Oando / Energy Focus

OANDO

OANDO

Proud Heritage Supports All-Conquering Aspirations PRODUCTION: William Denstone

Uniquely positioned to take advantage of Nigeria’s vast natural resources, Oando is among Africa’s largest integrated energy solutions providers and a leading indigenous player in exploration and production. Having propelled itself to the forefront of the country’s upstream sector in record time, Oando is now leading the way in cleaner, greener developments, with a dedicated subsidiary exploring a portfolio expansion strategy into renewable energy.

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Ebocha oil Field

INDUSTRY FOCUS: INTEGRATED ENERGY

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Driven by a vision to be the leading indigenous energy solutions provider on the African continent, Oando is making swift and sustained progress to position itself as a major player in both Nigeria and the continent as a whole.

Chief Compliance Officer Ayotola Jagun takes us through Oando’s rapid rise to becoming one of Nigeria’s top outfits, specifically in the country’s upstream oil and gas sector.

“An independent oil and gas company with world-class operations, and the foremost energy company in Nigeria, Oando began life as UniPetrol, a Governmentowned, downstream business,” she describes. “One of our more recent and immediate priorities was to move from being regarded as a predominantly downstream company to an upstream business, involved in exploration and production, which we have achieved in just 10 years.”

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MAJOR UPSTREAM PLAYER Now with a robust portfolio of oil and gas fields, the company has focused its strategy on increasing reserves, acquiring new assets, and enhancing production. “We are now at the cutting edge of Africa’s upstream sector,” Jagun confirms, “with significant investments in a robust portfolio of oil and gas fields, as well as participating interests in onshore and offshore producing assets.

“Our extensive upstream portfolio covers oil and gas assets predominantly situated on- and offshore in Nigeria, but also with interest and assets acquired recently in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Through our extensive local operating capabilities, we have partnerships with both indigenous and international oil companies, and hold interests in 14 licenses for the exploration, development and production of oil and gas assets located across onshore, swamp and offshore.

// ANY ENERGY COMPANY HAS TO REALISE THAT WE ARE LIVING ON BORROWED TIME // “We have a very active trading division, too, and the crude oil that we produce and are then able to sell in turn allows us to bring in refined petroleum across a large part of Africa. We are active in Ghana, Nigeria, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa and are currently undertaking a lot of exploration work in these territories not in the sense of production, but in terms of markets.

“Our strategy is to continually grow our reserves through the development of our existing portfolio, and the acquisition of new assets through an ambitious expansion strategy.”

Demand-driven, reliable, efficient, and value-oriented, Oando Trading DMCC (OTD) deals in crude oil and petroleum products ranging from Naphtha, Gasoline, Fuel Oil, Gas Oil, Kerosene, and Bitumen.

To date, Oando Trading has exported over 57 million barrels of crude oil and in excess of three million metric tonnes of refined products. “Through this experienced, international commodities supply and trading company, we offer a wide range of value-added services, ensuring customer satisfaction at every level of the supply chain,” comments Jagun.

As one of Africa’s first companies to have a cross-border inward listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Oando has emerged as a leading exploration and production company in Nigeria and a major African player.

“We are the leading energy company in Nigeria, but we have also always had a growth plan that is pan-African,” Jagun explains, “and our goal continued growth as an upstream company.

“We are of course acutely aware of the global context, however, and as a result have pushed hard locally for sustainability.”

INDUSTRY FOCUS: INTEGRATED ENERGY

SUSTAINABILITY IN ALL SPHERES One way in which sustainability is exemplified at Oando is through an active commitment to contributing to the socio-economic development of the communities in which it operates, in part by ensuring that these operations are safe, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible. “One of the main things we focus on with our CSR is education,” Jagun divulges, “because we see it as integral in shifting people out of poverty. We have a foundation that is focused on primary school education and takes a holistic approach to bridging the gap that currently exists in the Nigerian education system, as unfortunately Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children at 10.5 million. Already, though, in a very

// WE ARE THE LEADING ENERGY COMPANY IN NIGERIA, BUT WE HAVE ALSO ALWAYS HAD A GROWTH PLAN THAT IS PAN-AFRICAN //

short period of time we have amongst other achievements been able to adopt 88 schools nationwide, enrolled over 60,000 out-of-school children to return to mainstream education in the communities where we operate, with a cumulative retention rate of 77%.”

At Oando, the belief that community relations is critical to the success of business operations and to the nation’s economic prosperity is lodged in our DNA, according to Jagun. “As a company, this is who we are; we are very much community and grassroots-focussed and are seen as strong leaders in this area within the industry.”

The duo of Oando Energy Resources and Oando Trading has recently been joined by a third, critical arm, geared explicitly towards sustainability in arguably its most impactful form. “Oando Clean Energy Limited is a proudly indigenous renewable energy company, utilising clean sources to develop energy solutions for the continent’s unique challenges starting in our home country Nigeria,” Jagun says. “We are always asking ourselves how we can solve the problems the nation is facing and at the same time be forward-looking, and there is currently no better way to achieve this than on the clean energy front.

Ayotola with Amina J. Mohammed - Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations at UNGC event

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OANDO

Ayotola at UN Global Compact Network event

// WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INVOLVED IN INNOVATING AND FINDING EASIER, MORE EFFICIENT WAYS OF OPERATING // “Any energy company has to realise that we are living on borrowed time,” is her stark warning. “We realise that we have an enormous part to play as a large company ourselves in aggressively pursuing solutions to optimise consumption, improve yields and ensure the efficient use of energy.

“We have a whole business strategy built on clean energy and have been focussing on this for some time.

We now want to build Africa’s largest integrated green energy company, to power Africa in a sustainable manner.”

Each of these ground-breaking developments and changes create greater synergies between herself

and the company, Jagun assesses.

“As a company we have always been involved in innovating and finding easier, more efficient ways of operating, and invested in how Nigerians can through collaboration move the economy forward.

“I think this is part of what makes me personally such a great fit for Oando: I have an adventurous spirit and take risks, I refuse to take no for an answer, and I have consistently demonstrated great resilience, all of which has been embodied and lived by the company in everything it does.”

The world’s active pursuit of deliberate paths toward the creation

of a more sustainable future has accelerated the need for oil and gas companies to explore a portfolio diversification strategy towards renewable energy, Jagun closes.

“As the world transitions from fossil fuels into more renewable sources of energy, we know that energy providers in the fossil fuel space must rapidly evolve to adapt to a new market reality or face disruption. It is against this backdrop that Oando has made its first foray into renewable energy, as the journey begins for the redefinition of the future of our business and our role in the achievement of a carbon neutral world.”

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Published by CMB Media Group Chris Bolderstone – General Manager E. chris@cmb-media.co.uk Kiln House, Fuel Studios, Pottergate, Norwich NR2 1DX T. +44 (0) 1603 855 161 www.cmb-media.co.uk CMB Media Group does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/ or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

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