-Nigeria may soon become an exporter of gas to West African countries
- This was made known on Thursday, May 16, in Lagos
- It was gathered that apart from oil, gas is another income generators for the government
There are indications that Nigeria would soon become one of the exporters of gas in the world as an indigenous petroleum development company, Seplat, gave the hint on Thursday, May 16.
Legit.ng reports that the chairman of Seplat, ABC Orjiako, made the disclosure in Lagos, during a chat with the press, adding that the company is repositioned to serve both local international stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.
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The chairman noted that the company would continue the expansion of its gas business and intensify the development of its large scale Assa-North and Ohaji-South (ANOH) gas and condensate plants in 2019.
He said: “Seplat remains an ambitious growth-orientated company that is in a position of strength to capture inorganic opportunities where we can leverage our competitive advantages to seek out carefully considered, price disciplined and value accretive acquisition.’’
He said the company’s 2018 operational and financial performance reflected the significantly higher year-on-year levels of production uptime at its core oil producing assets combined with a firmer, “albeit still volatile, oil price and increased contribution from the company’s gas business.
“As you are aware, our results from the previous two years were characterised by the extended period of force majeure at the Forcados terminal from February 2016 to June 2017.
“As we enter 2019, our reliable production base, low unit cost of production and discretion over capital commitments will allow the business to remain highly free cash flow generative and profitable.
“In the absence of any major interruption or force majeure event, this will enable Seplat to honour its dividend policy and provide an attractive yield to our shareholders in addition to the potential for capital appreciation,” Orjiako said.
He noted that the company would selectively invest in low risk oil production drilling opportunities within its existing portfolio.
In his analysis, Austin Avuru, the company’s chief executive officer, said Seplat had an excellent outing resulting in robust profitability and cash flow generation that would lead to solid foundation for growth in the coming years.
“At our core assets in the West, OMLs 4, 38 and 41, the extension of the license to 2038 means that we can confidently plan and invest long into the future to realise the full potential of those blocks.
“As Seplat continues to enhance production and revenue diversification with new wells scheduled at OML 53 in the east, the board took the Final Investment Decision to invest in the large scale ANOH gas and condensate development, which will form the next phase of transformational growth for our gas business.
“Disciplined capital allocation continues to remain at the core of our activities evidenced by our continual deleveraging of our debt levels to the current balance of US$350m,” he added.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the police on Wednesday, May 15, said they uncovered plots by some persons to commence massive and coordinated attacks on oil installations across the country.
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It was reported that Force spokesman, Frank Mba, a deputy commissioner of police, said in a statement in Abuja that the attacks would be carried out in the Niger-Delta region and adjoining states. He said the elements were claiming to be climate and environmental activists.
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