Lekoil Limited is considering listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), according to the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lekan Akinyanmi.
Disclosing this in an interview in Lagos, Akinyanmi said the listing would be done in the company’s fate of boosting its production output by threefold over the next three years.
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The oil and gas production firm, which currently trades on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Akinyanmi said, is looking to appoint advisers in the next 12 to 18 months, and will probably list by 2022.
Lekoil’s production output: Considering Akinyanmi’s revelation, it is not erroneous for one to acknowledge that the company’s commitment to driving its production growth is second to none.
Akinyanmi, however, said that Standard Chartered Plc is leading a consortium that will raise about $170 million by the end of the year to fund infrastructure development. He said this investment will see output at Lekoil’s Otakikpo Joint Venture in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region rise to as much as 20,000 barrels a day from 5,800 barrels.
Lekoil is also looking to acquire marginal fields to boost its operations in the West African nation. Akinyanmi said, “We have always been lining up for the marginal-field bid rounds. Hopefully at some points, the government will actually pull the trigger.’’
Why this matters: With the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast of 2.1% expansion in Gross Domestic Product this year (2019), up from 1.9% in 2018, Lekoil must have seen that Nigeria’s economic recovery after the recession is encouraging for investors.
When Lekoil finally lists, it will join the league of Johannesburg-based MTN Group Ltd., that listed in May 2019, and Airtel Africa Plc, which started trading on the country’s bourse last week.
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About the firm: Lekoil is an Africa-focused oil exploration and production company with interests currently in Nigeria and offshore Namibia.
The company was founded in 2010 by a group of leading professionals with extensive experience in the international upstream oil and gas industry as well as in global fund management and investment banking.