Leadership (Abuja)
Ayodele Samuel
2 November 2009
Lagos — Oando Plc., a Nigerian oil company, has applied to be lisited on the London Stock Exchange. It will be following the earlier move by Guaranty Trust Bank Plc., which was listed two years ago.
Oando will be the first Nigerian oil company applying for a listing on the London Stock Exchange.
The move is an indication of something even more unusual about Oando, as it is in position to become Nigeria's first major indigenous energy company.
The Nigerian oil market has for years been dominated by major foreign players like Royal Dutch Shell Plc, whose advanced technology and know-how have made Nigeria the world's eighth biggest oil exporting nation. But Oando, under its Chief Executive, Wale Tinubu, has changed traditional investors' views of Nigerian oil firms, most of which have little track record for being able to execute challenging oil projects.
Oando is Nigeria's leading fuel retailer, a status it built in the last few years and plans to be a bigger, integrated oil company.
Though, still small by global oil standards, Oando is now aggressively laying the ground work to boost its crude pumping operations. It recently forked out hundreds of millions of dollars for the rights to drill for crude in two areas of Nigeria's offshore waters and cut deals with Russian natural gas giant, OAO Gazprom, and with the state-run Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, to explore for hydrocarbons and build gas infrastructure.
"A lot of [investors] are learning that there are indigenous [Nigerian] companies, who in every way and manner run their businesses like world class corporations," said Oando's Mr. Tinubu in an interview at his office here in Nigeria's financial capital.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
