Oando Plc, run by Wale Tinubu, President Bola Tinubu’s nephew, has been shortlisted among the top three bidders to purchase Trinidad’s former national refinery.

Oando Plc, according to Trinidad’s finance minister Colm Imbert, made it to the final selection stage, cutting down the initial ten bidders who showed interest in buying the Petrotrin refinery to three. 

Mr Imbert disclosed this at the presentation of Trinidad’s national budget on September 30.

Mr Imbert disclosed that the Trinidad government hired Scotia Capital (USA) Inc. to oversee the selection process where only one of Nigeria’s Oando Plc, Trinidad’s CRO Consortium and INCA Energy, an American company, will be qualified to buy the refinery.

He said the three companies were shortlisted based on Scotia Capital’s recommendation and disclosed that the same company would determine the final winner. 

“A formal selective Request for Proposals process will now be initiated to determine the winner among these three companies, with a view to restarting the refinery, if found feasible,” Mr Imbert said.

The minister stressed that the government had no intention of “exposing taxpayers to the recurring billion-dollar losses that occurred previously in the operation of the refinery.”

The bidders were evaluated on five criteria: a plan and timeline to restart operations in the Petrotrin refinery, asset integrity assessment, source of crude oil to be refined and utility requirements, which comprise power, water and natural gas.

Bidders were mandated to provide financing plans to show working capital, which must be backed by one or multiple credible financing institutions.  

“Using these criteria, three of the proposals were found by Scotia and the Evaluation Committee to be worthy of further consideration,” Mr Imbert stressed.

Petrotrin refinery had become a liability to Trinidad’s government, incurring losses that ran into billions of dollars every year. The recurrent loss led Prime Minister Keith Rowley to shut down the oil plant in 2018 after recording a $2 billion loss.

Given that the previous planned sale of the refinery had failed twice, the government imposed stringent conditions to ensure this set of bidders had the financial capacity to reopen and operate the refinery.

“In that context, since 2018, there have been two attempts to sell or lease the refinery. Both efforts failed because the preferred bidders were unable to show any tangible evidence of their ability to raise the necessary capital to reopen and operate the refinery,” Mr Imbert explained.

The minister said reopening the oil plant would create employment opportunities for its citizens, a major boost for Trinidad’s economy.

Oando Plc’s market value skyrocketed to an all-time high of $1 trillion up from  $74 billion as of September 2024, which elevated the oil company to the top 10 most-capitalised companies on the Nigerian stock exchange.

Mr Tinubu’s oil company acquired Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) from Italian energy major Eni for about $783 million, including reimbursement and consideration for the asset.

If funds and capital were the most crucial factors to be considered for Petrotrin’s acquisition, Oando Plc seemed to have a solid shot at landing the deal.