Oando under SEC investigation

The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened an investigation into Oando‘s financial statements, local media reported over the weekend.

The investigation was triggered by allegations from foreign investors about the shareholding structure after the company acquired assets from ConocoPhillips in 2014.

“The company understands that the SEC is in receipt of correspondence containing (in our opinion) unsubstantiated, misleading and defamatory claims with respect to various matters that had already received board, shareholder and where required SEC approval,” Oando said in a statement.

“The company is fully co-operating with the SEC in the discharge of its duties as the capital markets regulator by providing all appropriate clarifications and rebuttals on the matters raised in the said correspondence. Oando will be happy to provide full disclosure of the outcome as soon as the SEC review is completed.”

Established as a petroleum product marketing company, Oando’s transformation into a fully integrated energy firm took form in July 2014, through its USD 1.5-billion acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ upstream assets in Nigeria. At present, the company operates through four main divisions: Oando Energy Resources, Oando Gas & Power, OVH Energy Marketing and Oando Trading. In 2016, the company produced 43,503 boepd and sat on 469.3 million boe in 2P reserves.