OpeOluwani Akintayo
with agency reports
16 January 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Lukoil is considering acquiring stakes in Nigeria’s Akpo and Abgami fields, the company’s CEO, Vagit Alekperov, has said.
The company said it wants to expand its upstream portfolio with either new or recently acquired assets both in Russia and abroad, including countries such as Nigeria.
The company has started talks to acquire stakes from Brazil’s Petrobras in two Nigerian fields, where it holds a 16 percent stake in the Akpo field and a 13% stake in the Agbami field, he said.
Last year, heavily indebted Petrobras announced its intention to auction its 50 percent stake and began sending information on the company to potential investors.
It was joined in the sale by BTG Pactual E&P BV, a subsidiary of investment bank Grupo BTG Pactual SA, and Helios Investments, who will offer their respective 40 percent and 10 percent stakes.
Platts reports that Lukoil’s interest in the fields is because it wants to replace its reserves and maintain crude production levels.
The CEO said the company now considers Africa as one of its priorities and may consider buying into new already-producing assets in Nigeria.
However, Alekperov said discussions have “just begun”, and too early to give details or say whether it will happen as Lukoil is looking for attractive project economics.
Akpo and Agbami are already producing fields, which would mean an immediate return on investment for Lukoil, although the company is already working on a project with Chevron in Nigeria where the two found commercial crude reserves in 2015.
Petrobras, the world’s most indebted oil company and focus on a massive corruption scandal, is seeking to offload $21 billion in assets through 2018 and has moved aggressively to cut debt.
Through its African subsidiary, Petrobras holds a 16 percent stake in the Akpo field while Total holds 24 percent.
Other participants in the oil acreage include China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) with 45 percent interest, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with 10 percent, and South Atlantic Petroleum (Sapetro), an indigenous oil and gas company founded by the former defence minister, General TY Danjuma, with 5 percent.
In the Agbami field, Petrobras holds a 13 percent working interest while Chevron, Famfa Oil founded by Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, and Norway’s Statoil hold the balance.
