Seplat Energy, listed in Nigeria and London, has said it will double its overall crude oil production through its newly acquired onshore assets from ExxonMobil Corporation.
The company’s senior management has expressed commitment to doubling its production capacity from 50,000 barrels per day to roughly 120,000 bpd in six months.
Seplat’s chief financial officer Eleanor Adaralegbe said this in an interview with the Financial Times.
“The assets have had very minimal investments until now. We expect that once we come in there will be an opportunity to grow that much further,” he said.
The company acquired Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited MPNU from ExxonMobil in December 2024, as the latter joined a list of International Oil Companies (IOCs) that exited the country or let go of onshore operations.
Thanks to the $1.28bn acquisition, Seplat is now one of the biggest domestic oil and gas producers with an asset base of 11 onshore oil blocks, 48 oil and gas fields, three export terminals, and five gas processing facilities.
Seplat Chief Executive Officer, Roger Brown said the company controls 16 percent of Nigeria’s present production capacity.
Seplat is expected to run the new assets in conjunction with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) as required by the Petroleum Industry Act.
CEO Brown said the company’s commitment to raising production aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s goal to increase Nigeria’s oil output.
“We have no concerns working with NNPC . . . There’s been a massive change with President Tinubu, realising that production is a great way of getting dollars into the country and supporting the currency,” Brown said.
Seplat’s Chief Operating Officer, Samson Ezugworie added that the company will rejuvenate redundant oil wells that are part of the newly acquired assets.
“We have over 600 wells drilled and barely 200 of them are producing. We have significant idle wells that need to be rejuvenated and brought back into production within a short period of time,” he said.
Seplat disagreed with critics who argued that onshore assets divested by IOCs had little value and were abandoned to local companies. Ezugworie said the company is convinced that its new assets had “significant scope and opportunity” for production, with abundant reserves still available to be tapped.
About the acquisition
Nairametrics reported that the $1.2 billion deal between ExxonMobil and Seplat Energy had been agreed since February 2022 but was delayed by state regulators.
The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), approved the deal in October 2024 and the acquisition was completed in December.
Seplat pledged to absorb MPNU staff into its workforce and maintain a positive impact.
