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The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has begun talks with foreign investment banks on funding options,  bearing in mind its proposed new role as a commercially viable company rather than a cost centrr, if and when the  Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is passed by the National Assembly.Sunday Telegraph reported that the national oil company had initiated talks with Standard Chartered, JP Morgan, and Deutsche Bank “to explore financing options as it changes into a fully privatised commercial company” in the event the PIB comes into law.The proposed industry reform bill seeks to transform the NNPC into a profit-making Nigerian National Petroleum Co Ltd, a company that would no longer rely on the government for funding its operations.The new NNPC Ltd will be designed to operate like Saudi Arabia’s Aramco; Brazil’s Petrobras; Malaysia’s Petronas; all government-owned National Oil Companies (NOCs) that compete with International Oil Companies (IOCs) for oil and gas fields both in their home countries and overseas.The PIB also seeks to transform the existing Joint Ventures the NNPC holds with Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Agip, and Total on onshore and offshore acreages into an Incorporated Joint Ventures (IJVs), which will seek its own financing at the international market.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, the Group Mana-ging Director of NNPC, Mr. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, told bankers in London at the weekend that the corporation, which is currently hampered by government funding shortfall of about $6 billion (£3.95 million) yearly for its operations with joint venture (JV) partners, is determined to “transform or liquidate."The Federal Government’s inability to provide its own funding to finance the JV has led to funding shortfalls on its projects in the country.Following this development, the NNPC had to sign a Modified Carry Agreement (MCA) of $1.69 billion with Shell Petroleum Development Company, (SPDC), Total and Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), to finance their JV upstream project in Gbarain-Ubie in Bayelsa state.MCA is a financing agreement whereby the IOCs advance loan to NNPC for the purpose of executing upstream projects.“There is no plan B. The government has taken the decision at the highest level for NNPC to reform and we are at an advanced stage in the legislative process,” Barkindo told the bankers.

Barkindo, who led other top officials of NNPC, also met Goldman Sachs, law firm Latham and Watkins, as well as two Nigerian banks – the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and First Bank.The meeting was “to assess the state of the capital markets and how NNPC will prepare to tap them” as soon as the PIB, “which underpins its transformation, has become law”.Barkindo told the investment community that the NNPC is “cash negative” and had “only been sustained by sovereign guarantees provided by the federal government.”According to the newspaper report, bankers suggested a range of options such as an initial public offering (IPO), project finance, pre-export finance, bond issuance, commodity-linked financing and the creation of a holding company to offer financial flexibility.The bankers also anticipated that demand for NNPC bonds would be high and it could issue $500 million to $1 billion.But a top official of the NNPC told the newspaper that “any IPO is unlikely to happen”, at least, for the next five years.

“Our concern is to stabilise and to cut costs – so far we have saved N27 billion (£120 million) and we want to do a similar amount over the next five months. This has been through better supply chain management and cutting on our losses through pipeline damage and theft,” said the official.However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to convince the investment community to be part of the Nigerian National Petroleum Co Ltd as the Federal Government will still control the majority share.Investors are therefore concerned that the ownership structure will not insulate the government from controlling the proposed company.Both the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua government felt that the current NNPC has lost focus as it plays conflicting roles of regulating the industry and managing the national assets.Obasanjo had initiated the landmark industry reform that would distribute these roles to different autonomous agencies.Though Shell had led other oil companies operating in the country to express reservations over certain provisions of the industry reform bill, the outgoing Regional Executive Vice-President of Shell Exploration and Production, Africa, Ann Pickard, said the oil giant has no plans to “pull out of Nigeria, the Telegraph said