NIPCO bags maiden oil, gas award for asset acquisition

NIPCO Plc has bagged an Oil and Gas industry award over its unprecedented acquisition of ExxonMobil stake in Mobil Oil Nigeria (MON) Plc.

The award, which was in recognition of the company’s huge financial investments in the nation’s downstream sector of the hydrocarbon industry, was the highlight of the maiden Nigeria International Petroleum Summit held in Abuja.

Presenting the award to the company at an impressive event witnessed by key stakeholders in the industry, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Dr Folasade Yemi-Ojo, said that it was part of the Federal Government’s efforts to encourage operators who have shown considerable interest in the growth of the industry.

The acquisition of ExxonMobil’s stake in MON by an indigenous company, she said, was assessed by the Federal Government as a significant effort by an indigenous operator, hence the award to NIPCO.

The permanent secretary while presenting the award in the presence of the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, said that the deal to acquire ExxonMobil’s stake in MON was adjudged by a team of assessors, with KPMG offering consultancy support, as the largest deal in the downstream sector in 2017.

According to her, KPMG had to be given the job to ensure extreme fairness, diligence and acceptability locally and globally.

She said the Federal Government had no hand in the selection process and final determination of eventual winners, stressing that KPMG only brought the award recipients list few hours to the award from their Lagos corporate office.

Earlier while presenting the list to the gathering, KPMG Associate Director, TokunboOsinowo, said that the award process was very transparent with set parameters for all categories of award adding that there were no interference of any sort from anywhere.

According to her, KPMG in view of its pedigree in management consulting was very fair to all categories operators and had at its mind, international best practices in its selection processes.

She noted that after setting all parameters for selection, none of the nominees and eventual winners had a pre knowledge of their assignment to ward off any interference that could affect the entire process.

NIPCO team at the event included the Managing Director, Sanjay Teotia, and the Chief Corporate Affairs Manager, Lawal Taofeek, who received the award on behalf of the company.

ALSO READ: Nigeria’s power sector needs good hands to move up in future ―LASG