Seplat Awaits FG Decision on Its $1.3 Billion ExxonMobil Shallow-Water Assets

Nigerian leading independent company, Seplat Energy Plc registered on the Nigerian Exchange Limited and the London Stock Exchange and believes that the federal government will approve its acquisition of $1.3 billion ExxonMobil’s shallow-water assets.

However, the federal government has clarified that it wasn’t against the acquisition but it only insisted that the proper guidelines to acquire the assets should be followed accordingly. 

Speaking about the purchase, the CEO of Seplat Energy plc, Roger Brown said that he has hopes that the current administration will approve the acquisition of ExxonMobil’s share capital of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU).

He said, 

• We remain confident that we can conclude our transformational acquisition of MPNU. We wholly align with and support President Tinubu’s efforts to make Nigeria a more attractive place to invest, and we will play our part by delivering affordable and reliable energy that will support our nation’s growth.

He made this announcement during the company’s unaudited results for the first nine months of 2023, which ended on September 30.

He added, 

• Seplat Energy’s operational performance was strong in the third quarter, particularly in September, which mitigated some of the outages experienced on third-party infrastructure and supported production growth of 11% in the same period in 2022.

• Our balance sheet remains strong, and thanks to higher commodity pricing and our proactive approach to cash management, we have generated more than $170 million in free cash flow year to date.

• Our focus for the rest of 2023 is on safe and reliable operations, revenue assurance, and cost management, all of which will further strengthen our cash position. This keeps us on track for an excellent year that will support the increased quarterly dividends we announced in April and allow us to continue our commitment to reward shareholders.

What Seplat Said Following the Incident of the Depthwize Majestic Rig That Claimed Some Lives

• We have provided significant support to Depthwize, its owner, in its recovery operation.

• Our investigations are ongoing, but I can assure all stakeholders of our unwavering commitment to safety in all of our operations.

• Ongoing third-party delays to ANOH’s export infrastructure remain a source of frustration, but we are confident that the quality of the project will support dividend growth for Seplat in the coming years as we diversify the business and deliver on our strategy to provide more affordable energy for Nigeria.