye, Odunsi Ade, Adeniji Titi, Akinla Ladipo, Bentley John, Ciroma Musa, Odili Obi F. and Du-Frayer Trevor as shareholders. Green Energy International Limited has Otakikpo field with A. A. Olojede as shareholder while All Grace Energy granted Ubima field (OML 46) has Adeola Adenikinju and Sola Alabi as shareholders.


It is noteworthy that some players register different companies for different acreages, sometimes also with different sets of shareholders. But in terms of operations, it stands to reason that some of these licenses may have expired, been cancelled or are even never operated at all. Also, it is obvious that some of the listed shareholders of these companies are now deceased. Beside all these, that someone is chairman of a company doesn’t make him the biggest shareholder. The case of AMNI credited to former Kano military governor of Kano State, Col. Sani Bello (rtd), is a case in point. “The fact that I am the chairman does not mean I own AMNI. I don’t even have up to 20 percent in the company”, he said.


Now, before anybody accuses me of leaving out some big players let us not forget Atiku Abubakar, whose stakes in INTELs rake in substantial returns for him; Jide Omokore’s multimillion Dollar Atlantic Energy’s “Strategic Alliance Agreement” and Phillip Iheanacho’s Seven Energy etc. These fall within a different category of those who may not be direct field owners yet make stupendous money from the sector.“Oil acreage ownership in Nigeria does not have ethnic colouration. What’s more important, sustaining production from oil and gas assets, whether or not awarded by the state, is determined by how much of a businessman you are…,” argues Mr. Toyin Akinosho (a geologist and publisher who is perhaps the biggest authority in the media on our oil industry). His well-circulated paper on the issue has helped to put in perspective several of the assumptions in the sector. Of course my figure of 276,000 BOPD production for indigenous companies contrasts with his 150,000 BOPD but that is essentially because he probably tallied only figures from private companies without adding those from government-owned.What I, however, find interesting is the misdirected anger against indigenous operators in general. As we know, there are some who got licences by patronage and through the much-abused discretionary powers. But there is also a growing list of companies that have won these acreages competitively, in spite of the unwillingness of the state to make access to licences open, transparent and competitive. That is why some of us clamour for a new regime that will strip the sector of its opaqueness and monumental corruption.Even at that, in an industry replete with commission agents and all manner of pimps, we need more daring and bold businessmen like Dr Mike Adenuga (Jnr) who, among the more than 20 Nigerian business men (across ethnic lines) granted discretionary awards between 1991 and 1993 is actually the only one who set up an enduring E&P company and operated his own block. Others looked for help from outside. Like he has done in the telecoms sector with Globacom, Adenuga has proved that there is no business that a Nigerian cannot venture into and succeed. He may be a very small player in the oil sector but there is national pride in what he has achieved.All said, viewing PIB from an ethnic lens is unproductive, especially against the background that the real moving forces behind the law, as I pointed out in my book on the Yar’Adua years, are Dr Rilwanu Lukman and Mallam Nasir el-Rufai through the Oil and Gas Reform Implementation Committee (OGIC) initiated in 2000. The duo deserve commendation. Of course, Mr Odein Ajumogobia, Mr Mohammed Barkindo, Dr Egbogah and now Mrs Alison-Madueke, have taken their efforts further but this legislation is about repositioning our oil and gas sector so our country can derive maximum benefit.

By consolidating the existing 16 Laws regulating our petroleum industry, the essence of the PIB is captured in its explanatory summary: “This Act provides for a legal, fiscal and regulatory framework for the Nigerian Petroleum Industry and establishes institutions, regulatory and commercial entities for the proper administration and coordination of the operation of the upstream and downstream sectors of the petroleum industry as well as providing for the imposition, assessment and collection of the Nigerian Hydrocarbon tax”.

What the Senators (whether from the North or the South) must therefore know is that the PIB, when eventually passed into law, has the potentials to radically alter the landscape in our oil and gas industry, while unlocking the opportunities for the sustainable development of the industry and the overall economy. This will be good for us all.

God bless you, a very big insight...... May God grant us PIB......

The North Does Not Control Nigeria’s Oil Blocks, By Toyin Akinosho


Senator Ita Enang’s spirited claim at the National Assembly Wednesday to the effect that 83% of the country’s oil block is in the hands of northerners appears to be inspired from assertions contained in an old article by a newspaper commentator, Mr. Ross Alabo-George whose famous essay was titled Poverty And Deprivation: Why The North Is Poor.

In the excerpted refutation below, Toyin Akinosho, a petroleum geologist with over two decades of work at Chevron and now publisher of the well-regarded Africa Oil and Gas Report, argues angrily that such lines of thought canvassed by the likes ofSenator Ita Solomon Enang and indeed Mr. Ross Alabo-George are merely hysterical, and tendentious, designed to mislead the public. Mr. Akinosho characterizes the arguments as crappy and crummy. It is excerpted from the African Oil+Gas Report for the value it brings to the current debate about Nigeria’s oil resources and the National Question.

Alabo-George’s article plays up so well the sentiments that a good number of Nigerians, especially middle class types excluded from the spoils of the petroleum subsidy, and allied deliverables, nurse about the kind of leadership we have suffered since independence.But it has gone around so far and keeps being forwarded so rampantly, largely because it plays to the ethnic schism; the suspicions that each of us harbours, in our different silos, about “the other”.It’s largely a response to the disingenuous claim by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Central Bank Governor, that the Boko Haram insurgency is a response to the 13% derivation allocated to the oil producing states from the federation account. “There is clearly a direct link between the very uneven nature of distribution of resources and the rising level of violence”, Sanusi told The Financial Times of London.

Alabo-George’s piece is compelling when he contrasts what non oil-producing Southern states have been able to do with their supposedly meager allowances with what their Northern counterparts have done with their own allocations.“Ekiti State has about the same revenue as Yobe and Gombe”, he contends, “but only 17 students passed WAEC and NECO in Gombe state last year, while Ekiti State is known for its high literacy level”.I find two beautiful quotable quotes in the article: (1) “Borno State has a bigger budget than that of Cross River, a Niger Delta State. While the leaders of Cross River over the last decade have transformed it into the nation’s leading tourist destination, those of Borno have transformed it into a Somalia”.

(2) “Gombe State has a bigger budget than Enugu and Anambra, why has MASSOB not bombed anyone”?

But once Alabo- George ventures beyond the political economic analysis and starts to list who owns what oil and gas assets, his article is a litany of inaccuracies and lies. He gets it totally wrong.He writes about the estate of the late Mai Deribe, the Bornu State born businessman, supposedly owning a huge oil field; Rilwanu Lukman having controlling shares in Afren; Atiku Abubakar being the stupendously rich beneficiary of the profits of Intels, the logistics company; Aminu Dantata’s Express Petroleum. He ties Amni Petroleum to only Sani Bello.So much conspiracy theory.Oil acreage ownership in Nigeria does not have ethnic colouration. What’s more important, sustaining production from oil and gas assets, whether or not awarded by the state, is determined by how much of a businessman you are.When Jibril Aminu handed out oil prospecting blocks, in the first comprehensive effort “to encourage indigenous participation” in 1991, he gave blocks to companies owned by Folawiyo, Abiola, Adenuga, Udoji, Ibru, Igbinedion,(all Southerners) as much as he gave to enterprises set up by people like Saleh Jumbo and Mai Deribe.Between 1991 and 1993, we suddenly had over 25 companies, that were Nigerian E&P companies and they took themselves so seriously that they set up an association they christened “Nigerian Association of Indigenous Petroleum Exploration Companies”.

But what did these people do with the acreages? They were mostly clueless about how to progress things.Out of that class of awardees, only Mike Adenuga created what you could really call an E&P company. He is the only one producing oil today, from his own block.It’s bad enough that Nigerian indigenous private acreage holders don’t produce, as a collective, up to 150,000 Barrels per day, or 7% of the national daily production, so why are we fighting ourselves?And I am less keen on how much you’re getting as rent from the asset you are holding, than the capacity you are building as manager of a Nigerian oil company who is awarded the asset, in trust for the rest of us.I am for an ongoing, earnest debate on the National Question. But false information misleads all of us into false conclusions, which reduce the complexity of the solutions we ought to be proffering.

The author cites a number of hydrocarbon acreages belonging to Northern elites, but ignores the fact that holding an acreage is one thing; getting value out of it is another.That so many people believe the poorly researched article, and so instantly forward it that it becomes one of the most travelled essays on the National Question, is testimony to poor knowledge of how the oil industry works.The first field the author mentions is Obe field, which, he rightly claims, is held by Cavendish Petroleum, a company set up by Alhaji Mai Deribe. Alabo- George lied by saying that the Obe field, the main hydrocarbon pool in OML 110, contains 500Million barrels of oil reserves.The Obe field does not have a proven 20 Million barrels. I am not sure it has 10Million barrels. It is not producing as I write.

The Obe field has not produced for five years, since 2007, when Tranfigura, the last technical partner engaged by Cavendish, walked out.I don’t know what discipline Mr Alabo-George belongs to, but this point I am about to make is well known to every junior petroleum geologist with three year experience in the crummiest E&P company: If a field holds 500Million barrels of oil, proven, in shallow water Nigeria, it won’t lie fallow. Investors would rush it.In countries where you don’t have the complications that the NNPC brings to the table here, fields that haven’t proven much more than 500Million barrels are “rushed” through to development.Ghana’s Jubilee field didn’t prove a billion barrels before the country’s authorities approved a field development plan. Apart from Nigeria, Angola, Libya, Algeria, Ghana (now, since 200 and perhaps Equatorial Guinea, no African country has a billion barrels in proven reserves. 500 Million barrels is half of that.Mr Alabo-George says that Obe has the capacity to produce about 120,000 barrels of crude oil daily from its OBE 4 and OBE 5 wells.

What sort of numeracy is this? Or is he dreaming these figures? How can a field with less than twenty million barrels “have the capacity” to produce 120,000 barrels per day?. What’s capacity?Alabo George’s second example of a wealthy northerner swimming in oil money is Mohammed Indimi, “a Fulani and close friend of General Ibrahim Babangida”. He says “Oriental Energy Resources Limited runs three oil blocks: OML 115, the Okwok field and the Ebok field. OML 115 and Okwok are OML PSC, while Ebok is an OML JV. All of them good yielding offshore oil blocks”.The author just doesn’t care to verify his claims. True, Indimi’s Oriental Resources holds the three assets. OML 115 is not producing as I write. No one has certified that there’s a producible field in the acreage. Ebok is being produced, on Oriental Resources’ behalf, by Afren, a UK listed company. Last year, the field delivered an average of 8,000Barrels of Oil per Day(BOPD), according to Afren’s website. You can google it. Okwok, as I write, is still in development. Translation: it has produced nary a drop of oil.

Aminu Dantata’s Express Petroleum holds the Oil Mining Lease 108, with technical partners Shebah Petroleum, which bought out Conoco, the original technical partners. Fine.The Ukpokiti field, the main asset on the acreage, produced for quite a while; and should have made the Dantatas quite rich, over a period of more than seven years. The field died out at some point and is being revived as I write.“NorthEast Petroleum is owned by another Fulani businessman from the North East, Alhaji Saleh Mohammed Jambo”, Alabo-George testifies. “The license was awarded to him by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida”.Another truth: North East Petroleum has NEVER produced a single drop of oil since that award in the early 90s. There, simply, hasn’t been a discovery worth the while for operator TOTAL.I agree that Theophilus Danjuma, also a Northerner, is entitled to contest for the award of the man who made the most fortune, at a sitting, on an oil acreage in Nigeria.Alabo-George’s article, in his rush to conclusions, even understates the significance, by claiming that Danjuma’s company, South Atlantic Petroleum Limited(SAPETRO), made $1Billion from the deal.The truth is that China National Overseas Offshore Company(CNOOC ), signed a definitive agreement with SAPETRO to acquire a 45% working interest in OML 130 for $2.268 billion cash.

I don’t know how much the broker of the deal took, but I am yet to confirm if the Nigerian government earned any withholding tax from that transaction. In spite of what he has earned “upfront”, Danjuma’s SAPETRO gets 25,600Barrels of Oil per day for its 15% of OML 130 from the Akpo field, which is delivering 175,000BOPD.But if you complain about Northerner Danjuma, what about the Alakijas, a Yoruba couple whose company, Famfa Oil, is “entitled”, every day, to 25,000BOPD from Chevron operated Agbami Field, located in deepwater OML 127?.These two companies are two of the four largest producing Nigerian companies today. The other two are Adenuga’s Conoil(25,000BOPD) and Seplat Petroleum(37,000BOPD, operated, 16,000BOPD, equity).Only one of those four companies is Northern owned. And it is outright falsehood that “ 80 per cent of crude oil and gas produced by indigenous companies is controlled by the North-East”.But, as I said again: which technical and managerial capacity are we building on the back of the rent collected from these leases. It’s the real job.

The last example I’d touch, before the concluding commentary, for space purposes, is the case of Rilwan Lukman, who Alabo-Gorge cites as having controlling shares in Afren, the UK listed company. Lukman was there on the ground floor of the construction of Afren, around 2004, no doubt, but the key founders of Afren are Ethelbert Cooper, the Liberian businessman and Osman Shahenshah, who is the current Chief Executive.What people like Lukman and Egbert Imomoh, the other Nigerian on the company’s board in the founding days, did, is the kind of thing I urge Nigerians in their positions to do.Use your knowledge to access and create value, not to grab and destroy value. Cooper and Shanenshah knew that Lukman(then out of office both from OPEC and as Nigerian special adviser), and Imomoh(then recently retired as Deputy Managing Director Of Shell Nigeria) knew the Nigerian oil industry deeply and could access oil and gas fields that were lying fallow.

Shanenshah, coming from a financial services background, knew how to raise funds: the most important thing in oilfield exploration and development. Indeed the first piece of news by which most people knew of the existence of Afren was that the IMF had agreed to give a 5Million dollar loan to this company, which was only just about starting. It pays to have Lukman on your board.Yet, in spite of Lukman’s influence in the Nigerian polity, Afren had never accessed Nigerian acreages via government awards. Afren, cash in hand, running a technically proficient company, approaches Nigerian indigenous owners of assets-like Ndimi’s Oriental Resources, Amni and several marginal field holders, and signs agreements with them to be technical partners.After Afren has recovered its investment via cost oil, Afren and the company continue to share the proceeds from the field 50:50 for the life of the field. Afren uses Nigerian technical capacity to a large degree and it trains a lot of people. But it can do more.Afren has never benefitted from bid round or government-sanctioned discretionary awards, so why would anyone link Lukman’s involvement in Afren in a list that has a number of Northerners supposedly benefitting from government largesse? That is part of the trouble I have with Alabo-George’s essay.

I wouldn’t compare Lukman’s relationship with Afren to the benefits that Atiku Abubakar derives from being a part owner of Intels, the logistics company which takes advantage of the free trade zone in Onne, near Port Harcourt.This particular example helps us to locate “the Nigerian tendency”, beyond “the Northern tendency”, in this discussion. Because, really, we are just all the same.A foreign company comes to Nigeria to set up for business. Because of the difficulties we invent as barriers to entry, this company requires the services of some big Nigerian men, preferably those who have worked for government, for access.What Atiku Abubakar has done with Intels has parallels in other sectors of the economy and is comparable with what Yoruba chieftains, Ijaw leaders, Igbo High Chiefs, Idoma overlords, etc, etc, have done with many other companies operating here.That’s how people became key shareholders of companies like Julius Berger. As I write, the key sentiment underlining the complaints against the tolling on the Lekki Expressway is that “most of the money will go to Tinubu’s pocket”.

That’s the word on the street.Brokerage is not a bad thing on its own, but what we need to stress is a level playing field, rule of law, security of tenor and equity and fairness as much as possible, for all.If I really want to be mischievous, I’d focus on the recent deal in which Shell and Agip have had to pay in excess of one billion dollars to Dan Etete, a south-south man, for stakes in Oil Prospecting Lease OPL 245. And I would ask “Is that necessarily right”? Should the president, a south-south Ijaw man, have waded in to ask Shell and Agip to move the deal forward? But that’s a story for another day.In my book, people from everywhere have taken advantage of the unstructured way we have dispensed with oil and gas acreages. Naming names about which Northerner got what size of the pie is less useful than a focus on how government is insisting on open and transparent bidding, but more importantly, on Nigerian technical know how and management.

You can’t hand over an acreage and walk away. You have to monitor what the holder is doing. How he is ensuring employment. If we can’t, with all the treasure, build five private E&P companies that have the internal competencies that Shell has and can go out and buy and operate assets the way that UBA and GTB and Ecobank venture into Ghana and The Gambia, then we have wasted all of the 56 years we have spent since the hoorah at Oloibiri.


Akinosho, a petroleum geologist, former news reporter, and one-time community newspaper editor, is now publisher of the well-regarded African Oil+Gas Report

Thanks for the informations!

Crazy short-sighted stupid article....msssheeewwwww!!!