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| Otunba M. Adenuga |
ConOil, owned by Nigeria’s second richest man is being pursued for a
combined debt of over $140.5 million by two foreign and one local
companies, PREMIUM TIMES reports.
Despite making several pledges to pay, ConOil and other companies
owned by Mr. Adenuga have reneged on paying the debts, multiple sources
in the oil and gas sector have told this newspaper.
Things have got so bad that some of the creditor companies have
either commenced or are considering commencing legal actions to force
the billionaire businessman to pay up having exhausted all options to
make him honour promises and agreement to pay.
In fact, one company has successful secured an interim order from a
federal court to place one of Mr Adenuga’s companies under receivership.
The increasing debt profile of the telecom and oil mogul, who
increased his net worth by almost $5 billion in the last year, according
to luxury lifestyle magazine, Forbes, has hit some his creditors so
hard that they had to shut down some of their operations.
One of such companies is Depthwize, a local oil servicing company, which is owed $40 million by ConOil.
The refusal of the management of ConOil to pay Depthwize, a small
drilling contractor has forced the company to lay off workers and shut
down services on two of ConOil’s rigs until the money is paid, those
familiar with the matter said.
“Depthwize says it can no longer afford the day to day running cost of working on the rigs,” one source said.
Similarly, American oil and gas firm, Baker Hughes, was forced to
lodge a court petition to wind up one of Mr Adenuga’s company, Belbop
Nigeria Limited, over a USD $12.09 million bill they had been
unsuccessfully trying to get the company to pay.
Baker Hughes argued that in 2009, Belbop awarded it a contract for
the provision of directional drilling, MWD/LWD services and supply of
drilling fluids and drilling bits, Logging cabin and surface acquisition
system.
The company told the court that after it duly discharge its
obligation and rendered all requisite services, Belbop refused to pay.
Baker Hughes said it incurred a liability of $9.4 million in the course
of executing the contract.
On April 12, 2016, Babs Kuewumi of the Federal High Court in Lagos
placed an interim injunction on the accounts of Belbop pending the
determination of suit.
The judge therefore appointed the Chief Registrar of the Federal High
Court as the receiver/manager of Belbop until the substantive suit is
determined.
Mr Adenuga has also been given multinational oil firm, Total, the
runaround over a $28.5 million debt it owed the French oil giant since
2009.
Although Total has been trying to resolve the debt without
litigation, the refusal of Mr. Adenuga to pay the debt has forced the
company to stop work at OML 136 gas field. Total is ConOil’s technical
partner in the project.
At a meeting held with Total in November 2015, it was agreed that
ConOil would pay the $28.5 million dollars owed before January 31 2016.
That meeting, which minutes is in the possession of PREMIUM TIMES,
was chaired by Mr. Adenuga and attended by four executives from Total.
But those familiar with the matter told this newspaper Mr. Adenuga’s
company is yet to pay up. All attempts by Total to make him release the
money have also failed, insiders said.
Some said they are baffled by Mr Adenuga’s refusal to pay Total the
$28.5 million, which would have seen work commence on the lucrative oil
field.
The OML 136 asset is considered to be one of the largest gas fields
in Nigeria, with a proven reserve of 11 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of
gas. The exploration of the oil assets would have boosted Nigeria’s
economy by creating jobs and would have yielded massive return to Total
and ConOil, they explained.
When contacted, Total’s spokesperson, Charles Ogan, in an email to
PREMIUM TIMES, said the matter is an “obvious internal administrative
subject.”
Also, ConOil is engaged in a decade-long dispute with British oil
firm, Vitol, over its alleged failure to pay a $60 million debt incurred
from lifting of cargoes of refined petroleum products.
Vitol secured a court judgement in the UK in respect of the debt but
has been unable to enforce it in Nigeria because ConOil got a stay of
execution from a Nigerian court.
Conoil’s financial problems, PREMIUM TIMES gathered, may have been
caused by Mr Adenuga’s slowness in taking advantage in potential money
earners for the company.
For instance, in 2005, ConOil was granted exploration licence for OPL
257 by the federal government, but the company surprisingly left the
block fallow until its licence expired. Now it is frantically asking
the government for a two-year extension of its expired licence to enable
it explore the field.
On January 22, 2016, Taiwo Olushina, the managing director of ConOil,
wrote a letter to the National Petroleum Investment Management Services
(NAPIMS) blaming insecurity, high cost of drilling and technical
hitches for its failure to explore the field before the expiration of
the licence.
“Having attended to technical and financial challenges peculiar to
ultra -deep offshore blocks, this approval will provide us with ample
time in drilling three identified prospective locations in preparation
for further development towards boosting national oil and gas reserves
and production,” the letter read in part.
The spokesperson for Mr. Adenuga, Bode Opeseitan, could not be
reached to comment for this story. He did not answer or return calls
seeking comment.
Another spokesperson ducked when approached by this reporter to comment for this story.
Despite being identified by Truecaller app, Mike Oduniyi told PREMIUM
TIMES that we had reached a wrong number and promptly terminated the
call.
Tax palaver and bad loan
Mr Adenuga’s companies have also had tax issues in the recent past. In 2009, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) sealed the Lagos office of ConOil, and Continental Oil and Gas, another company owned by the businessman, over the non-remittance of $610 million tax to government.
Mr Adenuga’s companies have also had tax issues in the recent past. In 2009, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) sealed the Lagos office of ConOil, and Continental Oil and Gas, another company owned by the businessman, over the non-remittance of $610 million tax to government.
Last month, seven years after his companies were first sealed, the
FIRS shut the Lagos office of Globacom, the second largest mobile
telephone company in the country, owned by the billionaire, for
allegedly failing to remit Value Added Tax worth N24.3 billion.
Earlier in February this year, the Osun State Internal Revenue
Service (OIRS) sealed the offices of the telecommunication firm in the
state for failing to pay outstanding taxes and other levies in respect
of mast/ base stations and laying of fibre optics.
The state said several meetings were held with the company’s
representatives in the past three years to resolve the issue, but that
the company failed to comply.
The Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) also listed Mr.
Adenuga as one of the country’s biggest debtors for a N2.4billion loan
his real estate company, Convenant Apartments Complex Limited, took from
Wema Bank.
AMCON acquired the loan from the bank in 2010, after Convenant Apartments failed to pay up.
Source: Premium Times
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