Seplat repays final $100 million debt for ExxonMobil’s Nigerian assets

Seplat Energy Plc has repaid the final $100 million balance of the debt it incurred to acquire ExxonMobil’s Nigerian oil and gas assets, bringing all acquisition-related borrowing for the transaction to an end.

The company disclosed this on Thursday, October 29, 2026, in its unaudited financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2026.

The full debt repayment is coming two years after Seplat Energy Plc, an international oil company listed on both the Nigerian Exchange Limited and the London Stock Exchange, in December 2024, completed the acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) from ExxonMobil Corporation.

Seplat’s debt repayment

Seplat’s latest repayment followed earlier efforts to reduce the advance payment facility (APF) used to help finance the acquisition. During the second quarter of 2026, the company repaid and cancelled $200 million of the facility, leaving an outstanding balance of $100 million at the end of September.

The company subsequently cleared the remaining balance on October 27, 2026, two days before publishing its nine-month results.

• Seplat stated in its financial report that, “On 27 October, the Company repaid the $100 million balance on the APF. As such, all debt raised to acquire MPNU in 2024 has been repaid.”

The repayment comes as the company’s debt position has improved significantly. Seplat reported net debt of $234.9 million at the end of September 2026, down 65% from $673.3 million at the end of 2025.

Its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio, which compares its net debt with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, also declined to 0.14 times from 0.53 times at the end of 2025. This indicates that the company’s debt burden has reduced relative to its earnings.

How Seplat’s $1.28 billion ExxonMobil deal reached completion

The acquisition dates back to February 25, 2022, when Seplat announced an agreement to acquire Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited from ExxonMobil for $1.28 billion. The transaction involved assets in Nigeria’s shallow-water oil and gas sector.

However, the deal faced regulatory and legal delays for more than two years.

• In October 2024, the Federal Government approved ExxonMobil’s sale of the assets to Seplat. The approval followed regulatory clearance and was confirmed by the chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe.
• The transaction was completed on December 12, 2024. Seplat announced that it had acquired MPNU from ExxonMobil, describing the deal as transformative for its business.

The acquisition expanded Seplat’s offshore operations and gave it interests in four oil mining leases, alongside associated infrastructure. These included the Qua Iboe export terminal and a 51% interest in the Bonny River natural gas liquids recovery plant, among other assets.

Seplat reports higher profit, discovers oil and gas, declares dividend

The debt repayment was disclosed alongside an update on Seplat’s operating and financial performance for the first nine months of 2026.

During the period, the company reported revenue of $2.76 billion, equivalent to about N3.78 trillion, representing a 27% increase in US dollar terms compared with the corresponding period of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA rose 38% to $1.53 billion, while profit after tax increased to $260.2 million, or about N355.6 billion, from $146.6 million in the same period last year.

• Seplat also announced an oil and gas discovery at the Aku-01 exploration well after the reporting period. Preliminary internal estimates indicate a midcase gas-in-place resource of 157 billion cubic feet and an oil-in-place resource of 19 million barrels. The company said the oil discovery was not part of the original well plan.

Alongside the operating update, Seplat declared a third-quarter dividend of 19 US cents per share, worth approximately $114 million. This comprises a core dividend of 5 cents per share and a special dividend of 14 cents per share, bringing dividends declared so far in 2026 to 40 cents per share.

• The company retained its full-year dividend guidance of $270 million, equivalent to 45 cents per share. It also expects to pay an additional transaction dividend of about $140 million, or 23.3 cents per share, following the anticipated sale of a 10% interest in the NNPCL-SEPNU joint venture to NNPC Ltd. in the fourth quarter of 2026.

If the transaction is completed and the planned payment proceeds, Seplat expects total shareholder distributions for 2026 to reach approximately $410 million.