A consortium of eight Nigerian banks led by UBA, as the lead bank, has provided a $265million supplementary refinancing facility for ExxonMobil and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The banks are United Bank for Africa Plc, Oceanic Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Skye Bank, Zenith Bank, Bank PHB, Access Bank and Union Bank Plc.

The deal, which was closed in London last week, marked a further sign of the increasing leadership role of Nigerian banks in oil and gas financing, where until recently they had largely played a more limited role.

The new deal follows the successful underwriting by UBA of the first 100 per cent local funding of an ExxonMobil/NNPC Joint Venture Project in 2008, when $220 million was raised for NGL Funding Limited; a special purpose vehicle created for the Project's Natural Gas Liquids and Additional Oil Recovery Program.

UBA a leading participant in the funding of capital intensive upstream oil and gas projects provided the underwriting for the new facility to bridge receipt of cash subscriptions from other Nigerian banks.

The success of the NNPC/Mobil project will provide crucial validation for the Federal Government of Nigeria's commercial approach to funding of its oil and gas JV projects, rather than dependence on budget provisions. According to the Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA Plc Mr. Tony Elumelu, this deal demonstrates "that UBA, and other participating Nigerian banks with similar aspirations, have the capacity to play leading roles in financing this critical sector of the Nigerian economy".