Though the accidental discovery was not part of Seplat’s original exploration programme in the state, the company said in its latest unaudited earnings report on Thursday that its preliminary estimates put the gas deposit at 157 bcf and the oil resource at 19 mmbbls. “The well is currently being completed as a potential future production well that will be tiedback to existing infrastructure, supporting early monetisation of the hydrocarbon resources. “The discovery also de-risks four adjacent prospects,” Seplat stated, adding that it expects to test one of the four prospects during the next exploration stage Encouraged by this initial success, the company now looks to commence the second phase of exploration in the oilfield as early as next year, with five reservoir intervals already uncovered during the discovery. Seplat holds a 40 percent participating interest in OML 53, a stake it acquired from Chevron in 2015.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, its joint venture partner, owns the remaining shares. The latest discovery comes as Nigeria plans to scale up oil production to three million barrels per day by 2030 from current production level of 1.72 million, including condensates, as the government steps up efforts to attract more foreign capital to the energy sector. The company has been pursuing a series of reforms, including deep offshore tax incentives, more transparent block licencing rounds and implementation of drill-or-drop policy, among others to achieve its oil output expansion. Chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan said the upstream regulator had granted approval to field development plans of over $57 billion in the past two years to enable such projects to advance to final investment decisions.
In the first nine months of the year, Seplat reported a 12.5 percent increase in revenue to N3.8 trillion, compared to a year earlier, driven by improved crude oil sales. Profit before tax climbed by more than half to N1.3 trillion, while post-tax profit rose to N355.6 billion from N146.6 billion. However, total assets declined by 6.3 percent to N8.2 trillion from N8.7 trillion as of the end of last year.
