NNPCL acquires Chevron’s legacy shallow-water assets with $300m obtained from firm linked to MRS, Dangote
Oredola Adeola
Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has obtained funds from Bestaf Funding Limited (“BFL”), an integrated firm owned by the Sayyu Dantata’s family, to acquire two Chevron Corporation’s legacy shallow-water blocks.
The NNPCL revealed this in a report by Bloomberg. The statement revealed the transaction was completed in May and the financing is secured against crude from producing fields within NNPC’s portfolio.
Bestaf Funding Limited (“BFL”) is managed by Abdul-aziz Uba Dangote, and is also a subsidiary of MRS Holdings.
The firm released $300 million, secured through African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), to the NNPC Chevron’s divested assets. This was confirmed in NNPC’s recent financial statements.
Umar Ajiya, NNPC Chief Financial Officer, in an email response to Bloomberg reported that the forward sale agreement was concluded between NNPC and Bahamas-registered Bestaf Funding Ltd, according to the financial statements and an emailed response from
According to the report, Bestaf companies develop real estate, manufacture lubricants, store shipping containers, and provide support vessels.
Chevron’s 40 percent operating stakes in the licenses of oil mining leases (OMLs) 86 and 88, a legacy shallow water assets, located in the Niger Delta basin, is now completely transferred to NNPCL.
The closure of the deal is coming after Chevron’s 22 years of managing the assets it acquired from Texaco in 1999.
The OML 86 consists of Funiwa, Sengana, Apoi, and Okubie fields, and the most recent discovery, Buko, while OML 88 includes Pennington and Middleton fields and Chioma fields.
The two acreages are reported to have an untapped potential of 55 million oil barrels and 2.8 trillion cubic feet of undeveloped gas reserves. As of the period of transfer, the field was doing 6,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day
Bloomberg, while quoting NNPC’s financial statements, disclosed that the national oil company is expected to repay Bestaf over 4.5 years and it is expected to deliver 8,000 barrels of crude per day to Dantata’s company throughout the duration of the contract between the parties.
The NNPC Chief Financial Officer told Bloomberg that the crude oil is the “sole repayment guarantee”, which would be lifted by an MRS unit operating as Bestaf’s trading agent.
Ajiya confirmed that the proceeds shall be deposited into a designated account held at Afreximbank for regular repayment.
EnergyDay’s check showed that Afreximbank in November 2021, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Bestaf Exploration and Production Ltd, for US$1 billion to be used for the development of assets and requisite facilities to monetise the gas in OML 86 and 88 through a financial and technical service agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation during the Intra-African Trade Fair 2021 (IATF2021).
