Yemisi Izuora
Lower oil prices cut into Seplat Petroleum’s revenues for the first nine months of the year, to $388 million down from $494.9mn for the same period of 2019.
It reported a loss before tax of $130.1mn, down from a profit of $184.8mn. Despite this, Seplat is sticking to its dividend plans.
“Seplat’s third-quarter performance has again demonstrated the resilience of our business in challenging times,” the company’s CEO Roger Brown said.
He said, “Seplat’s third-quarter performance has again demonstrated the resilience of our business in challenging times and in addition to voluntarily reducing our debt leverage by US$100 million, we are maintaining our commitment to shareholders by declaring an interim dividend of US$0.05 per share, as we have in previous years. The business continues to operate effectively despite the restraints of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent unrest in Nigeria.
After the tragic incident on OML40 in July, we have in consultation with our government partner NPDC and the regulatory authorities in Nigeria, conducted three separate and comprehensive investigations that have led to the implementation of new and strengthened safety procedures at the joint venture. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the affected families and friends.
We continue to hedge our oil business against further price volatility and are pursuing further cost-cutting initiatives to ensure that we will remain profitable even at lower prices experienced earlier in the year.
We have strengthened our oversight with the appointment of two independent directors, Arunma Oteh and Xavier Rolet, who bring considerable local and international business and governance expertise to the Board.
I have taken over the leadership of Seplat at a challenging time for our industry, but am confident that our actions to increase operational efficiencies, further reduce costs and continue our expansion into midstream gas processing to reduce carbon emissions by displacing inefficient and expensive diesel generated electricity, will ensure that Seplat remains at the forefront of Nigeria’s exciting energy transition and provide sustainable energy for a young and rapidly growing population.”