OANDO: Integrated Energy

Driven by the vision to be the leading indigenous exploration and production company on the African continent, Oando is making swift and sustained progress to position itself as a major player in both Nigeria and the continent as a whole. Chief Compliance Officer Ayotola Jagun takes us through Oando’s rapid rise to one of Nigeria’s top outfits, particularly in the country’s upstream sector.

“An independent oil and gas company with world-class operations, and the foremost energy company in Nigeria, Oando began life as UniPetrol, a state-owned, downstream business,” she describes. “One of our immediate priorities was to move from being regarded as a predominantly downstream company to an upstream business, involved in exploration and production, which we have achieved in just 10 years.”

MAJOR UPSTREAM PLAYER

Now with a robust portfolio of oil and gas fields, the company has focused its strategy on increasing reserves, acquiring new assets and enhancing production. “We are now at the cutting edge of Africa’s upstream sector,” Jagun confirms, “with significant investments in a robust portfolio of oil and gas fields, as well as participating interests in onshore and offshore producing assets.

“Our extensive asset base covers exploration, development and production assets for both oil and gas, predominantly situated on- and offshore in Nigeria, but also with interest and assets acquired recently in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of São Tomé and Príncipe. Through our extensive local operating capabilities, we have partnerships with both indigenous and international oil companies, and we hold interests in 14 licenses for the exploration, development and production of oil and gas assets located across onshore, swamp and offshore.

“We have a very active trading division, too, and the crude oil that we produce and are then able to sell in turn allows us to bring in refined petroleum across a large part of Africa. We are active in Ghana, Nigeria, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa and we are currently undertaking a lot of exploration work in these territories – not in the sense of production, but in terms of markets.

“Our strategy is to continually grow our reserves through the development of our existing portfolio, and the acquisition of new assets through an ambitious expansion strategy.”

Demand-driven, reliable, efficient, and value-oriented, Oando Trading DMCC (OTD) deals in crude oil and petroleum products ranging from Naphtha, Gasoline, Fuel Oil, Gas Oil, Kerosene, and Bitumen. To date, Oando Trading has exported over 57 million barrels of crude oil and in excess of three million metric tonnes of refined products. “Through this experienced, international commodities supply and trading company, we offer a wide range of value added services, ensuring customer satisfaction at every level of the supply chain,” comments Jagun.

As one of Africa’s first companies to have a cross-border inward listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Oando has emerged as a leading exploration and production company in Nigeria and a major African competitor. “We are the leading energy company in Nigeria, but we have also always had a growth plan that is pan-African,” Jagun explains, “and our goal throughout has been to grow as an upstream company.

“We are of course acutely aware of the global context, however, and as a result have pushed hard locally for sustainability.”

SUSTAINABILITY IN ALL SPHERES

One way in which sustainability is exemplified at Oando is through an active commitment to contributing to the socio-economic development of the communities in which it operates, in part by ensuring that these operations are safe, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible. “One of the main things we focus on with our CSR is education,” Jagun divulges, “because we see it as the main way out of poverty. We have a foundation that is dedicated to primary school education, as unfortunately Nigeria is among those countries that has very high numbers of out-of-school children. Already, though, in a very short period of time we have been able to help 60,000 pupils to return to mainstream education in the communities where we operate.”

At Oando, the belief that community relations are critical to the success of business operations and to the nation’s economic prosperity is lodged in its DNA, according to Jagun. “As a company, this who we are; we are very much community and grassroots-focussed, and are seen as strong leaders within the industry.”

The duo of Oando Energy Resources and Oando Trading has recently been joined by a third, critical arm, geared explicitly toward sustainability in arguably its most impactful form. “Oando Clean Energy is another proudly indigenous renewable energy company, utilising clean sources to develop energy solutions for the continent’s unique challenges which begin in our home country Nigeria,” Jagun says. “We are always asking ourselves how we can solve the problems the nation is facing and be forward-looking, and there is currently no better way to achieve this than on the clean energy front.

“Any energy company has to realise that we are living on borrowed time,” is her stark warning. “We realise that we have an enormous part to play as a large company ourselves in aggressively pursuing solutions to optimise consumption, improve yields and ensure the efficient use of energy.

“We have a whole business strategy built on clean energy, and have been focussing on this for some time. We now want to build Africa’s largest integrated green energy company, to power Africa in a sustainable manner.” Each of these ground-breaking developments and changes create greater synergies between herself and the company, Jagun assesses. “As a company we have always been involved in innovating and finding easier, more efficient ways of operating, and invested in how Nigerians can through collaboration move the economy forward.

“I think this is part of what makes me personally such a great fit for Oando: I have an adventurous spirit and take risks, I refuse to take no for an answer and I have consistently demonstrated great resilience, all of which has been embodied and lived by the company in everything it does.”

The world’s active pursuit deliberate paths toward the creation of a more sustainable future has accelerated the need for oil and gas companies to explore a portfolio diversification strategy towards renewable energy, Jagun closes. “As the world transitions from fossil fuels into more renewable sources of energy, we know that energy providers in the fossil fuel space must rapidly evolve to adapt to a new market reality or face disruption. It is against this backdrop that Oando has made its first foray into renewable energy, as the journey begins for the redefinition of the future of our business and our role in the achievement of a carbon neutral world.”