ConOil, owned by Nigeria’s second richest man is
being pursued for a combined debt of over $
140.5 million by two foreign and one local
companies, PREMIUM TIMES has learned.
Despite making several pledges to pay, ConOil
and other companies owned by Mr. Adenuga
have reneged on paying the debts, multiple
sources in the oil and gas sector have told this
newspaper.
Things have got so bad that some of the creditor
companies have either commenced or are
considering commencing legal actions to force
the billionaire businessman to pay up having
exhausted all options to make him honour
promises and agreement to pay.
In fact, one company has successful secured an
interim order from a federal court to place one of
Mr Adenuga’s companies under receivership.
The increasing debt profile of the telecom and oil
mogul, who increased his net worth by almost $5
billion in the last year, according to luxury lifestyle
magazine, Forbes, has hit some his creditors so
hard that they had to shut down some of their
operations.
One of such companies is Depthwize, a local oil
servicing company, which is owed $40 million by
ConOil.
The refusal of the management of ConOil to pay
Depthwize, a small drilling contractor has forced
the company to lay off workers and shut down
services on two of ConOil’s rigs until the money is
paid, those familiar with the matter said.
“Depthwize says it can no longer afford the day to
day running cost of working on the rigs,” one
source said.
Similarly, American oil and gas firm, Baker
Hughes, was forced to lodge a court petition to
wind up one of Mr Adenuga’s company, Belbop
Nigeria Limited, over a USD $12.09 million bill
they had been unsuccessfully trying to get the
company to pay.
Baker Hughes argued that in 2009, Belbop
awarded it a contract for the provision of
directional drilling, MWD/LWD services and supply
of drilling fluids and drilling bits, Logging cabin
and surface acquisition system.
The company told the court that after it duly
discharge its obligation and rendered all requisite
services, Belbop refused to pay. Baker Hughes
said it incurred a liability of $9.4 million in the
course of executing the contract.
On April 12, 2016, Babs Kuewumi of the Federal
High Court in Lagos placed an interim injunction
on the accounts of Belbop pending the
determination of suit.
The judge therefore appointed the Chief Registrar
of the Federal High Court as the receiver/manager
of Belbop until the substantive suit is determined.
Mr Adenuga has also been given multinational oil
firm, Total, the runaround over a $28.5 million
debt it owed the French oil giant since 2009.
Although Total has been trying to resolve the
debt without litigation, the refusal of Mr. Adenuga
to pay the debt has forced the company to stop
work at OML 136 gas field. Total is ConOil’s
technical partner in the project.
At a meeting held with Total in November 2015, it
was agreed that ConOil would pay the $28.5
million dollars owed before January 31 2016.
That meeting, which minutes is in the possession
of PREMIUM TIMES, was chaired by Mr. Adenuga
and attended by four executives from Total.
But those familiar with the matter told this
newspaper Mr. Adenuga’s company is yet to pay
up. All attempts by Total to make him release the
money have also failed, insiders said.
Some said they are baffled by Mr Adenuga’s
refusal to pay Total the $28.5 million, which
would have seen work commence on the lucrative
oil field.
The OML 136 asset is considered to be one of the
largest gas fields in Nigeria, with a proven reserve
of 11 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas. The
exploration of the oil assets would have boosted
Nigeria’s economy by creating jobs and would
have yielded massive return to Total and ConOil,
they explained.
When contacted, Total’s spokesperson, Charles
Ogan, in an email to PREMIUM TIMES, said the
matter is an “obvious internal administrative
subject.”
Also, ConOil is engaged in a decade-long dispute
with British oil firm, Vitol, over its alleged failure to
pay a $60 million debt incurred from lifting of
cargoes of refined petroleum products.
Vitol secured a court judgement in the UK in
respect of the debt but has been unable to
enforce it in Nigeria because ConOil got a stay of
execution from a Nigerian court.
Conoil’s financial problems, PREMIUM TIMES
gathered, may have been caused by Mr
Adenuga’s slowness in taking advantage in
potential money earners for the company.
For instance, in 2005, ConOil was granted
exploration licence for OPL 257 by the federal
government, but the company surprisingly left
the block fallow until its licence expired. Now it is
frantically asking the government for a two-year
extension of its expired licence to enable it
explore the field.
On January 22, 2016, Taiwo Olushina, the
managing director of ConOil, wrote a letter to the
National Petroleum Investment Management
Services (NAPIMS) blaming insecurity, high cost
of drilling and technical hitches for its failure to
explore the field before the expiration of the
licence.
“Having attended to technical and financial
challenges peculiar to ultra -deep offshore blocks,
this approval will provide us with ample time in
drilling three identified prospective locations in
preparation for further development towards
boosting national oil and gas reserves and
production,” the letter read in part.
The spokesperson for Mr. Adenuga, Bode
Opeseitan, could not be reached to comment for
this story. He did not answer or return calls
seeking comment.
Another spokesperson ducked when approached
by this reporter to comment for this story.
Despite being identified by Truecaller app, Mike
Oduniyi told PREMIUM TIMES that we had reached
a wrong number and promptly terminated the
call.


Tax palaver and bad loan
Mr Adenuga’s companies have also had tax issues
in the recent past. In 2009, the Federal Inland
Revenue Service (FIRS) sealed the Lagos office of
ConOil, and Continental Oil and Gas, another
company owned by the businessman, over the
non-remittance of $610 million tax to
government.
Last month, seven years after his companies were
first sealed, the FIRS shut the Lagos office of
Globacom, the second largest mobile telephone
company in the country, owned by the billionaire,
for allegedly failing to remit Value Added Tax
worth N24.3 billion.
Earlier in February this year, the Osun State
Internal Revenue Service (OIRS) sealed the offices
of the telecommunication firm in the state for
failing to pay outstanding taxes and other levies
in respect of mast/ base stations and laying of
fibre optics.
The state said several meetings were held with
the company’s representatives in the past three
years to resolve the issue, but that the company
failed to comply.
The Asset Management Company of Nigeria
(AMCON) also listed Mr. Adenuga as one of the
country’s biggest debtors for a N2.4billion loan
his real estate company, Convenant Apartments
Complex Limited, took from Wema Bank.
AMCON acquired the loan from the bank in 2010,
after Convenant Apartments failed to pay up.

hinwazaka:
AMCON can shutdown Bruce, but with Adenuga, all they could do was print his name in a newspaper. Fear of IBB, is the beginning of wisdom for the coward Buhari

hinwazaka:
AMCON can shutdown Bruce, but with Adenuga, all they could do was print his name in a newspaper. Fear of IBB, is the beginning of wisdom for the coward Buhari

hinwazaka:
AMCON can shutdown Bruce, but with Adenuga, all they could do was print his name in a newspaper. Fear of IBB, is the beginning of wisdom for the coward Buhari