Seplat Increases Investment In Gas to Boost Shareholders Value

Seplat Petroleum Development Company
Plc on Tuesday restated its commitment
to enhance shareholders value with
strategic investment in natural gas and
crude oil processing and development.
Austin Avuru, the company’s Chief
Executive Officer, stated this at the
company’s 2014 post-Annual General
Meeting (AGM) news conference in
Lagos.
Avuru said that the company had
invested 300 million dollars in gas
business, noting that the investment
would boost its revenue and increase
shareholders value in 2015 financial
year.
He said that the company had made huge
investment in oil and gas delivery,
noting that the company would leverage
on the expansion exercise to grow its
revenue.
“We are now operating in mid stream by
processing natural gas and crude oil
development and delivery into the
market,” Avuru said.
He added that the company successfully
made efforts in its gas development
strategy by expanding of its gas
processing facility in Oben, Edo State.
The chief executive officer said that the
new Oben gas processing plant would
enable the company to increase supply
to the domestic market.
“Seplat will take advantage of this to
boost revenue from gas in 2015 and in
the coming years,” he said.
According to him, the company lost some
production days in the period due to
interruptions on the pipelines.
He said that the company made good
progress toward its long-term strategic
aims, having grown its reserves base.
Avuru said that the company
experienced some headwinds in 2014
that affected its growth and
development.
“We saw headwinds to growth in the
form of an abrupt decline in oil price
during the second half of the year,” he
stated.
Avuru said that the company would take
a prudent approach in 2015 to reduce
cost given the lower oil price
environment.
He said that the company would also
allocate capital selectively and prioritise
investments that offer the highest
returns.
Dr Ambrosie Orjiako, the company’s
Chairman, said that decline in oil price
presented many challenges for the
exploration and production industry but
with numerous opportunities.
Orjiako said that the company would
take advantage of the opportunities to
maximise efficiency and boost
profitability.
He said Seplat would continue to
monitor the oil price environment and
challenge itself to respond by redoubling
efforts to optimise operation in its
current portfolio.
“We look forward to maintaining our
position as one of the leading indigenous
oil and gas operators in Nigeria in
2015,” Orjiako said.