Oando Plc, a Nigerian oil producer and fuel retailer, won approval from the government to buy ConocoPhillips’s assets in the West African nation.
The consent clears the way for the company to complete the $1.65 billion acquisition, first announced in December 2012, by June 30 or soon thereafter, the company said in a statement.
Local oil companies are boosting their share of output by taking up fields in restive areas as international energy companies are pushed out by unrest, violence and crude theft. Oando expects the purchase of Houston-based ConocoPhillips’s assets to raise production from its Oando Energy Resources Inc. unit to about 50,000 barrels a day from 5,000, Tokunbo Akindele, Oando’s head of investor relations, said in January.
Oando gained 8 percent to 25 naira at the close of trading in Lagos. It has risen 3.1 percent this year, compared with a 0.4 percent decline by the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index.