NNPC acquires OVH Energy’s downstream assets to reposition Africa
By Felicia Nwosu
As part of its plans to create a leading downstream energy firm in Nigeria and West Africa, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC Limited has announced the buying-over of OVH Energy Marketing Limited’s downstream assets, re-positioning it as the largest in Africa. The company revealed this during the unveiling and rebranding of one of the retail stations of OVH to NNPC, while it also state that OVH Energy Oando branded retail service stations will be rebranded into its brand, and full integration is expected by the end of 2023.
Some of the acquired assets from the company, which operates Oando filling stations, include a reception jetty with 240,000 metric tonnes monthly capacity and eight liquefied petroleum gas plants, three lubes blending plants, three aviation depots, and 12 warehouses.
Margery Okadigbo, the board chairman of NNPC Limited, said the acquisition, under an Accelerated Network Expansion (ANEX) Initiative, would help strengthen NNPC’s downstream business portfolio to enhance profitability and guarantee national energy security. She also added that the acquisition would bring over 380 additional filling stations under the NNPC retail brand in Nigeria and Togo, on our journey to attaining 1,500 stations targets.
“We will be the largest petroleum product retail network in Africa. OVH has given us so much to look after the investment we have you on the package to continue to work with us”, she said.
Mele Kyari, the group chief executive officer of NNPC Limited, said the merger was achievable through NNPC Limited’s “robust system and network, noting that about 70 percent of Nigerians don’t have access to clean cooking fuel.
“By this merger, we are the largest downstream company with a robust network in the country and Africa; this is a vehicle to ensure we deliver on the energy transition in the country. We will use it to deliver Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) into the market and also to poor citizens who rely on biomass to cook.”
Meanwhile, Huub Stokman, the CEO of OVHEM Limited, expressed optimism over the new status and said the company was enthusiastic about the future potential and capabilities of the combined entity and was ready to bring efficiency to the leading business.
“OVH Energy has enriched Nigeria’s downstream sector and established an unparalleled supply footprint, distributing over 1 billion litres of refined petroleum products annually. This acquisition by NNPC Limited came at a critical time in the Nigerian energy sector and in light of the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA). As the demand is still increasing, also there should be deliberate effort to increase the supply in consumption of natural gas energy transition.”
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