Lifetime oil award for Mike Adenuga

Frontline Nigerian entrepreneur, Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jnr.) has been inducted into the Nigerian Oil and Gas Hall of Fame, in recognition of his pioneering role in the promotion of truly indigenous Nigerian participation in the highly technical, upstream sector of the oil industry.

The Award was conferred on Dr. Adenuga, who is the Chairman of Nigeria's largest independent oil producing company, Conoil Producing Limited and also the Chairman of a major downstream operator, Conoil Plc, at an impressive ceremony in Abuja to mark the Nigerian Petroleum Golden Jubilee Awards.

The ceremony was witnessed by the 'crème de la crème' of Nigerian petroleum industry players, including Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah, Presidential Adviser on Petroleum, Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Silva, former GMD of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engr. Funsho Kupolokun and captains of the oil industry. According to the organizers of the event, Energy Information Services Nigeria Limited, Adenuga was inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame for his bold courage in venturing into the oil Exploration and Production business at a period the sector was the exclusive preserve of multinationals/international companies because of its high-risk nature, and Nigerian entrepreneurs privileged to secure oil licenses were merely contented in trading them off.

Adenuga not only ventured into the petroleum exploration business when his company, Consolidated Oil [now Conoil Producing Ltd], secured oil block OPL 113 in 1990 and within a record nine months, drilled oil wells abandoned by oil majors and produced the first oil from the now historic Bella well.

Adenuga also bagged the Landmark Award at the occasion. He was acknowledged to have succeeded in putting together a team completely made up of young Nigerian petroleum experts. Following this major breakthrough recorded by Adenuga, Conoil had since gone ahead to acquire other oil concessions, namely OMLs 103 and 59, OPLs 458 and 257, as well as a joint participating interest in the Nigeria/Sao Tome Joint Development Zone in the deep offshore region of the Gulf of Guinea.

Adenuga was also credited to have reshaped the dwindling fortunes of the former National Oil and Chemical Marketing Company, now Conoil Plc, to a more profitable company that is a toast of investors.

From a company that was unable to pay dividends to shareholders, Conoil Plc has since 2000 ensured a consistent buoyant dividend payout to its numerous shareholders, from N68.8 million paid in 2000 to N1.908 billion in 2007. The company's profit has also been on the upward trend since then, from N741.4 million in 2002 to N3.759 billion in 2007.