Energy
Oando Aims to Boost Output by 300%, Raise $750m for Oil Drilling
Oando Plc plans to raise up to $750 million this year for a drilling campaign that could boost output by 300%.
The oil and gas company is hoping to tap the improved investor appetite for West African producers amid turmoil linked to the Iran war, its Chief Executive Officer, Wale Tinubu told Reuters.
Oando is among a handful of local companies that have snapped up assets from oil majors in the past decade as they exit Nigerian onshore.
This year, surging energy prices should open more funding sources for producers in the region, Tinubu said
“We are pushing very, very hard towards getting the financing that we need to do an extensive drilling campaign,” Tinubu said.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, with crude and condensate output of around 1.6 million barrels a day.
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Oando, whose production averaged just over 32,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in fiscal 2025, aims to drill as many as 100 wells to boost output, particularly from assets purchased from Western majors ConocoPhillips and Eni (ENI.MI), opens new tab.
While in the past the company had struggled with securing cash for drilling due to investor worries that Africa was an “unsafe environment”, the Iran war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have shifted that view, Tinubu said.
“Africa is very, very peaceful compared to these regions,” he said.
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.
Oando has raised $3 billion-$4 billion in the past decade, much of it from European banks, the CEO said, the bulk of which went toward acquisitions.
European banks had now almost completely withdrawn from African hydrocarbons due to climate concerns, he said, pushing Oando to funders including the African Export-Import Bank and the African Finance Corporation, and to oil trading houses including Vitol, Trafigura, Glencore and Mercuria.
However, Africa needed more “substantial long-term funding”, he added.
More Gulf banks were interested in hydrocarbon projects in Africa and more parties were joining their syndications, while private equity funds and hedge funds were also more active in funding African energy, he said.
Oando recently expanded into Angola, and Tinubu said they are exploring opportunities in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Africa should pool capital available at home, via pension funds and other sources, to fund large-scale capital projects, he added.
Geopolitical turmoil will have “long-reaching strategic implications for global energy security”, he said, and keep focus on West Africa’s reserves.
“Even if the ceasefire lasts, which, hopefully it will, it wouldn’t change the fact that consistently, you’re going to find disruptions,” he said.
Nigeria, Tinubu said, was well placed to draw funding after a landmark 2021 overhaul of its hydrocarbon law and reforms by current President Bola Tinubu, his uncle, to currency and costly petrol subsidies.
The new 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote oil refinery on the outskirts of Lagos, Tinubu said, highlighted the value of Nigeria’s resources.
Tinubu, whose company was once among the nation’s largest fuel importers, said imports were now only needed to test for pricing or during refinery maintenance.
Longer term, Tinubu hopes to exploit some of Oando’s own gas production for petrochemicals and fertilizers to further boost the value added to Nigerian resources.
The company was working to “streamline” financials to avoid further delays in filing audited statements with the Nigerian Exchange after deadline extensions, which opened a new tab in recent years.
In August, Oando’s board signed off on a proposal to launch a multi-instrument issuance programme of up to $1.5 billion.
Energy
NMDPRA Shares July Domestic Cooking Gas Supply Details
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has credited the NLNG/SEPNU with leading the rise in Nigeria’s domestic cooking gas supply, which peaked at 5,332 tonnes per day in July 2026.
The NMDPRA’s July 2026 midstream and downstream statistics showed that total liquefied petroleum gas supply increased from 5,100 tonnes per day in June to 5,332 tonnes per day in July.
The NLNG/SEPNU supplied 2,031 tonnes per day through vessels, representing about 38 per cent of the total supply during the month.
Other processing plants supplied 1,513 tonnes per day through trucks, while the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals (DPRP) supplied 829 tonnes per day.
Imports accounted for 959 tonnes per day.
The figures showed that domestic sources supplied 4,373 tonnes per day, representing about 82 percent of the total LPG supply in July, while imports accounted for the remaining 18 percent.
The July supply level was the highest recorded in the 13-month period covered by the NMDPRA data.
LPG supply stood at 4,500 tonnes per day in July 2025 before rising to 5,000 tonnes in August and declining to 3,900 tonnes in September last year.
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It subsequently increased to 4,500 tonnes in October, 5,000 tonnes in November and 5,200 tonnes in December.
In January 2026, supply stood at 5,100 tonnes per day before falling to 4,700 tonnes in February and March, 4,500 tonnes in April and 4,100 tonnes in May.
The supply level then rose to 5,100 tonnes per day in June before reaching 5,332 tonnes in July.
The latest figures indicate a continued strengthening of domestic LPG supply, with local sources now accounting for the bulk of the cooking gas available in the country.
However, our correspondent reports that LPG prices have yet to fall below the N1,000 per kilogramme level after the sudden surge in May.
Though prices have plunged from a high of N2,400/kg to between N1,300 and N1,600, depending on location.
The NLNG recently accused some marketers of contributing to the sharp rise in the price of cooking gas by buying liquefied petroleum gas from the company at prices between N800 and N900 per kilogramme and selling it for as much as N2,400/kg in the retail market.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NLNG, Adeleye Falade, disclosed this during a recent media briefing in Lagos, where he attributed the price spike to supply shortages, artificial scarcity and distortions in the distribution chain rather than the company’s pricing.
According to him, when the retail price of LPG climbed to N2,400/kg, the NLNG was selling the product to buyers at between N800 and N900/kg. He said the price was supposed to be in the range of N1,000 to N1,200, going by the recommendation of the NMDPRA.
“When the product was being sold at N2,400 in the market, guess how much they (marketers) were lifting it from us? It was between N800 and N900 per kg. And NMDPRA recommended that by the time you put in transportation costs and all other things, it shouldn’t be selling more than N1,000, N1,100 or N1,200. So, there’s also some distortion that happened on the sales side, which I know the regulators are working on right now to get control of it,” he stated.
Energy
US-Iran Conflict Sees Oil Exceed $94
On Tuesday, renewed escalation of the conflict between the United States and Iran pressured oil prices to over $94/barrel.
Current hostilities which witnessed American air strikes on Iranian targets and triggered global concerns of disruption to crude supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
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Brent crude rose $4.06, or 4.49 percent, to $94.55 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate gained $4.44, or 5.18 percent, to $90.20 a barrel. Murban crude also surged by $7.19, or 7.30 percent, to $105.60 a barrel, according to Oilprice.com.
The rally followed the United States’ fresh strikes on Iran, with Washington saying its forces had targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC).
“Today (Tuesday) at 12 p.m. ET (1600 GMT), US forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran.
“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” the US Central Command said.
The latest attacks have raised fresh concerns about the security around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil supplies. Oil prices had already risen following the exchange of attacks between the two countries over the weekend, while reports of attacks on tankers further fuelled supply concerns.
Reuters reported that two supertankers carrying Saudi oil were struck by unknown projectiles within minutes of each other while travelling outbound through the Strait of Hormuz late on Monday, according to shipping intelligence and tracking firms.
Following the reports, Brent crude futures, which were already up about two percent, jumped by almost another two percent.
Iran has also threatened to prevent oil exports from the Gulf if the US continues its attacks. “If the enemy wants us not to export oil from the Persian Gulf, no one will be able to export oil,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
The renewed confrontation has heightened fears that the six-month-old conflict could escalate into a wider war and threaten crude supplies from the oil-rich Gulf region.
The conflict had previously shifted towards sanctions, blockades and economic pressure, but the latest exchange of attacks has raised concerns about a return to sustained military confrontation.
US President Donald Trump warned Iran that it would face a stronger response if it retaliated against the latest American strikes.The US strikes came after Iranian missiles were fired at two US air bases in Jordan in response to an earlier American attack on Iran’s Larak Island.
The latest escalation also coincided with plans by Washington to impose additional economic sanctions on Tehran. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said bank sanctions against Iran were likely to be announced this week and next, while warning that Washington would also target other entities doing business with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Energy
172 HCDTs Incorporated — NUPRC
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said that 172 Host Communities Development Trusts (HCDTs) have so far been incorporated by oil and gas companies operating across the country.
The chief executive, NUPRC, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed this while addressing the leadership of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) in Abuja.
Under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), oil and gas companies, referred to as settlors, are required to contribute three percent of their Operating Expenditure from the preceding financial year into a Host Communities Trust Fund for the benefit of communities where they operate.
Eyesan said the NUPRC had been enforcing the provisions of the Act, particularly those relating to host communities and the obligations of operating companies, and had put in place regulations and procedures to streamline the process.
“We have laid out procedures for doing things and we have put regulations in place to streamline the process. So far, we have registered 172 HCDTs and we have been able to manage contributions by settlors,” she said.
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She said the trusts had funded the construction of schools, hospitals and other infrastructure, and had contributed significantly to peace and stability in previously volatile communities, which in turn had led to an increase in oil production.
Eyesan, however, admitted that some of the HCDTs had become subjects of litigation over disagreements on the constitution of their Boards of Trustees. She said the Commission had been working to ensure the trusts run smoothly, and that its Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre had played a key role in addressing some of the grievances.
She said that while the RMAFC’s interest in host communities was appreciated, oversight of how the funds are managed remained the exclusive preserve of the NUPRC.
The NUPRC boss also promised to investigate the lingering disagreement between Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company (SEEPCO) and its host community in Anambra State.
Responding, the chairman of the RMAFC, Dr Mohammed Bello Shehu, commended the NUPRC for overseeing reforms in the oil and gas sector that had contributed to growth in production.
Shehu said the RMAFC regards the upstream oil and gas sector as important, given that it accounts for a large share of revenue accruing to the Federation Account.
He thanked the NUPRC leadership for honouring the RMAFC’s invitation and called for stronger collaboration between the two institutions in the interest of the country.





