Chief Executive Officer, Oando PLC, Wale Tinubu, has said the oil and gas company plans to raise up to $750 million this year for a drilling campaign that could boost output by 300%.
He told Reuters yesterday. He also noted that the company is among a handful of local companies that have snapped up assets from oil majors in the past decade as they exit Nigerian onshore adding that this year, surging energy prices should open more funding sources for producers in the region.
He said: “We are pushing very, very hard towards getting the financing that we need to do an extensive drilling campaign.”
According to Reuters, while in the past the company had struggled with securing cash for drilling due to investor worries that Africa was an “unsafe environment”, the Middle East crisis (Iran war) and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, have shifted that view, Tinubu said.
He added: “Africa is very, very peaceful compared to these regions.” Already, Tinubu said there was a shift in demand for Nigeria’s crude, with more cargoes sailing to Asia to replace Gulf oil trapped due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
