Major oil and gas investments, including the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 324 and the 10,000 barrels per day Otakikpo marginal field are under major threat as massive resignations of top management board members rock Lekoil Nigeria, in which Lekoil Cayman, a Cayman Islands-registered AIM-listed holding company holds a 40 per cent equity.
Other assets affected are the Appraisal asset in Ogo discovery and Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL 310) with 17.14 per cent interest; Appraisal asset; 45 per cent interest in OPL 276; and 62 per cent interest in OPL 325 Exploration asset – known basins.
The company confirmed that many of its directors and senior executives had resigned with immediate effect from the Board of Lekoil Cayman.
Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, Chair of Lekoil Nigeria, has resigned as a nonexecutive Director of Lekoil Cayman. Lekan Akinyanmi, CEO of Lekoil Nigeria, has resigned as an executive Director of Lekoil Cayman. Gloria Iroegbunam, Company Secretary of Lekoil Nigeria, has resigned as Company Secretary of Lekoil Cayman. All three will remain in their current positions at Lekoil Nigeria.
The resignations have been prompted by the recent behaviour and actions of the Board of Lekoil Cayman.
In particular, Mr. Akinyanmi vigorously disputes his unilateral termination as CEO of Lekoil Cayman and all of the statements made by Lekoil Cayman in connection with his employment contract and the loan agreement between him and Lekoil Cayman. Mrs. Muhammed-Oyebode commented: “The Board and management of Lekoil Nigeria remains committed to its vision of developing the company’s assets and we wish to assure our numerous stakeholders, especially our shareholders, partners and colleagues, that the strategic national assets under our purview will be protected by all legitimate means available to us.
This in turn will ensure the restoration of value for all shareholders, both in Lekoil Nigeria and Lekoil Cayman.
“The Board of Directors of Lekoil Cayman continue to show a blatant disregard for the Shareholder Agreement, a legally binding agreement which governs the relationship between Lekoil Cayman and Lekoil Nigeria and which was implemented at the time of Lekoil Cayman’s listing to meet the requirements in Nigerian law in respect of control of indigenous strategic assets.
“The continuous breaches of due process and corporate governance by the Board of Lekoil Cayman has left us with no option but to resign collectively from the Board of Lekoil Cayman.
Meanwhile, Lekoil Nigeria has separately written to Lekoil Limited’s advisers and to the AIM authorities requesting them to investigate the behaviour of the current Board of Lekoil Limited.”
The company has 40 per cent operating interest in Otakikpo, a marginal field, which lies in a coastal swamp location in OML 11, adjacent to the shoreline in the south-eastern part of the Niger Delta.
“The field will be developed in two phases. In the first phase, which saw commercial production begin in February 2017, the target is for production of approximately 10,000 bopd via an Early Production Facility and export via shuttle tanker.
The second phase will see a new Central Processing Facility and seven new wells to bring production up to some 20,000 bopd,” the company said.
The assets also include Appraisal asset in Ogo discovery and Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL 310) with 17.14 per cent interest; Appraisal asset; 45 per cent interest in OPL 276; and 62 per cent interest in OPL 325 Exploration asset – known basins.
Giving details about other assets, the company said in a briefing note, “Appraisal asset, Ogo discovery and OPL 310 (LEKOIL: 17.14 per cent interest) is located in the Dahomey Basin on the West African Transform Margin. The block extends from the shallow water continental shelf close by the City of Lagos, into deeper water.
The main prospects are in water depths ranging from 100 to 800 metres and are within close proximity to the West Africa Gas Pipeline.
“The Ogo-1 well and the Ogo- 1 ST well were successfully drilled in 2013 and resulted in a significant oil discovery. From well data, the partners estimated P50 gross recoverable resources to be 774 mmboe across the Ogo prospect four-way dipclosed and syn-rift structure.” Another is the Appraisal asset OPL 276 (LEKOIL: 45 per cent interest).
“Acquisition of this asset announced in August of a 45 per cent participating interest in the Production Sharing Contract in relation to OPL 276, covering a territory located onshore in the eastern Niger Delta basin.
Four wells have been drilled in the licence area, resulting in four discoveries (two oil and two gas) with preliminary resource estimates, based on data from the four wells, of gross recoverable volumes of 29 million barrels of oil and 333 Bcf of gas, with upside of 33 million barrels of oil and 476 Bcf of gas (recoverable).
SOURCE: newtelegraphng.com