News: Oando buys ConocoPhillips Nigerian assets for $1.65bn

Oando, a Nigerian oil company, has closed a $1.65bn deal to buy ConocoPhillips Nigerian assets.
The completion of the deal is expected to be announced on Thursday. The deal will boost Oando’s oil production in Nigeria from about 5, 000 barrels/day to 50,000 barrels/day, placing the company amongst Nigeria’s largest domestic crude oil and natural gas producing companies
In recent years, Nigerian domestic Oil and gas producing companies have expanded exponentially, buying assets worth $5bn from foreign energy groups.
It took Oando much longer than initially agreed to close the deal; delays were due to the complexity of raising enough capital and difficulties encountered with Nigerian bureaucracy.
It is believed that future deals will be easier because of the arrival of new financiers, including sovereign wealth funds such as Temasek of Singapore, and commodities trading houses including Geneva-based Mercuria.
The arrival of international investors is critical for the sector, as the new companies face multibillion-dollar price tags to purchase the oil and gas fields that are on offer from foreign groups as local banks and investors lack the capacity to finance the investments on their own.