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Economy

Oando Plans Aggressive Drilling Program After 267% Rise in FY24 Net Profit

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Oando

By Dipo Olowookere

Shareholders of Oando Plc may get more value for their money in the 2025 financial year as the integrated energy company intends to execute some strategies, including an aggressive drilling program, designed to yield positive results.

The chief executive of the firm, Mr Wale Tinubu, while commenting on the financial performance of the organisation for the 2024 fiscal year, said “2025 will be our year of execution.”

Last year, Oando impressed investors with a 44 per cent rise in revenue to N4.1 trillion from the N2.9 trillion recorded in the preceding year, with the post-tax profit up by 267 per cent to N220 billion from N60 billion in 2023.

In the upstream segment of the business, Oando’s production went up by 3 per cent to 23,727 barrels of oil equivalent per day, comprising crude oil production, which rose by 27 per cent to 7,558 barrels per day, as NGL production and gas decreased respectively by 35 per cent to 156 bpd, and 5 per cent to 16,013 boepd.

As for the downstream, Oando’s trading subsidiary sold 20.7 million barrels of crude oil in 2024, 37 per cent lower than what was recorded a year earlier. This was attributed to structural changes in the Nigerian oil market.

Additionally, refined product volumes declined by 64 per cent to just over 599 kMT, due to weakened domestic demand, driven by the challenging macroeconomic in-country.

“The year 2024 was a defining year for Oando, with the successful acquisition and integration of NAOC marking the culmination of a decade-long strategic growth journey which has significantly deepened our upstream portfolio, resulting in our assumption of operatorship of the OML 60–63 series and the doubling of our working interest in the assets from 20 per cent to 40 per cent, as well as our 2P reserves from 500 million barrels of oil equivalent to 1 billion barrels,” Mr Tinubu stated.

He said this year, “Our key priorities shall include unlocking synergies from the acquisition, addressing above-ground security risks through the implementation of a revamped security framework aimed at curbing the persistent theft of oil, cost optimization, balance sheet restructuring, enhancing operational efficiency, and leveraging technology to improve productivity across our operations.”

“In our bid to ramp up production towards achieving our target of 100,000 bopd and 1.5 tcf of gas by 2029, we shall pursue a dual-track approach of rig-less interventions and well workovers, complemented by an aggressive drilling program.

“We are excited by the opportunities that lie ahead and remain committed to delivering enhanced shareholder returns, shared prosperity and maintaining our position as a leading player in Africa’s evolving energy landscape,” he added.

Economy

Dangote Shifts East Africa Refinery Focus to Kenya After Tanzania Concerns

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dangote refinery trucks

By Adedapo Adesanya

African businessman, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said that due to Tanzania’s current reservations, there is a strong case for the planned East African Dangote refinery to be hosted in Kenya instead.

Last month, it was reported that the billionaire, alongside the presidents of Kenya and Uganda, Mr William Ruto, and Mr Yoweri Museveni, planned to build a new oil refinery in Tanzania. The project will include a pipeline that links the Kenyan port city of Mombasa to the northeastern Tanzanian harbour of Tanga, where the facility will be situated.

However, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan last week complained angrily to her Kenyan counterpart that she had not been consulted over the earlier plan to build it on her country’s coastline.

Due to the latest development, the industrialist is now eyeing Kenya as the site of the planned 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery, as per the Financial Times. The facility is estimated to cost as much as $17 billion, compared to the $20 billion structure based in Lagos.

“I’m leaning more towards Mombasa because it has a much larger, deeper port,” he was quoted as saying.

“Kenyans consume more. It’s a bigger economy,” he said, adding that crude oil for the refinery could be transported by ship and need not be located near a pipeline that will carry oil nearly 1,500 kilometres from Ugandan oilfields to the Tanzanian coast at Tanga.

“The ball is in the hands of President Ruto,” he said. “Whatever President Ruto says is what I’ll do.”

Mr Dangote said he would need a lot of government protection from President Ruto, noting that it would mean land, financing, and most importantly, protection from what he called the dumping of cheap fuel from the likes of Russia or India.

“There is no refinery in the world that can survive without that protection,” he said. “If we have an agreement, we can start this year.”

Mr Dangote, who has faced multiple accusations of monopoly, built his empire in industries such as salt, sugar, flour, cement, and, more recently, petroleum, largely through a business model that benefited from government incentives, preferential foreign exchange access, and policies that limited foreign competition.

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Economy

OTC Securities Exchange Sustains Bullish Run With 1.18% Appreciation

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NASD OTC securities exchange

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended rallied by 1.18 per cent on Friday, May 8, its fifth in a row for this week.

During the session, the market capitalisation increased by N28.96 billion to N2.488 trillion from N2.459 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) jumped by 48.39 points to 4,158.77 points from the 4,110.38 points recorded a day earlier.

The growth witnessed yesterday was spurred by the gains recorded by six securities, led by 11 Plc, which chalked up N11.00 to sell at 221.10 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N210.10 per unit. FrislandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N10.26 to close at N132.98 per share compared with the previous day’s N127.06 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc rose by N2.82 to N75.90 per unit from N73.08 per unit.

In addition, Lighthouse Financial Services Plc appreciated by 7 Kobo to 86 Kobo per share from 81 Kobo per share, UBN Property Plc climbed higher by 5 Kobo to N2.25 per unit from N2.20 per unit, and First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc gained 2 Kobo to close at N2.32 per share, in contrast to the previous session’s N2.30 per share.

Conversely, Geo-Fluids Plc went down by 20 Kobo to N2.90 per unit from N3.10 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc lost 5 Kobo to end at N16.95 per share versus N17.00 per share.

The volume of transactions for the session surged by 41.8 per cent to 528,891 units from 372,916 units, and the value grew by 11.4 per cent to N34.0 million from N30.4 million, while the number of deals slid by 7.4 per cent to 25 deals from 27 deals.

The most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion. Resourcery Plc occupied the second spot after trading 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and the third position was occupied by Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units sold for N1.2 billion.

The most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis was GNI Plc with 3.4 billion units transacted for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 60.5 million units exchanged for N4.1 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units traded for N1.9 billion.

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Economy

Demand for Dangote Cement, Others Lifts Stock Exchange by 2.10%

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exposure to Nigerian stocks

By Dipo Olowookere

The local stock exchange reversed the previous day’s loss, with a 2.10 per cent surge on Friday as a result of demand for large-cap equities like Dangote Cement, First Holdco and others.

It was observed that apart from the insurance counter, which shed 0.37 per cent, every other sector closed higher yesterday.

The industrial goods index expanded by 7.26 per cent, the banking segment increased by 3.35 per cent, the consumer goods industry rose by 0.21 per cent, and the energy sector soared by 0.14 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited improved by 5,041.22 points to 244,775.83 points from 239,734.61 points, and the market capitalisation added N3.235 trillion to settle at N157.094 trillion compared with the preceding session’s N153.859 trillion.

The quintet of Neimeth, Cadbury Nigeria, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank, Mecure, and Dangote Cement led the advancers’ table on Friday, with 10.00 per cent growth each to quote at N9.90, N72.60, N3.52, N72.60, and N1,088.00, respectively.

On the flip side, the duo of UAC Nigeria and Industrial and Medical Gases lost 10.00 per cent each to sell for N171.00 and N42.30, respectively, as Eterna declined by 9.93 per cent to N33.55, Learn Africa slipped by 9.89 per cent to N8.20, and Deap Capital tripped by 9.69 per cent to N5.50.

The most active stock for the day was VFD Group, with a turnover of 102.9 million units valued at N1.1 billion. FCMB transacted 99.4 million units worth N1.1 billion, UBA traded 94.5 million units for N3.8 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 85.4 million units worth N2.0 billion, and Zenith Bank sold 46.5 million units valued at N5.8 billion.

At the close of trades, market participants traded 1.1 billion units worth N55.0 billion in 69,996 deals, in contrast to the 1.8 billion units valued at N72.2 billion transacted in 81,131 deals a day earlier, showing a crash in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 38.89 per cent, 23.82 per cent, and 13.73 per cent, respectively.

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