ConOil, owned by Nigeria’s second richest man, is being pursued by creditors for a combined debt of over $140.5 million by two foreign and one local companies.
Despite making several vows to pay, ConOil and other companies owned by Mr. Adenuga have defaulted on paying the debts, multiple sources in the oil and gas sector have disclosed this.
Things have played so wrong that creditor companies have either commenced or are considering commencing legal actions to make the billionaire businessman pay up, having exhausted all options to make him honour promises and agreements to do so.
In fact, one company successfully 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 last year, according to luxury lifestyle magazine, Forbes, has hit some of 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 conversant 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 companies, Belbop Nigeria Limited, over a USD $12.09 million bill they have been trying to get the company 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 discharged 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 the 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 is also causing multinational oil firm, Total, headache over a $28.5 million debt it owed the French oil giant since 2009.
Although Total is trying to resolve the debt problem without litigation, the refusal of Mr. Adenuga to pay the debt has forced the company to stop work on the 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.
But those familiar with the matter told this newspaper Mr. Adenuga’s company was yet to pay up. All attempts by Total to make him release the money have failed, insiders said.
Some said they were baffled by Mr Adenuga’s refusal to pay Total the $28.5 million, which would have seen work commenced on the lucrative oil field.
The OML 136 asset is considered 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 can boost Nigeria’s economy by creating jobs and would have yielded massive return to Total and ConOil, experts say.
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.
