Kampac Oil Middle East confirms MOA with Amanah Islamic Bank

Kampac Oil Middle East confirms 

MOA with Amanah Islamic Bank

By Abdel Azish Dimapunung

(Abdel Aziz Dimapunong)

Chairman and founder, Amanah Islamic Bank

The Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines concluded its 16^th General Stockholders Meeting last Sunday, June 3, 2007 at the Islamic Bank Alkhairi Mosque in Manila. Among other things, the meeting confirmed, approved and ratified the Memorandum of Agreement between Kampac Oil Middle East and the Amanah Islamic Bank.

Kampac Oil signed the Agreement last May 15, 2007 after some due diligence work. The due diligence covers legal and political background check on the Amanah Islamic Bank. I have discussed part of this in my previous blog in this website entitled “Learning from Halliburton”

http://dimapunong.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/05/learning-from-halliburton.htm

The Board of Directors of the Bank immediately approved the Kampac Oil – Islamic Bank Agreement on the day it was signed. Thereafter, it was submitted for confirmation and ratification by more than two thirds of all common voting stocks of the Islamic Bank. In accordance with the special charter of the Islamic Bank and its By Laws, this requirement has been accomplished during the bank’s 16th general shareholders meeting last June 3, 2007. The Kampac Oil-Islamic Bank agreement calls for a majority ownership of the bank by Kampac Oil M.E.

The Amanah Islamic Bank was founded by yours truly in 1992. Over the years it has grown into more than a billion dollar bank. The Islamic Bank is a proponent of renewable energy, principally biodiesel and bio-ethanol. http://dimapunong.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/02/amanah-islamic-bank-pushes-for-renewable-energy.htm Both of these products require the basic fossil fuel.

The Kampac Group

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

Kampac Oil (KOIL) http://www.kampacgroup.com is an oil company based in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Its founder, Mr. Charles Ampofo, now the chairman of the Kampac Group, established the Kampac Group in 1988. According to him, from its modest beginning, the group has seen a steady growth over the last decade. Kampac now has 15 offices in 13 countries around the globe. These offices are located in the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Jordan, Greece, the United Kingdom, Las Palmas, New York, New Orleans, Syria, and Canada. Kampac has now an office in the Philippines. Over the years Kampac has diversified into different categories of its business activities.

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

Charles Ampofo

Chairman, Kampac Group

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

Charles was here in the Philippines in the middle of May to see Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. A top-level cabinet member in the Arroyo Administration arranged the meeting. Charles is particularly proud of having a strong government and business relationships worldwide. “It is our strength”, he said. “Strong government relationships gives us the edge over our peers in the industry”, he added.

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

Ampofo’s delegation to the Philippines includes Syed Hafizullah, the young and energetic Managing Director of Simex International FZ LLC, and a member of the Kampac group. It is engaged in metal, minerals and Trans Industrials.

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

Charles is coming back to the Philippines soon. According to him, he would probably be in the company of the minister of finance of Dubai and the chairman of the Islamic Bank of Dubai, the pioneering Islamic bank of the world. They would be coming not merely as tourists but as investors. That would be another boost to our currently booming stock market and the flourishing economy of the Philippines under the able leadership of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The confidence of international business for President Arroyo is the topic of my previous blog http://dimapunong.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/05/votes-of-confidence-for-president-arroyo-and-the-philippines.htm

 

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

The international presence of the Kampac group is shown by the fact that it employs over 800 personnel from 25 different countries with various ethnic backgrounds. It has also a team of 50 professionals consisting of high level administrators, bankers, geologists, geo-physicists, petroleum engineers and chemical engineers.

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

Investing in the oil industry
<!–[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]–>
<!–[endif]–>

Kampac has recently acquired oil blocks in West and Central Africa. It has also Logistics in South America and Africa. It has committed to invest $115 million to exploration on the Louga and St. Louis blocks for the next 7 years. Kampac has also allocated $120 million for its downstream activities. Downstream operations consist of primarily trading, oil services and retailing. Currently Kampac has interest in more than six oil blocks in Africa. Although Africa is regarded as less endowed with resources, Charles says “we judge right and get it right”. This is what Kampac branded as ‘new frontier investment approach’, the lure of new frontier in oil exploration.

Kampac’s investments in storage facilities in South America and Africa peaked at $129 million. The investments consist of 600,000 metric cube lands and 300,000 metric cube of Floating Storage Units (FSU). Kampac is now investing in the Philippine oil industry as well as in the Amanah Islamic Bank.

The Philippines needs a company like Kampac for its oil requirements. Recently, the country eyes Venezuela and Kuwait for oil imports. According to Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, the government is eyeing to get part of its oil requirements from other sources to help ensure a stable supply. The country wants to diversify sources of crude supply but it has to do this in cooperation with the refiners in the country. Government is not into refining so that imports of crude oil have to be in tandem with the schedule of refiners. The country has two refineries: one is being run by Petron Corp. in Bataan with a capacity of 180,000 barrels per day and the other one is in Batangas which is run by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. with a capacity of 110,000 bpd. This is an area where the assistance of Kampac may serve. Kampac’s investments in storage facilities in South America and Africa peaked at $129 million. The investments consist of 600,000 metric cube lands and 300,000 metric cube of Floating Storage Units (FSU). Kampac is now investing in the Philippine oil industry as well as in the Amanah Islamic Bank.

Lotilla also said that the government would continue to pursue the idea of stockpiling oil, an issue that was taken up in the East Asia Summit. There is a plan to pursue the development of a 30 million barrel strategic stockpile program. Possible stockpiling sites include the Coastal Subic Bay Oil Terminal with about 500,000 to 600,000 barrels of idle storage capacity, which can be converted as oil stockpile. The other site is the Nonoc Terminal in Surigao. Undoubtedly the Philippines needs storage facilities for its oil and Kampac Oil is the right company for the job. As most of the investments required through Kampac would be coming from Islamic funds in the Middle East, the Amanah Islamic Bank becomes a vital link.

Kampac’s corporate mission is stated simply but in global terms. Thus, Kampac aims to build a global company that cuts across all boundaries. Kampac’ vision is likewise simple: To discover, manage and sustain profitability through exceptional customer satisfaction and progress to the very best in the industries the group represents.

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>