Odu’a Investment Floats Oil Firm, Begins Farm-out Talks with Chevron on 40m Barrels Oilfield

Peter Uzoho

Odu’a Investment Company Limited (OICL), the successor company of Western Nigeria Development Corporation (WNDC) has floated an oil and gas exploration and production subsidiary, BITA Exploration & Production Limited.

The new firm emerged successful at the 2020 marginal field bid round where it was awarded a 40-million barrel marginal field located in Ondo State alongside an operating partner.
The Board Chairman and the Group Managing Director of OICL, Dr. Olusegun Aina and Mr. Adewale Raji jointly unveiled the oil firm and two other new businesses at OICL’s 45th anniversary commemorative lecture in Lagos.

The two other firms included; South West Agricultural Company (SWAGCO) Limited, and South West Innovation and Technology (SWIT).

Managing Director of BITA Exploration & Production, Mr. Andy Boyo, disclosed at the event via a recorded audio-video message that the company was currently engaging with Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), the original owner of the asset, on the farm-out agreement negotiation to enable it take operatorship of the field.

“We are still at an early stage. We are negotiating with Chevron, who originally owns the field and the negotiation is for the farm-out agreement negotiation. We want them to come to an agreement with us for us to run that field,” Boyo said.

He added that based on the Competent Person’s Report (CPR), the field has about 40 million barrels of oil, with offsides that had not been investigated, stressing that the potential for the field was for a long time.

Boyo further revealed that the firm has signed a 15-year lease agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), noting that the field was profitable and worth investing in for oil search.

“So, as a matter of potential, based on the CPR, which is one of the Competent Persons Reports, it has about 40 million barrels of oil in that field and there is an offside that we haven’t investigated yet.

“So, the potential for that field is for the long time. I think we have a 15-year lease agreement with NNPC, and to run further than that is very possible. I think it’s a very good field to invest in if you have an eye to invest in oil search,” he added.

Highlighting the essence of setting up BITA, Aina said the firm was a special purpose vehicle integrated through a partnership initiated by Pioneer Global Energy Resources and Odu’a Investment Company Limited.

He said the company incorporated in 2021 was established following the 2021 marginal oilfield bid round conducted by the federal government through the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

He stated that BITA was expected to help OICL create Southwest presence in the oil and gas sector, which is one of its focal business sectors.

He added that the company was poised to work closely with oil giants such as Shell, Chevron, and others to achieve its target oil and gas production volumes.