Nigeria’s leading African strategic investor, Heirs Holdings Limited, on Thursday, demonstrated its intention to become an even more formidable player in the nation’s integrated energy space, with the infusion of new blood into the board and management of its subsidiary- Heirs Oil & Gas m(HHOG).
The company, jointly owned with an affiliate company- Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), in a statement, also announced new management led by Osayande Igiehon, who joins the company from the Royal Dutch Shell (Shell), where he was previously a Vice-President in the Hague, Netherlands, as Chief Executive Officer, from May 4, 2021.
Recall that HHOG, completed the acquisition of OML17 in January 2021, in one of the largest oil and gas financings in Africa in more than a decade, with a financing component of US$1.1bn, as part of the HH Group strategy of creating the leading integrated energy business in Africa.
Through a series of strategic portfolio holdings, HH is executing this strategy, following which Transcorp, affiliate company recently made a US$300m acquisition of Afam Power, increasing the group’s installed electricity generating capacity to 2,000MW.
Igiehon, Heirs said in a statement, brings over 27 years of experience and expertise in the oil and gas sector with Shell, where he held a series of senior management positions. He previously served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Shell Gabon, where he led the successful turnaround of the operational, safety and financial performance.
He will be joined by other distinguished private sector and senior industry leaders on the board, led by Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp), and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
Other members of the board are Sally Udoma, Anil Dua, Ahmadu Kida Musa, Stanley Lawson, and Samuel Nwanze.
Udoma previously served as General Counsel for Chevron Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East Exploration and Production, where she was general counsel for Sasol Chevron Consulting Limited and managing counsel at the London Legal Service Centre for Chevron Global Upstream and Gas. She has also served as general counsel and General Manager for Chevron Nigeria Limited.
Dua is a founding partner at Gateway Partners Limited, a private equity fund specialising in dynamic growth markets including Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and before then, had over 35-year stint with Standard Chartered Bank in Asia, Africa, Europe and the US, where he held various roles including Regional CEO West Africa and Regional Head of Origination and Client Coverage, Africa.
Musa previously served as Deputy Managing Director of Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, has over 32 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry and brings considerable expertise in Nigerian oil and gas.
Lawson, who currently serves on the board of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, is Managing Partner at Financial Advisory & Investment Consultants Ltd, and previously held the position of Group Executive Director-Finance & Accounts at Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
On his part, Nwanze joins as Chief Finance Officer from his previous position as Chief Investment Officer at Heirs Holdings responsible for investment and capital management.
Commenting on his new role, Igiehon said “HHOG represents an extraordinary opportunity, to create Africa’s first true integrated energy company, with a mission to ensure that Africa’s natural resources are directed toward value creation in Africa, powered by sustainable, robust, and abundant African energy. I am excited to join the Heirs Oil and Gas leadership team and look forward to the opportunity to transform the energy sector, purposefully address Africa’s energy needs and improve the lives of people across Africa.”
On his part, Elumelu expressed delight at welcoming the new board members, with whom the group is “building a role model institution for African businesses and our investment in human capital is a further strong demonstration of our intent. The regional and global expertise of our board members will serve to further drive value creation to our continent, as we execute our goal of becoming Africa’s largest, indigenous, integrated, energy company.”
HHOG’s asset portfolio, the statement added, includes Nigerian oil block OML17, with a current production capacity of 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 2P reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with an additional 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources of further exploration potential.
