NOW CORRUPTION-ACCUSED NIGERIAN FIRM IN RACE FOR PETROTRIN

A CORRUPTION-SCARRED Nigerian energy company is now in the mix to run Petrotrin.

This is the latest turn in the ongoing saga of privatising the shutdown Pointe-a-Pierre plant.

Oando Plc, an integrated firm based in Lagos, is in a short-list of bidders to meet a 12-member Government Committee, headed by Vishnu Dhanpaul, former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

Oando has had a history of financial troubles and struggled to remain afloat, with three times more liabilities than assets.

But the company has partly rebounded and recently bought another energy operator.

Oando was found by Nigeria’s Security Exchange Commission (SEC) to be involved in a string of “serious infractions.”

They included false disclosures, market abuses, misstatements in financial documents, internal control failures, and corporate governance lapses from poor Board oversight.

There were also irregular approval of directors’ remuneration, unjustified payments to directors and management, transactions not conducted at arm’s length, and other issues.

The SEC directed Oando to address the violations by implementing corporate governance improvements, and complying with the provisions of relevant laws.

Two years ago, the company was suspended by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa for failing to produce its earnings report.

Well-placed energy sources are speculating that Oando’s executives tendered for Petrotrin in order to improve the worth of the Nigerian company’s shares.

“They may simply want to use the acquisition tender to send up the share value,” one knowledgeable source said.

He cited a recent similar transaction involving a Canadian-owned energy firm and a Trinidad and Tobago-based exploration company. 

Oando recorded a 23 per cent decline in crude oil production in 2022.

The company recently acquired the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, which was previously owned by an Italian firm.

Oando describes its CEO Jubril Adewale Tinubu as a pioneering entrepreneur.

The Dhanpaul-led evaluation team has met officials of at least two other bidders – GN Fenceline, owned by local energy executives, and Patriotic Energies and Technologies Ltd., a subsidiary of Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union.

A source on the committee said the meetings were “highly professional, conducted in good faith, and rewarding.”

The contenders were quizzed on financial, technical and marketing issues.

Officials of proposed financial backers made presentations to the Committee, through video-conferencing.

Representatives of Fenceline and Patriotic were upbeat after their respective meetings.

The Committee will submit a report, with recommendations, to Cabinet.

Sunshine Today previously reported that Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley is aiming to make a public announcement between Independence Day and Republic Day on the sale or lease of the Pointe-a-Pierre facility.

Rowley wants to provoke a sense of nationalism with the revival of the mothballed plant, informed sources said.

This newspaper was reliably informed that in his forthcoming fiscal package, Finance Minister Colm Imbert will budget for revenues from a re-launched Petrotrin.

“The Government is planning a song-and-dance with the hope of electoral benefits,” a source said.

This newspaper had earlier exposed the corruption charges against previous frontrunner Naveen Jindal, an Indian entrepreneur.

Jindal, who was not asked to submit a formal tender, later backed off, blaming public critics.