Seplat Petroleum has formally signed off on an agreement to supply between 2,000 and 4,000 Barrels of Oil Per Day from its working-interest production fin the Ohaji South Field in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 53 to Waltersmith Petroman Limited’s just completed 5,000BOPD capacity refinery in Ibigwe, in the east of Nigeria
Seplat, a Nigerian independent listed on both the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, has operated output of about 7,000BOPD in the field at optimum, of which 2,800BOPD is its current, optimal working interest.
Previously, Seplat’s share of Ohaji South crude was primarily evacuated to the export Terminal via a third-party Crude Handling Agreement with Waltersmith.
“This new agreement benefits Seplat by selling its crude oil directly to Waltersmith for refining, thereby eliminating crude losses and downtime experienced along the evacuation and export route. The transaction would also boost the capacity of Waltersmith in providing its products particularly to the immediate region of our operations thereby supporting Seplat’s commitment to national energy security”, Seplat says in a release.
“This Crude Purchase Agreement with Waltersmith ensures that Nigerian crude will be refined locally by a Nigerian refiner”, says Roger Brown, Seplat’s CEO. “The agreement will eliminate losses we previously experienced on the export pipeline, meaning more revenue will be booked by Seplat for the same amount of oil produced from the field. Waltersmith’s refinery will also benefit the Nigerian economy by creating local jobs to refine our oil.”
Seplat maintains its guidance of 48,000 – 52,000BOEPD for the 2020 financial year.
