Seplat Energy Plc shareholders have commended the company’s dedication to environmental sustainability and approved the payment of US 15 cents as dividends.
The shareholders gave their approval for the dividends at the energy firm’s 11th annual general meeting held recently in Lagos.
Speaking on the floor of the AGM, the Seplat Energy Chairman, Senator Udoma Udoma, restated the firm’s performance, which included an 11.5 per cent rise in overall revenue to $1.06bn, marking the first time that the company was crossing the $1bn threshold.
“We delivered a strong set of results in 2023, against a weaker oil price environment. Despite the 17.0 per cent decline in the average price of Brent Crude, we grew our oil and gas revenue by 11.5 per cent to $1.06bn, crossing the $1bn mark for the first time, supported by improved production and asset availability.
“Our average daily production also increased by 8.3 per cent in 2023, to 47,758 boepd (barrels of oil equivalent per day), from 44,104 boepd in 2022, with revenue from oil and gas sales for 2023 rising by 11.5 per cent. This excludes the reported $98.9m overlift. We also completed 14 new wells across our operated and non-operated assets,” he said.
Udoma also disclosed that while President Bola Tinubu opened the ANOH gas processing plant, which was projected to produce the first gas in the third quarter, the company was working to ensure the completion of the ExxonMobil acquisition.
“We all look forward to the first gas (from ANOH) in the third quarter. Seplat is currently engaging with NNPCL and the Federal Government on MPNU acquisition and we are making process. The FG is interested in boosting production. We believe that very soon, the acquisition will be completed,” he explained.
In April, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, revealed Tinubu’s commitment to the closure of the acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited from ExxonMobil by indigenous energy company, Seplat Energy.
Seplat’s Chief Finance Officer Energy, Eleanor Adaralegbe, stated that the board proposed a dividend to shareholders of US 15 cents per share, consisting of a special dividend of US 3 cents per share and a core dividend of US 12 cents per share.
She added that Seplat’s dedication to providing value to its investors was exemplified by the special dividend payment, which was supported by a solid balance sheet and shows the board’s ongoing faith in the company’s future.
“As the business is growing, our shareholders are also been rewarded,” she added.
Commenting on the company’s performance, the Chief Operating Officer of Seplat Energy, Samson Ezugworie, stated, “To date, the company has achieved a cumulative 10.6 million man hours since the last LTI recorded on October 13, 2022.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Energy, Roger Brown, disclosed that as the company moved into the power sector, especially the gas-to-electricity segment, it would open up new revenue streams for the company.
“We aim to create increasingly sustainable energy solutions to provide access and meet increasing energy demand while addressing the critical challenge of climate change for society and our business.
“We are positioned for decarbonisation through several strategic initiatives and will continue in our role in leading Nigeria’s domestic gas supply, which accounts for about 25 per cent of the country’s gas-to-power supply,” he enthused.
Meanwhile, some shareholders who spoke at the AGM welcomed the new chairman and lauded the performance of the company.
One of the shareholders, Faruk Umar, said, “I’m happy to say that Seplat has been helping the nation in the sense that the tax that we are paying the government is very significant, not to mention the dividend that we have been getting in dollars, which has never gone down.”
The Chairman of the Ibadan Shareholders Association, Eric Akinduro, added, “I want to commend our company on the payment of dividends. I also want our registrar to ameliorate the pains of shareholders to ensure that unclaimed dividends, which have been growing, get paid.”
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