Oando Plc on Thursday announced its acquisition of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) from Italian energy major Eni.

According to Oando’s press statement, the acquisition is worth $783 million, including reimbursement and consideration for the asset.

Speaking on the brokered deal, Oando’s CEO Wale Tinubu, the president’s nephew, said it was “the culmination of ten years of toil, resilience, and an unwavering belief in the realisation of our ambition since the 2014 entry into the Joint Venture via the acquisition of Conoco-Philips Nigerian portfolio.” 

He added that the company will “continue to pursue strategic diversification opportunities within the broader energy sector that provide enhanced growth and value creation for our stakeholders, particularly in clean energy, agri-feedstock sector, as well as energy infrastructure and mining.”

But Mr Tinubu was silent on how Oando was a struggling business before his uncle Bola Tinubu became Nigeria’s president in May 2023 and swiftly moved to cut deals that helped the firm at the nation’s expense. Peoples Gazette reported earlier this year how the Tinubus were discussing Oando’s takeover of Eni’s Nigerian assets in exchange for Eni’s repossession of the lucrative OPL 245 oil field in Nigeria in partnership with Shell. 

Both Ọando and Eni denied any wrongdoing in separate statements to The Gazette, but state petroleum minister Heineken Lokpobiri confirmed the questionable deal and said they were in Nigeria’s interest. 

Oando, in the statement issued by Ayotola Jagun, who described herself as the company’s chief compliance officer and secretary, said the company expects the acquisition to expand its upstream operations and strengthen its position in the country’s oil and gas sector.

The brokered deal raised Oando’s current participating interests in OMLs 60, 61, 62, and 63 from 20 per cent to 40 per cent.

Oando said the acquisition also increases its ownership stake in all NEPL-NAOC-OOL joint venture assets and infrastructure which include 40 discovered oil and gas fields, of which 24 are currently producing, approximately 40 identified prospects and leads, 12 production stations, approximately 1,490KM of pipelines, three gas processing plants, the Brass River Oil Terminal, the Kwale-Okpai phases one and two power plants (with a total nameplate capacity of 960MW), and associated infrastructure. 

By 2022 reserves estimates, Oando’s total reserves stood at 505.6MMboe, and the transaction will deliver a 98 per cent increase of 493.6MMboe, bringing the total reserves to 1.0Bnboe, the firm said.