Ben Richardson, CEO at SulNOx, confident they can cost-effectively decarbonise commercial shipping. Watch the video here.
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/05/02/end-of-an-era-as-lekoil-chairman-michael-ajukwu-bows-out/
End of an Era as Lekoil Chairman Michael Ajukwu Bows Out
May 2, 2021
Lekoil Limited, one of the top oil and gas exploration and production companies in Nigeria and West Africa, has emerged as one of the most talked-about companies in the last 72 hours. Their sudden ‘popularity’ follows the resignation of the company’s Chairman, Michael Ajukwu, from the chairmanship position. The action has tongues wagging because Ajukwu was appointed just three months ago.
It is not often that companies like Lekoil trend on social media. The recent trend has even got people asking questions about the circumstances that brought Michael Ajukwu to the chairmanship position in January of 2021 and sent him packing in April. It might be because of a transgression on Ajukwu’s part or the tides that nearly tore the company in two towards the end of 2020 have returned. The company has not released any information yet, so one can only imagine and conjecture.
Recall that Ajukwu came onboard as Lekoil Chairman after an acrimonious contest of authority between the Lekoil founder, Lekan Akinyanmi, and the company’s biggest shareholder, Metallon. According to reports, the struggle was about whether or not to increase Lekoil executive board members from four to seven (including Metallon’s CEO and two others from the same tangent).
With Metallon’s 15.1 per cent stake in Lekoil (ergo, its position as the top investor), one might have expected it to have its way. Thus, even though the majority of stakeholders agreed to Metallon’s proposal, the result was the resignation of Mark Simmonds from the chairmanship position and the appointment of Michael Ajukwu as his replacement.
Perhaps Simmonds’ removal (and consequently Ajukwu’s installation) is related to the dispute between Lekan Akinyanmi and Metallon. Perhaps not. Similarly, perhaps Ajukwu’s abrupt removal might be related to identical vying for more administrative power at Lekoil. Again, perhaps not.
What is certain at this point is that Michael Ajukwu has stepped back from his Chairmanship of Lekoil. What is suspicious, of course, is that he spent only three months there.
News update regarding the deferred Shell payment would be good.
We should also have had some more revenue from the latest oil lift, which at better oil prices should mean better revenues.
If we can clear the outstanding/overdue loan payments, it puts us in a much stronger position, and it would only take the merest hint of anything positive, and the SP could be away to the races.
Not much free float - any sells have been getting mopped up for some time.
Outstanding assets and Licences. Be interesting to see if we get a bid at some stage.
Having a good old clear out by the looks of it -0 and good riddance to them!
Too busy sipping champagne and milking the proverbial fatted calf, to notice that the ship was hitting the rocks...
Lets get some directors with intent, and the ability to drive the Company forward.
Need to get rid of that other parasite Akinyanmi, next!
It was a buy
Another 750k buy just gone through....!
Decent volume and a good rise over the past couple of sessions.
Lets hope it keeps going!
If Metallon are intending a low-ball buyout - Why have the current BoD facilitated it?
If the BoD are in favour of it - Why the waffeley rebuttal prior to the EGM?
It could have been so easily defused by releasing some good news and promoting the share price - thereby out pricing them!
Cant remember all the reasons for auctions - but a lot go into a set auction twice a day for MM's to balance the books.
This can even happen on some shares i watch that have had no shares traded for days...
Can't for one minute understand what is going on here though.
It would appear the share price is being held down, to allow Metallon to add. Crooked MM's?
They have also maintained a ridiculous spread between 20-30% for the past few months.
Again, what i can only surmise is a corrupt MM working in Metallons interest.
They now have an insider on the board, so will have access to privileged information.
Certainly won't be working in the best interest of shareholders.
I don't understand why the news blackout - we were due an oil lift a few weeks ago - nothing!
We were due to finalise Otakikpo phase 2 drilling at the end of last year - again Nothing!
Ludicrous situation!
It will never rise until the numpties running the company actually do something...
We need some positive action and news updates...
What on earth are they doing?
We need confirmation of financing for Spoton - once their Bond issue is confirmed, i think this will get a lot more credibility.
Ireland could certainly do with bolstering its energy resources, to reduce its dependency on Corrib and imports.
Once Barryroe gets the green light from the ministry - we will see a lot more than a doubling of the LOGP shareprice....
Otakikpo From December article...
Green Energy and Lekoil are working through financing to fund the second phase development of the Otakikpo marginal field in eastern Nigeria, currently producing around 6,000Barrels of Oil Per Day.
There has been a little delay, as the drilling was earlier expected to have commenced in October 2020.
The funds are to come from a consortium of financiers, including Standard Chartered Shell Trading and an EXIM bank. Drilling may now start by early December.
The original plan was to increase production from 6,000 barrels per day (BOPD) to 20,000BOPD, but the prevailing conditions may keep the immediate ramp up to around 12,000BOPD.
Schlumberger is the main subsurface service vendor.
Green Energy had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a consortium of international financiers for a package of more than $350Million, for the project funding.
The Field Development Plan FDP of the project involves the drilling of seven additional wells (there are two producing wells already) and expansion of the crude processing infrastructure. The plan also includes the construction of a 1.3Million barrels onshore terminal and a 17 kilometre export pipeline to connect the terminal to an offshore loading system.
Wonder what Metallons game plan is?
Will they continue the charade of minimal information and dire prospects, whilst they try to take a more controlling share?
Or will they see the true state of the situation we are in and start dumping?
Wonder where we are up to with Otikikpo....
Totally agree.
It would appear the past BoD have been more concerned with kicking Akinyanmi's £1.5m loan into the long grass - after having previously tried writing it off and rolling it into the fake sheikh loan!
We need to move forward now - urgently!
We desperately need an honest and frank update on what the current situation is.
According to this article from mid December - we are at risk of losing OPL310...
https://nairametrics.com/2020/12/12/lekoil-at-risk-of-losing-17-stake-in-oil-prospecting-licence-310-for-ogo-oilfield/
Lekoil at risk of losing 17% stake in Oil Prospecting Licence 310 for Ogo oilfield
Lekoil’s subsidiary, Mayfair Assets and Trust owes Optimum Petroleum Development $6.6million from sunk costs and consent fees.
Published 4 weeks agoon December 12, 2020By Adeyemi Adebayo
Optimum Petroleum Development (Optimum) has disclosed that it is $6.6 million short of receipt from Mayfair Assets and Trust (Mayfair), as a result of sunk costs and consent fees and that the company has also not paid more than $1million for G&A costs.
Mayfair is a subsidiary of Lekoil, a Nigerian company that has a 17.14% stake in the licence of Ogo oilfield (Oil Prospecting Licence 310).
A fraudulent $184 million loan announced by the parent company, Lekoil, at the beginning of the year to finance pre-operation activities at Ogo oilfield, still haunts the company. The shares of Lekoil plunged more than 70% in January 2020, following a suspension of trading, after the firm discovered that a $184 million loan it had announced was fraudulent.
The loan, which was arranged by Seawave Invest Limited, was meant to sort bills related to Ogo oilfield licence (Oil Prospecting Licence 310), as well as prepare the oilfield for operations.
A disclosure posted on the company’s website yesterday, 11th December indicates that the bills are not fully sorted yet and that unless Lekoil pays its bills at OPL 310, its 17.14% stake may be sold off. The company is also facing heated pressure from shareholder demands for board change.
Under the terms of the agreement on the licence, and if the bill cannot be paid, Optimum and Mayfair will jointly seek a buyer of the 17.14% stake. A new buyer would pick up the equity stake but also the financial obligations.
Thus, Optimum is seeking to enforce its default clause as payment of USD6.6 million to cover portion of sunk costs, and consent fees have not been received by the end of November.
To this effect, the operator of OPL 310, Optimum, has sent a letter to Mayfair on enforcement of the default clause.
What they are saying
Lekoil, in the disclosure on the company’s website, submitted that:
“The company continues to discuss with Optimum, a deferment of these payments as the company intends to focus its financial and other resources in support of securing funding for the second phase of the Otakikpo development, as well as the Ogo appraisal programme. The company, working with Optimum, has identified and engaged an appropriate rig for the appraisal drilling, where the service provider has accepted the result of the early performed site survey.”
What confuses me, is that if Metallon have been an eager buyer of shares, why has the price been so manipulated and held down to accommodate them with 25% spreads for the past 6 months.
This stinks.
Interesting that LEK even made it into the Times thus morning...
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/shareholder-wins-vote-to-strengthen-lekoils-board-qjnsdbk02
Ministry spokesman Garba Deen Muhammad confirmed on Thursday the letter and said that under Nigerian law, ministerial consent is required for acquisition or transfer of ownership transactions.
A year ago, Lekoil’s share price plunged after it said that a $184 million loan it had announced from the Qatar Investment Authority was a “complex facade” by individuals pretending to represent the authority.
The low share price and weak oil prices attracted Metallon, which was looking to diversify beyond gold, CEO Richardson told Reuters in a phone interview on Wednesday. It began purchasing shares last March.
But Metallon later encountered concerns, including high general and administrative expenses (GA) and a $1.9 million loan to Akinyanmi.
“We are very concerned that... there is simply a lack of desire by certain directors to have a board with proper governance structures and oversight of management,” Metallon said in a Dec. 11 letter to Lekoil shareholders.
Renaissance Capital analyst Nikolas Stefanou said Lekoil’s GA spending, which was $21.4 million in 2019, was high compared with its asset base. He said other “red flags” included the resignation of Lekoil’s nominated adviser and one of its brokers in the past two months.
“There are some very serious governance issues that need to be addressed,” Stefanou said.
Akinyanmi said on Thursday that the GA was appropriate given costly efforts to develop another oil field, OPL 310, which he said was a valuable asset worth developing. (Reporting by Libby George in Lagos and Helen Reid in Johannesburg; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
REUTERS NEWS NOW
ENERGYJANUARY 8, 20211:58 PMUPDATED AN HOUR AGOUPDATE 1-Nigerian oil firm Lekoil loses board fight with top shareholderBy Libby George, Helen Reid* Lekoil shareholders vote in favour of expanding board* Lekoil loses fight against top shareholder Metallon* Ministry of Petroleum warns Lekoil over change in control* Nominated advisor and broker resign in recent months (Updates with EGM result, comment from Lekoil CEO)LAGOS/JOHANNESBURG, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Shareholders of London-listed Nigerian oil company Lekoil voted on Friday to approve an investor’s bid to add three members to the company’s board, in the culmination of a bitter dispute between its founder and its biggest shareholder.The dispute between Lekoil founder and chief executive Lekan Akinyanmi and top shareholder Metallon even drew in Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum, and created more unwanted public turmoil for the company, which was caught out by a fraudulent loan last year.A large majority of shareholders approved Metallon’s proposal to appoint Metallon CEO Thomas Richardson along with two others to the Lekoil board, expanding it to seven members.Lekoil Chairman Mark Simmonds said he would stand down with immediate effect. The newly enlarged board will appoint his replacement.Metallon, a private investment company that owns four gold mines in Zimbabwe, became a shareholder of Lekoil last March and now has a 15.1% stake, making it the top investor.It says its proposal to expand the board will improve corporate governance and increase scrutiny of Lekoil’s finances.“Today’s EGM result has delivered a clear mandate for change, in line with Metallon’s primary objective of a strengthened board, greater oversight and stronger governance at Lekoil, in order to unlock greater shareholder value for all,” Metallon CEO Richardson said in a statement after the vote.Akinyanmi fought the change, and has said that if Metallon succeeded, they could be in “a very strong position to make a takeover attempt.”After the vote, Akinyanmi struck a conciliatory tone.“Now it is time to move forward and start the process of healing and reconciliation as we focus on our common and shared objective of creating and delivering value for all our stakeholders,” he said.Lekoil is also facing scrutiny from Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources for not notifying it over Metallon’s build-up of shares in the company.Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, sent a letter to Lekoil on Dec. 30 warning that he should have been informed and that there could be consequences for not notifying about “such significant change of shareholding.”Ministry spokesman Garba Deen Muhammad confirmed on Thursday the letter and said that under Nigerian law, ministerial consent is required for acquisition or tra