Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc has announced the retirement of its pioneer Managing Director and later CEO, Mr Austin Avuru. His retirement will be effective from July 2020, after overseeing the company’s operations for ten years.
The oil and gas company, which is dual-listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE), made the announcement in a notice issued to the NSE. The notice was signed by Edith Onwuchekwa, Seplat Petroleum’s Company Secretary.
Avuru Achievements: While Avuru steered the affairs of the company, he recorded tremendous progress during his tenure. Some of those achievements include:
- Growing the company’s oil production from a gross production of 22,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/D) as at December 2010 to peak of 111,368 boepd gross production as at December 2018. This was sustained through major drilling campaigns and major new oil and gas plants development.
- The acquisition of 40% of OML 53, after the Company’s IPO of 2014.
- The creation of an opportunity in partnership with NNPC, capable of boosting a mid-stream subsidiary, ANOH Gas Processing Company Ltd into a projected outlook of 300MMscf/d of Gas, 22,500bdp of condensate and 1,200boepd of LPG processing Company.
Due to the listed achievements listed above, the board of SEPLAT expressed its immense appreciation to Avuru with the hope that more giant strides would be recorded as he looks to retire by the middle of next year.
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A new successor: The Board unanimously chose Roger Brown to succeed Avuru and lead restructuring efforts between now and July 2020, the date of Avuru’s exit from the board.
Seplat is eyeing expansion and as such, it is reviewing its current organizational and systems structure.
“Looking forward, Seplat plans to position itself for a next phase growth ambition which would see the expansion of its footprint in terms of energy business activities, a plan to pursue offshore assets as well as opportunity-driven entry into different geographies.
“The Company believes that such a corporate transition would require a different kind of organizational structure, people skills set and mentality to compete well in the expanded space. In view of this, Seplat will be reviewing its current organizational and systems structure,” the statement read.
Who is Roger Brown? Mr. Brown joined SEPLAT in 2013 as the CFO and played a key role in the successful dual listing of the company in 2014. Similarly, he played significant roles in various asset acquisitions by the company.
Mr. Brown brings to the CEO role a deep knowledge of the company in his 6 years as the CFO and a member of the board. He has strong financial, commercial and M&A experience as well as proven leadership skills which will be an asset as the company embarks on the next phase of its growth plan.
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Prior to joining SEPLAT, Mr. Brown was an advisor to the company while he was the Managing Director and head of EMEA Oil and Gas at Standard Bank Group. During his time at the bank, he was instrumental in providing advice and deploying capital across the African continent in the Oil & Gas, Power & Infrastructure and the renewable energy sectors.
