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Saturday, August 22, 2020 /12:40
PM / by Emele Onu of Bloomberg / Header Image Credit: Japaul Oil
Japaul Oil
& Maritime Services Plc, a Nigerian petroleum-services company, plans
to raise 27 billion naira ($70 million) in a share offer in November to fund
its switch to mining as crude exploration and production activities wane.
The Lagos-based company, which currently provides
offshore construction, equipment leasing and oilfield-support services, has
experienced a decline as oil prices fell in recent years, forcing energy
companies to cut back on investments, Chairman Jegede Paul said in an online
interview from Lagos.
"The oil companies that we are serving have little
jobs to do and the little jobs that are there, we are all battling to do at
prices that are below our costs," said Paul. "By the next two years, we will
completely be a mineral company."
Japaul is working with Toronto-based Matrix
Geotechnologies Ltd as the consultant for its operations and has obtained
licenses to mine gold, lead, nickel and copper it identified in commercial
quantities in different parts of Nigeria, Paul said. The company also wants to
acquire smaller companies that already have licenses for those minerals to
boost its production.
Its shift to other minerals comes at a time the West
African nation is seeking to diversify the economy away from dependence on oil,
the source of more than 90% of foreign-exchange earnings. Nigeria started gold
refining in June as part of moves to boost its bullion reserves with the
Central Bank of Nigeria.
Credit:
The post Nigerian
Oil-Services Firm Japaul Seeks $70 Million to Switch to Mining first appeared in Bloomberg on August
21, 2020.
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