Seplat Energy has recorded a strong increase in financial metrics, even while the company struggled to export production in the face of pipeline interruptions.
The Nigerian-focused independent said EBITDA had reached $337.9 million for the first nine months of the year, up from $266.4mn for the same period in 2021.
This increase came as production dropped to 43,337 barrels of oil equivalent per day for the period, down from 47,820 boepd.
The company achieved an oil price of $108.25 per barrel in the nine month period, up from $67.43.
In the third quarter, total production fell to 30,253 boepd, down from 52,385 boepd in the second.
Seplat adjusted its full-year guidance down to 40,000-44,000 boepd, as a result of the pipeline and terminal outages. It said these were “materially worse” in the third quarter.
Shell declared force majeure on its Bonny terminal exports in March, shutting in production from Seplat’s Jisike field, on OML 53.
Heritage Energy declared force majeure on the Trans Forcados Pipeline in July, owing to loading problems at the Forcados terminal in July. This had an impact on Seplat’s exports from OML 4, 38, 40 and 41, and OPL 283.
The operator brought the Forcados system back online in October.
Seplat also noted “unprecedented levels of crude oil theft through illegal connections to pipelines across the Niger Delta”.
Company CEO Roger Brown said the quarter had been “unusually challenging” for the country’s oil and gas industry. Despite this, he said, Seplat demonstrated its resilience.
“The Amukpe-Escravos Pipeline has been operational since August and we have had our first oil export this month,” he said. The fourth quarter will provide some improvement in exports, he continued.
Deal woes
“We are working closely with all the relevant stakeholders on our transformational acquisition” of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), Brown continued. He said the company was confident that the deal to buy ExxonMobil’s onshore unit “will be brought to a successful conclusion in accordance with the law”.
Seplat struck the deal in February this year to buy MPNU. Following some political uncertainty, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) has said it intends to buy this asset instead.