Lagos, Dec. 17, 2024 – Seplat Energy has plans to rejuvenate hundreds of dormant oil wells in Nigeria following the completion of its acquisition of ExxonMobil’s onshore oil and gas assets, reported Bloomberg.
This plan is poised to enhance the company’s production capabilities in the West African nation.
In an interview, Seplat Energy chief operating officer Samson Ezugworie said: “Our immediate focus is rig intervention, short-term oil-generation activities, rejuvenating idle wells and bringing them back to production.
“Only 200 of about 600 blocks are producing.”
In October, the Nigerian Government approved the sale of Exxon’s assets to Seplat, an independent energy provider, as Seplat capitalised on the trend of foreign companies divesting from Africa’s largest oil producer.
Last week, Seplat paid $800m of the purchase price, following an initial $128m payment made when the deal was signed in 2022.
It postponed the transfer of an additional $257.5m to December 2025 due to decommissioning, abandonment and joint venture costs.
Seplat, a dual-listed company in Lagos and London, considers the acquisition financially advantageous in terms of cost and potential returns.
Seplat Energy chief financial officer Eleanor Adaralegbe stated: “It is just a little over half of the EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] for the full year, so it pays back itself very quickly.”
The company’s earnings before EBITDA surged by 25% to $383m for the nine months through September 2024, compared with the same period last year.
The acquisition is expected to double Seplat’s production, elevating its portfolio to include 11 blocks in onshore and shallow-water Nigeria, 48 producing oil and gas fields, five gas-processing facilities and three export terminals.
Seplat CEO Roger Brown stated the company’s ambition to increase output to more than 200,000 barrels per day, a significant rise from the current level of approximately 71,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, although the timeline for achieving this target was not specified.
Brown also said: “In the portfolio we have significant gas opportunities, there is huge opportunity in LNG and the domestic gas space.” (Bloomberg)
