Nigerian Oil Block Winner That Outbid Majors Owned by Tech Firm20 Mar 2025 10:54
A Nigerian oil company, controlled by a computer services firm, that outbid TotalEnergies SE and Chevron Corp for blocks last year, is among emerging local companies taking over the nation’s crude fields.
Panout Oil & Gas Ltd., registered days before the bidding round was announced in May 2024, is owned by Saheed Alao, chief executive officer of Blueprint Business Technologies Ltd., a Lagos-based information and communications technology firm, according to registry documents seen by Bloomberg. Both businesses are listed on Awolowo Street in the upmarket area of Ikoyi.
The explorer belongs to a growing contingent of local firms that Africa’s largest crude producer will rely on — alongside reforms implemented by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu — to boost crude output. More than half of its production is already run by independents, the state-owned oil company, or in the process of transitioning to new owners, according to Welligence Energy Analytics.
The regulator’s computer system picked the winning bids by utilizing “prioritization of actual resource development over speculative asset acquisition,” said Gbenga Komolafe, chief operating officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
That resulted in outsiders winning oil blocks, he said, with local independent MRS Nigeria outscoring state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. “The commercial bid evaluation was conducted using a transparent, digital, and point-based assessment system.”
Panout has the financial and technical expertise to develop the oil blocks, Alao said when reached by phone, without giving any other details. The company is “serious about building something,” he said.
The 2024 licensing round also occurred as Nigeria implements measures to draw investment and reduce corruption. Court cases involving bribery, including claims against oil majors, have halted the development of some oil blocks.
The oil majors’ approach to the sale reflected “an element of wait and see,” said Clementine Wallop, director sub-Saharan Africa at Horizon Engage, a political-risk consultant. “For some, there may also have been concerns about how bid rounds have been managed in the past,” she said.
The NUPRC’s guidelines stipulate bidders have a minimum of three years’ experience in oil and gas operations, making exceptions for newly registered companies with veteran technical partners.
Panout in December won three of the 25 blocks offered. It beat Total and Chevron, the only international oil companies that took part in the bid, for PPL 300 and PPL 301, two blocks offered as a unit. The company also got PPL 3015, a deepwater block.
Chevron affiliate Star Deepwater Petroleum Ltd. participated in the licensing round and will continue to support development of Nigerian oil and gas, the company said in a statement. Total declined to comment.
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