Over time, rapid industrialisation and the expanding global economy have led to increased calls for a mix of energy options in the oil and gas industry to stem the tide of climate change, protect the environment, and deploy cleaner variants of fuels across the developed world and emerging economies.
This has resulted in companies that are operating in the hydrocarbon space diversifying their portfolios and offering even more value-added services to stay ahead of the curve.
Levene Hydrocarbon is a component entity within the Levene Energy Holdings group of companies, a conglomerate that has risen to become one of the leaders in the integrated energy space in the African oil and gas market, especially with energy to power the energy transition agenda and is positioned to deliver cutting-edge results across various sectors of the market to meet the needs of its global client base, with robust operations in the upstream, downstream, midstream and renewable energy sub-sectors of the oil and gas industry.
Here are five things to know about Levene Hydrocarbon
A major player in the Equatorial Guinea oil industry
Levene Hydrocarbon participated in the highly competitive Equatorial Guinea 2019 oil and gas licensing round, squaring off with other major companies. The company, operating as a consortium and working in partnership with a US-based company and the state-owned GEPetrol, secured four oil blocks, including EG-03, EG-04, EG-19, and Block P.
While three of the blocks are onshore in the Rio Muni Basin, the fourth one is an offshore asset with significant reserves of economic value. Levene Hydrocarbon seeks exploration partners to harness the reserves in this region.
Reacting to the success of the company in the bid round, Levene’s Executive Director, Upstream & Engineering Divisions, Bayo Adebiyi, said, “We, as Levene Energy are proud to be part of the future that is going to be great for Equatorial Guinea.”
The assets acquired in Equatorial Guinea demonstrate the company’s competence in securing profitable oil and gas projects, which it develops with investors.
A pioneer in bitumen exploration in Nigeria
Levene Hydrocarbon has been allocated two bitumen blocks in Ogun State, Nigeria, and is seeking investors for exploitation. Bitumen is an essential social Infrastructure commodity for Africa and is needed for developing basic-to-advanced road networks across the continent.
Nigeria has the 6th largest bitumen reserves in the world, with a significant quantity that remains largely unexploited. The country, along with most African countries, still imports bitumen to meet their needs.
Large tracts of roads across Africa remained untarred, while bitumen exporting countries are reducing production. This opens a new vista of opportunities to boost production of the commodity in-continent for self-sufficiency and also to drive infrastructure upgrades.
Levene Hydrocarbon believes bitumen is an essential commodity that would help to build a resilient and sustainable future for Nigeria and Africa in general. Levene, which holds two bitumen mining blocks, is a worthy investment partner for investors looking to tap into the use of bitumen to boost road infrastructure development across the African continent.
Read also: Input cost gulps 88% of Nigeria’s downstream firms’ Q1 revenue
The Levene ESG advantage with bitumen
Levene Hydrocarbon is pushing its Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy through a number of projects, especially its bitumen plays in Nigeria, for which it is seeking investors.
The idea is that companies that get involved in the project stand a huge chance of improving their ESG ratings as the development of the bitumen fields has a significant impact on social infrastructure across Africa.
Hence, companies seeking to access green loans and bonds are better positioned to score high with institutional investors who are seeking out companies that have a strong ESG imprint.
Bayo Adebiyi, Levene’s Executive Director, Upstream & Engineering Divisions, states, “Nigeria and other African countries import bitumen, but local production can reduce imports and create a pathway to have the products serve as a transition commodity. Bitumen can be seen as enabling a renewable mode of living in Africa.”
As a transition commodity, bitumen is used to develop infrastructure that enables Africans access to other infrastructure for sustainable living. Consequently, with advanced and developed road networks, which are one of the major uses of bitumen across Africa, people can drive energy-efficient automobiles, including tricycles, motorbikes, and electric vehicles.
Other than road networks, developing roofing sheets from bitumen can also advance the deployment of solar panels to provide electricity for use in homes and workplaces.
Centrepiece in the grand vision to become an integrated energy concern
Levene Hydrocarbon is at the centrepiece of Levene Energy Holdings’ larger vision to be an integrated energy company, working to develop projects across the oil and gas value chain, from downstream to mid-stream to the upstream sectors.
According to Nzan Ogbe, the Founder and Pioneer CEO of Levene Energy Holdings, “The plan was always to own our assets and do a backward integration from exploring and developing our crude and gas assets, refining, and ultimately, selling those refined products to place us at every stage of the entire value chain.”
So, by acquiring and developing upstream hydrocarbon assets in Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, the company is developing the needed feedstock to power refineries and other gas concerns across the value chain.
Competitive advantage as an energy projects developer
Levene Hydrocarbon has built a reputation for developing upstream oil and gas projects and is well-positioned to strike collaborations in developing new fields, especially in acquiring the requisite equipment and other support structures to lead projects.
Already, it has footprints in Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea and is leading the development of major projects, acquiring relevant licenses from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to develop virgin fields.
This expertise positions it as a dependable partner in developing new oil and gas projects and expanding new frontiers in a project’s life cycle.
The brand is expanding on offerings and opportunities for discerning investors and potential strategic partners to take advantage of.
