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Tag: Seplat

  • Seplat, NNPC strike joint ownership deal

    Seplat Petroleum Development Company (Seplat) Plc and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday signed joint ownership agreement in a joint venture floated to process gas production from upstream assets.

    Seplat, Nigerian indigenous upstream oil company which is listed on both the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and London Stock Exchange (LSE), signed the shareholder agreement and share subscription agreement with the Nigerian Gas Processing and Transportation Company (NGPTC), a wholly owned subsidiary of NNPC.

    Under the deal, NGPTC will subscribe for 50 per cent of the shares in ANOH Gas Processing Company Limited (AGPC), a company that was incorporated in 2017, for the purpose of processing future wet gas production from the upstream unitised gas fields at OML 53 & OML 21, which is operated by Shell.

    The signed shareholder agreement will govern Seplat’s and NGPTC’s respective interests in the AGPC incorporated joint venture. Other commercial agreements with NNPC and the Nigerian Gas Marketing Company (NGMC) were also executed during the signing ceremony held at NNPC headquarters in Abuja yesterday.

    Yesterday’s agreements were important precursors to the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the ANOH project which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2018.

    Chief Executive Officer, Seplat Petroleum Development Company (Seplat) Plc, Mr. Austin Avuru, noted that ANOH is one of the largest greenfield gas and condensate developments in Nigeria, which will supply much needed gas volumes to the growing domestic market.

    “We are delighted to have entered into an incorporated joint venture with our government partner NGPTC. The execution of the agreements today is an important step as we head towards taking FID on the ANOH project later this year,” Avuru said.

     

  • Accolades for Seplat as 2,725 enjoy free eye surgeries

    Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc., operators of the NPDC/SEPLAT joint venture, has concluded the 7th edition of its annual Eye Can See CSR programme.

    The programme took place at the Oba of Benin’s Palace. It witnessed a large turn out from within and outside the city who showed up to have their eyes checked, obtain prescription glasses or get operated upon to remove vision impairing cataracts.

    On hand to receive the SEPLAT delegation and encourage the residents of the ancient city to come out in their numbers and benefit from the uncommon gesture by SEPLAT were chiefs led by Chief S.O. Obamwonyi. The Esere of Benin Kingdom who represented the Oba of Benin.

    The SEPLAT team was led by the CEO, Mr. Austin Avuru. Also in attendance were key government officials, health sector personnel and other dignitaries who joined in the activities.

    Welcoming the company and dignitaries to the palace, Chief Obamwonyi thanked SEPLAT for supporting and enhancing the physical and mental wellbeing of the members of their host communities and pledged his kingdom’s support to the company and its initiatives.

    Speaking on the initiative,  Avuru said the project is part of the company’s yearly Corporate Social Investment programmes and its objective is to make quality health care accessible to people in Delta and Edo states, particularly the company’s host and impact communities.

    He said: “Members of our host communities are important stakeholders in our mutual enterprise and it is important to support and enhance their health and economic circumstances. That is the reason for this programme, which is in its seventh year and we hope to continue to support and prosecute such sustainable initiatives.”

    Members of the community, who received sundry treatment and those whose sights were restored following surgery, gave glowing testimonials.

    The Eye Can See programme, a key component of SEPLAT’s Corporate Social Investment, is a health focused community engagement which concentrates on bringing free, qualitative and comprehensive eye care to members of its host communities. Over 57,000 patients have benefitted from the programme, which started in 2012 and which has since dispensed 26,855 reading glasses and successfully performed 2,725 eye surgeries.

    This year’s edition ran from June 5 to July 4.

     

     

  • Seplat targets acquisitions, diversification to drive growth

    Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc plans to acquire additional assets that would help in strengthening and diversifying its growth base as the indigenous oil and gas company seeks to create greater values for stakeholders.

    At the annual general meeting yesterday in Lagos, the board of Seplat said the company will explore both organic and inorganic opportunities to deliver its growth strategy.

    Chairman, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Dr Ambrose Orjiako, said Seplat has always been an ambitious company and it continues to see Nigeria as a world-class opportunity set.

    “In addition to our organic growth opportunities, we maintain our clearly defined strategy of balancing this with inorganic expansion and will leverage our competitive advantages to seek out carefully considered, price-disciplined and value accretive acquisition opportunities,” Orjiako said.

    He noted that the company had in 2017 focussed on stabilising its core business and successfully repositioned to resume a growth trajectory. Seplat recorded profit before tax of $44 million.

    According to him, Seplat moved into the current business year on a substantially firmer operational and financing footing with a high-quality portfolio that offers a material and predictable production base combined with a large inventory of production and development drilling opportunities that it plans to capitalise on.

    Chief Executive Officer, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Mr. Austin Avuru, said the proactive and decisive management as well as strong underlying fundamentals have seen Seplat emerging from an exceptionally challenging period with a much fitter and stronger business that is equipped to deliver long-term value for shareholders.

    He noted that gas has remained a key revenue driver, which underlines Seplat’s gas domestication strategy and the robustness of gas as a key source of growth and diversification.  Seplat’s gas business contributed $124 million, 27 per cent of total revenue in 2017.

    “We look ahead into 2018 and beyond with a strong sense of optimism and from a position of both strategic and financial strength. Every aspect of our business and management has been stress tested in the extreme during the past two years and I am delighted to be able to say that we have proved our ability to withstand severe external shocks to the business,..” Avuru said.

    He outlined a three-pronged growth strategy that includes optimising the large inventory of oil production drilling opportunities to grow production, capitalising on early mover advantage in the domestic gas sector to further grow upstream and midstream production and processing capacity and to use its good financing position to selectively consider and executive value accretive acquisition opportunities.

  • Why contracts fail, by Seplat

    SEPLAT Petroleum Supply Chain Management (SCM) General Manager Olusola Ogunbanwo has identified the reasons contracts fail in the country.

    He listed these as poor monitoring, corruption, political interference and inconsistent government policies.

    Others, he said, were change of government, bureaucracy, lack of continuity, prices fluctuation, inadequate planning, payments delays and release of funds.

    Speaking at the conference by Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) in Lagos, Ogunbanwo, decried the high rate of contract failures, noting that this was affecting government revenue and the people.

    Presenting a paper titled: ‘’Impact of post-contract evaluation appraisal on the economy’’, the engineer , citing figures, said last year 12,000 federal projects were abandoned, in 2015, 56,000 projects worth N12trillion were abandoned while public projects worth N8trillion were abandoned between 1966 and 2012.

    He wondered why the problem was mainly in the public service domain and not the private sector.

    Ogunbanwo said the solution to the problem was on proper evaluation of contracts.‘’The evaluation of contract performance is essential to determine if the planned improvements have been achieved and to learn lessons for future contracts/projects,’’ he adding that the government and its agencies should be alive to their responsibilities.

    He charged procurement officers to do their work as professionals and live by the rules.

    He warned that his suggestions would not work, if the following indices were in place. “Lack of resources with the right skills set – generic technical skill like negotiation, project management, risk management, etc as well as soft interpersonal skills, change in government, frequent turnover of contracting team members without proper hand over, inadequate documentation – keeping track of costs, risks, etc, poor communication – expectations/decisions  made not cascaded to stakeholders and much attention is given to deal making, but little or none to managing the contract/project.

    The Shell Petroleum  Development Company of Nigeria Limited Senior Manager, Wells and Projects, Arinze Oduah, who spoke on “ Improving value for money (VFM) in Nigeria’s capital expenditure project,’’ suggested, among others, the full operation of the PPA 2007, including establishing the National Council on Public Procurement, expanding Bureau of Public Procurement’s (BPP’s) oversight from ‘due process’ to end-to-end supply chain management, and strengthened to influence state and local governments through compelling outcomes and positive examples.

  • NSE: Seplat loses N35 to lead losers’ chart

    Some major oil stocks recorded price depreciation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange ( NSE ) on Tuesday with Seplat leading the losers’ table.

    Seplat lost N35 to close at N665.10 per share.

    Mobil came second with a loss of N7.50 to close at N177, while Total was down by N3.70 to close at N240 per share.

    International Breweries dipped N2.85 to close at N54.15, while Guinness depreciated by N2 to close at N103 per share.

    Consequently, the market capitalisation shed N76 billion or 0.51 per cent to close at N14.899 trillion against N14.975 trillion.

    Also, the All-Share Index opened at 41,454.30 dropped 211.06 points or 0.51 per cent to close at 41,243.24.

    On the other hand, Nestle led the gainers’ table during the day, improving by N19 to close at N1, 339 per share.

    GlaxosmithKline followed with a gain of N2.85 to close at N30.90, while Forte Oil gained N1.90 to close at N41.90 per share.

    MRS Oil increased by N1.35 to close at N28.35, while Cement Company of Northern Nigeria added 90k to close at N19.65 per share.

    Japaul Oil and Maritime was the toast of investors, exchanging 80.29 million shares worth N58.08 million.

    Zenith International Bank followed with an account of 59.85 million shares valued at N1.79 billion, while FBN Holdings traded 24.33 million shares worth N301.22 million.

    Transcorp exchanged 22.22 million shares worth N42.42 million, while Access Bank sold 16.691 million shares valued at N189.70 million.

    In all, the volume of shares traded dropped by 7.12 per cent with an exchange of 352.89 million shares worth N4.14 billion in 4,807 deals.

    This was against the 379.93 million shares valued at N5.13 billion transacted in 4,913 deals.

    NAN

  • Seplat scales up to NSE’s premium board

    Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc will become the seventh company on the premium board of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Authorities at the Exchange at the weekend indicated that they have approved the migration of Seplat-Nigeria’s only quoted oil exploration company- from the main board to the top-rated premium board.

    The Exchange had earlier approved the migration of three companies-Lafarge Africa, United Bank for Africa and Access Bank to the board. There are currently three companies listed on the NSE’s premium board including Dangote Cement, FBN Holdings and Zenith Bank International.

    The premium board was designed as a market for the most capitalised stocks with the best corporate governance and liquidity. The premium board was meant to showcase Nigeria’s best stocks to the global market.

    The Exchange had indicated that the premium board is aimed at providing a platform for greater global visibility for eligible Nigerian entities, which will make it easier for them to attract global capital flows and reduce the cost of borrowing.

    The criteria for the premium board include that companies to be listed on the board must have market capitalisation of not less than $1 billion or about N157 billion.

    Also, premium board’s companies must also score at least 70 per cent on the Exchange and the Convention for Business Integrity’s Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS). Besides, the companies must have a minimum free float of 20 per cent or value of shares floated must be equal to or above $1 billion and the number of shares representing its issued share capital must be equal to or above 10 billion units.

     

  • Major oil stocks plummet on NSE

    Major oil stocks plummet on NSE

    Major oil stocks posted price depreciation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange ( NSE ) on Monday just as the market indices recorded marginal growth of 0.02 per cent.

    Seplat dipped N13.70 to close at N571.40 to lead the losers’ table.

    Total trailed with a loss of N11 to close at N217, while Mobil Oil shed N9.50 to close at N180.50 per share.

    Dangote Cement was down by N1 to close at N259, while United Bank for Africa declined by 45k to close at N12.50 per share.

    Conversely, International Breweries topped the gainers’ table, growing by N2.85 to close at N59.85 per share.

    PZ Industries followed with a gain of N1.15 to close at N24.15, while NASCON appreciated by N1.05 to close at N21.60

    Guaranty Trust Bank advanced by 75k to close at N49.35, while Redstar increased by 30k to close at N6.30 per share.

    Consequently, the All-Share Index rose marginally by 8.59 points or 0.02 per cent to close at 42,579.48 compared with 42,570.89 achieved on Friday.

    Similarly, the market capitalisation which opened at N15.277 trillion rose by three billion naira or 0.02 per cent to close at N15.280 trillion.

    Cement Company of Northern Nigeria was the most active stock, trading 134.89 million shares worth N2.25 billion.

    Transcorp followed with an account of 34.15 million shares valued at N71.04 million, while FBN Holdings traded 21.78 million shares worth N250.07 million.

    Access Bank sold 20.58 million shares valued at N 270.03 million, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.49 million shares worth N 61.30 million.

    In all, the volume of shares transacted closed higher as investors bought and sold 384.26 million shares valued at N5.47 billion achieved in 4,774 deals.

    This was in contrast with a turnover of 308.43 million shares worth N6.40 billion exchanged in 4,356 deals.

    NAN

  • Seplat doles out N17.13b bonus shares to employees

    Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc Board of Directors has distributed ordinary shares of the oil and gas company worth N17.13 billion to its employees as bonus shares.

    A regulatory filing indicated that the company awarded 25 million ordinary shares of 50 kobo each as bonus shares to its staff members under the company’s Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP).

    The supplementary listing of the  ordinary shares at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) increased the company’s total issued and fully paid up shares to 588.445 million ordinary shares.

    The supplementary listing implies that the beneficiaries can trade on their shareholdings, subject to the conditions for the award of the shares.

    Seplat opens today at the NSE at N685 per share.

    The firm’s Company Secretary, Dr Mirian Kene Kachikwu, said the distribution was in exercise of the powers granted to the board of the oil and gas company by the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on June 30, 2014 to implement the initial public offering (IPO) award and other remuneration of the top management and directors as disclosed in the IPO prospectus.

    She said the 25 million shares were allotted to Stanbic IBTC Trustees Limited as custodian in furtherance of the company’s LTIP.

    After a highly successful global initial public offering (IPO) of $500 million, Seplat had made history in April 2014 as the first upstream company to be listed on the NSE. It also simultaneously listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The IPO was oversubscribed.

    Seplat was founded in 2009 by Shebah Petroleum Development Company Limited and Platform Petroleum (Joint Ventures) Limited for the purpose of investing in Nigerian oil and gas opportunities. Maurel& Prom, a French independent oil company, subsequently acquired a 45 per cent equity interest in SEPLAT; this interest was later spun-off to form Maurel & Prom Nigeria S.A, now known as Maurel & Prom International.

    In July 2010, Seplat acquired a 45 per cent participating interest in, and was appointed operator of, a portfolio of three onshore producing oil and gas leases in the Niger Delta (OMLs 4, 38 and 41), which includes the producing Oben, Ovhor, Sapele, Okporhuru, Amukpe and Orogho fields. Since acquisition, Seplat has more than tripled production from these OMLs.

    In June 2013, Newton Energy Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, entered into an agreement with Pillar Oil Limited to acquire a 40 per cent participating interest in the Umuseti/Igbuku marginal field area within OPL 283.

  • Court summons Seplat’s chairman for alleged contempt

    The Federal High Court in Lagos has asked Chairman of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Dr Ambrose Orjiako, to appear before it for allegedly flouting its orders.

    Justice Hadiza Shagari gave the directive based on an application by a firm, AOS Orwell Ltd, through its lawyer Kunle Ogunba (SAN).

    The firm, which initiated contempt proceedings against Orjiakor, is praying the court for an order committing him to prison for his “willful, deliberate and orchestrated disobedience to the interim orders which metamorphosed into interlocutory orders of this honourable court”.

    The court had on May 4 ordered Orjiako to appear before it, but on the adjourned date, the court was informed that parties were exploring out of court settlement.

    Ogunba, at last Wednesday’s proceedings, applied to the court to order Orjiako to appear for the hearing of the contempt applications.

    He accused Orjiako of insincerity in the settlement process, saying: “The respondents are not sincere about the settlement. We have not heard anything from them. We did not hear from them throughout the vacation period despite the length of time afforded them. Until now, they have done nothing.

    “In May, My Lord did order that the alleged contemnor should appear. Since then, he has not been forthcoming. Your Lordship needs to send a message that this is a serious assembly, a solemn assembly. No party should hold the court to ransom.

    “I, therefore, urge your Lordship to renew the order and give them one last chance. The court has to show that it is not a circus show,” Ogunba said.

    The respondent’s counsel, Kami Dayo-Alade, said the talks were still on, and sought for more time.

    “We are still committed to settlement. There were a lot of banks and other parties that came up,” he said.

    Justice Shagari noted that contempt proceedings was “sui generis” (unique) and must be taken seriously.

    “We are not here to be too harsh on anybody. This case will be adjourned to the 16th of October for report of settlement, hearing of contempt proceedings, and for the alleged contemnor to be in court,” the judge said.

    According to the petitioner/applicant, the court made orders restraining the respondent (Shebah Exploration and Production Company Ltd) or its agents from dealing with or tampering with the company’s assets, funds, shares and equipment within and outside Nigeria.

    It said despite the service of the court orders on the company, Orjiako “proceeded to deal with, dissipate and/or alienate the shares/assets of the respondent contrary to the orders.”

    AOS Orwell said Orjiako “is the Managing Director, Chairman/alter ego and the Chief Executive Officer of Shebah Exploration and Production.”

    The petitioner, in a supporting affidavit deposed to by Hellen Atulukwu, a lawyer in Ogunba’s firm, Insolvency Forte, said Orjiako and the respondent “willfully disobeyed the extant orders of the Federal High Court made in this suit despite being fully aware” of them.

    AOS Orwell had obtained the interlocutory orders seeking to stop the respondent’s directors from dissipating its assets pending the hearing and determination of the application for the appointment of a provisional liquidator for Shebah Exploration and Production over an alleged multi-million naira debt.

    The petitioner said despite the orders, Orjiako allegedly sold Shebah Exploration and Production’s shares to Petrolin Trading Ltd on January 6 and refused to purge himself of the contempt by reversing the sale.

    Justice Shagari adjourned until October 16.

     

  • Seplat eyes gas, more export routes to drive growth

    Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc is pursuing the diversification of its export routes and development of its domestic natural gas business to forestall disruptions to earnings and ensure steadily improving performance, its directors have said.

    At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, directors of Seplat outlined key strategic initiatives being implemented to support the growth of the company and ensure stable returns to shareholders.

    The shut-in and declaration of force majeure at the Forcados terminal by operator Shell saw average daily production by Seplat falling from 52,000 boepd as at mid-February 2016 to 25,877 boepd by year ended December 31, 2016.

    Oil revenue fell by 55 per cent from $570 million in 2015 to $254 million in 2016 while the total volume of crude lifted in the year was 3.422 MMbbls compared to 8.129 MMbbls in 2015.

    Seplat Petroleum Development Company Chairman, Dr. Ambrose Orjiako, said the diversification of the export routes for the evacuation of crude oil will remove constraints that had hitherto limited the capacity of the company.

    “With the diversity of export solutions in place and our increasing gas processing capacity, Seplat has the potential to deliver material production upside with less risk of significant constraints from any infrastructure disruption,” Orjiako said.

    Seplat is pursuing alternative crude oil evacuation options for production at OMLs 4, 38 and 41 and potential strategies to further grow and diversify production in order to reduce over-reliance on one particular third party operated export system in the future.

    Seplat Petroleum Development Company Chief Executive Officer, Mr Austin Avuru said the company had to contend with unprecedented operational challenges in 2016 due to interruptions, which adversely affected the results for the year.

    He said the development of multiple export routes, which are expected to be operational during the second half of the year, will significantly de-risk the company’s route to market.

    According to him, the company has now established a longer-term alternative export route via the Warri refinery jetty and it is nearing completion of upgrade works to the infrastructure enabling a doubling of barging volumes to a steady 30,000 bopd gross during second quarter of the year.

    Seplat is also alongside this collaborating with and supporting the government on completion of the Amukpe to Escravos pipeline that will offer a third export route through the Escravos terminal.

    “While the quality of our asset base remains undiminished we will continue to maintain strict financial discipline to ensure that we preserve a sufficient liquidity buffer in the current environment and at the same time retain discretion over spend in our portfolio of production opportunities.”

    Seplat had responded to shut-in in 2016 by implementing an alternative export solution whereby crude oil production from OMLs 4, 38 and 41 were sent through its own 100,000bopd capacity pipeline to available storage tanks at the Warri refinery. By the year end, a gross volume of three million barrels had been evacuated through this route. The company intends to establish regular exports of 30,000 bopd through Warri.

    Seplat has indicated it will set full year production guidance for 2017 at the lifting of the force majeure by Shell, adding that the immediate priority is to increase exports via the Warri refinery jetty to a gross average level of 30,000 bopd and looking further ahead to support NAPIMS to achieve completion of the new Amukpe to Escravos pipeline.

    “Seplat will also continue to prioritise expansion of its domestic natural gas business which provides a revenue stream that is de-linked from the oil price, and underpinned by the strong fundamentals of high demand and increasing pricing,” Avuru said.

    Seplat’s gas business witnessed major improvement last year as revenues rise to $105.5 million in 2016 compared with $76.9 million in 2015. This was driven by a 19 per cent increase in the average realised gas price to $3.03/Mscf compared with $2.55/Mscf in 2015 and 11 per cent increase in working interest production to 95 MMscfd or 34.7Bscf in 2016 compared with 86 MMscfd or 31.3Bscf in 2015.

    Avuru noted that the increase in volume was because of the full-year benefit of the new 150 MMscfdOben gas processing facility installed in mid 2015 that doubled plant processing capacity to 300 MMscfd.