By Viktor Katona - Mar 10, 2021, 1:00 PM CST
Judging from recent headlines, Nigeria has unleashed one of the most spectacular legal attacks on one of its key oil and gas investors, to an extent previously unseen in the country’s more than 60 years of hydrocarbon production. Shell has been active in Nigeria ever since the African country opened up to international investment in the early 1960s, maintaining its position as one of the leading actors in its upstream segment, accounting for roughly 10% of Nigeria’s crude production. Seemingly, the timing is quite inopportune for a large-scale feud – projects are getting delayed and drilling contracts cancelled, Nigeria’s GDP dropped 2% in 2020 just as was bouncing off its period of economic lassitude and OPEC+ production curtailments limiting the potential output of Nigerian producers. Despite the odds, the conflict between Nigeria and Royal Dutch Shell might be a harbinger of great transformations, not necessarily to the benefit
Nigeria’s biggest depository for equities and debt hired consulting firm Oliver Wyman to steer an effort to diversify its business so it depends less on securities vulnerable to downturns in oil prices.
The Central Securities Clearing System is looking to expand services to alternative assets such as commodities, according to Chief Executive Officer Haruna Jalo-Waziri. It could also purchase or partner with a fintech firm to acquire more know-how as it takes on additional responsibilities, he said in an interview in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub.
DISTROSCALE
“If you are a monolithic company, where you rely on fees on your depository, whenever there’s a shock in the market it affects your bottomline,” he said. “If you diversify earning other income not dependent on the market then you de-risk your single income source and so that helps sustainability.”