Mike Adenuga: Celebrating Nigeria’s Oil Sheikh
By Tolu Babawale
Mike AdenugaFor a very long time to come, unforgettable memories of the 2008 Nigerian Energy Awards will linger in the minds of major stakeholders in the nation's petroleum sector. The maiden event, christened the Nigerian Petroleum Golden Jubilee Awards, which took place in Abuja, was staged to mark 50 years of oil production in Nigeria. From a modest output of 5,000 barrels per day in 1958, oil production has jumped to over 2 million bpd now, serving as the backbone of the country's economy.
The event meant to be a reunion for the icons of the Nigerian oil industry, lived up to the billing as the who is who in this all important sector, both old and young, retired and very active, converged at the Transcorp Hotel to relive old times and share memories of the time and energy they invested to push Nigeria to an enviable ranking of the world's eighth largest crude exporter. Most significantly, the event was also a celebration of the industry, sacrifice and enterprise of the men and women and companies that helped shaped the petroleum industry.
One of such Nigerians who made his mark in the highly competitive industry and has come to signpost the determination and patriotism of Nigerians to take over the reins of the oil industry from the multinationals who were the pace setters, is Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr. (CON). Adenuga was one of the nine distinguished Nigerians inducted into the Nigerian Oil and Gas Hall of Fame, in recognition of their hard work, achievement, character and pioneering role in the promotion of truly indigenous Nigerian participation in the highly technical, upstream sector of the oil industry.
According to the organisers of the event, Energy Information Services Nigeria Limited, Adenuga, the youngest of the inductees, bagged the award for his bold courage in venturing into the oil exploration and production business at a period the sector was the exclusive preserve of multinationals/international companies.
Adenuga took the big risk when he was allocated oil blocks in 1990 by the Federal Government in a bold effort to encourage indigenous participation in oil exploration. The vogue then was for those who were privileged to receive allocations to quickly trade them off with oil majors, collect their money and sprint to Europe and America to enjoy life to the fullest, thereby defeating the noble ideals of government to keep the wealth of the nation within the nation. They were not ready for the professional gambling called exploration and production of crude oil.
They would rather leave it to the oil majors that have the finance, the expertise and technology required for this intricate business. They maintained that any local entrepreneur going into exploration was committing business suicide. Adenuga is, however, not the type to be intimidated by the fear of losing his huge deposits on investment, neither is he the type that follows trends blindly because of its short-term gains. The Nigerian Oil Sheikh was fully conscious of the risks others were referring to.
But then, Adenuga not only ventured into the petroleum exploration business, he also drilled wells rejected by the oil majors. Consolidated Oil (as Conoil Producing was then known) was allocated the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 113, an offshore acreage located in Ondo State, Southwest Nigeria.
The concession contained fields that were written off by multinationals, drilled and abandoned on the ground that they could not find oil in commercial quantity there. Adenuga and his Consolidated Oil, buoyed by the resilient Nigerian spirit of positive optimism, damned all the consequences and took the bull, which incidentally is his personal totem, by the horn.
Oil exploration in Nigeria, from seismic acquisition and processing to drilling and appraisal of oil wells and to production, had been dominated by foreigners. Although Nigerians employed by multinational companies were also actively involved, they worked under the supervision of their foreign counterparts who believed the locals were not sufficiently matured to be left alone. But the Consolidated Oil team was determined to chart a new course. So off went a seven-man crew led by, wait for it, Mike Adenuga himself, into the thick forest of the Niger Delta.
Combing the forest and clearing the bush to lay long distance pipelines were indeed no child's play, but the team that had members with combined experience gained from years of working for oil majors including Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil, was well prepared for the task ahead. After gathering seismic data covering over 200 sq km, the company got an offshore rig, Trident 8, operated by Sedcoforex and moved it into the block in December 1991.
The commitment to the project was total and in less than nine months after obtaining the license, precisely on December 24, 1991, the crew spudded the first oil well in OPL113. It was named BELLA-1. It marked the dawn of a new chapter in oil exploration and production in Nigeria, an era where Nigeria and indeed Nigerians could thump up their chest that they are up to the task of producing the black gold.
The Bella field is truly Nigeria's first indigenous oil producing field, right from ownership to the exploration and production teams.
Before Bella, Nigerians never knew that on their own, they could produce oil. If they knew, they never tried it. It unlocked the inherent potentials in Nigerians who were hitherto working under the shadows of their foreign counterparts.
Bella would go ahead to score many other firsts in the annals of Nigerian oil production. It remains one of the fastest fields to be brought on stream, from the time it was awarded to the time it struck the first oil. It was the first oil field (indigenous or foreign) where horizontal drilling was successfully carried out. It was also the first oil field, whether foreign or local, where the special tool, the Magnetic Resonance and Imaging Log (MRIL) was successfully deployed.
Following this major breakthrough recorded by Adenuga, Conoil had since gone ahead to acquire other oil concessions, namely OMLs 103 and 59, OPLs 458 and 257 as well as a joint participating interest in the Nigeria/Sao Tome Joint Development Zone in the deep offshore region of the Gulf of Guinea. And like the good price for all risk takers, Adenuga hit it big.
However, his success cannot be seen from his personal fortune in the industry, but from the number of indigenous operators in that sector today.
Today, Conoil Producing Limited is not only the leading Nigerian independent oil and gas exploration and production company, but also well positioned to become Africa's largest indigenous independent oil and gas producer. The company is led by a seasoned, all indigenous management team of approximately 170, with many years of experience. "You need a leader like Dr. Adenuga to succeed in such a difficult terrain like the upstream oil sector. There were times when we felt like quitting, but when we remember the confidence Dr. Adenuga reposed in us, we could not afford to,", Managing Director of Conoil Producing Ltd., Dr. Ebi Omatsola said.
As Conoil Producing perfects its plan to increase its production capacity to 150,000 bpd of crude oil, Adenuga has indeed validated the postulation that nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Against all daunting odds, he stepped out, took all the risks and became not only a fabulously wealthy global citizen but a living legend and the pride of the African continent.
Conoil Producing was not the only major risk Adenuga took in the oil industry. He took another major risk when he bought the controlling share in the insolvent National Oil and Chemical Company (NOLCHEM).
He bid for the oil company along with the world's renowned downstream majors like Mobil of US and Engen of South Africa to emerge as the preferred core investor.
What was even more confounding was the speed at which he reshaped the dwindling fortunes of the former National Oil, now Conoil Plc, to the path of profitability. From a company that was unable to pay dividends to shareholders, Conoil Plc has since 2000 ensured a consistent buoyant dividend payout to its numerous shareholders, from N68.8 million paid in 2000 to N1.908 billion in 2007.
The company's profit has also been on the upward trend since then, from N741.4 million in 2002 to N3.759 billion in 2007.
Adenuga has built a towering legacy which will live long after him in the Nigerian petroleum sector as a daring entrepreneur. He is the harbinger of hope in the upstream sector and has become a motivation for Nigerians who venture into the oil exploration and production business.
He has also replicated this entrepreneurship drive in the telecommunication sector, where he presides as Chairman of Nigeria's national carrier, Globacom. Adenuga changed the face of telecommunication in Nigeria and even now, Glo is also spreading across the West African sub-region, starting with Benin Republic, Ghana and Togo. This move aligns with his vision to build the biggest and best telecommunication network in Africa.
Born in Ibadan, Oyo State on April 29, 1953 and an alumnus of lbadan Grammar School, Ibadan and Northwestern State University, USA, Adenuga has been a phenomenal success in all the businesses he ventured into.
Reasons for his continuous success stories are not far-fetched. He has a rare, ingenious and customized talent to recognise and annex opportunities, he has a large heart, and he is ever willing to educate himself in every field where he has invested such that he discusses with the astuteness of the best experts in the area.
Finally, the man is tough, but underlining this toughness is an infectious humane spirit. This indeed is the story of Adenuga, Nigeria's home grown Oil Sheikh.
Mr Babawale sent this piece from Lagos
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