Seplat Vs Brittania-U: Finally, Supreme Court Declares Seplat Winner

The Supreme Court has declared Nigeria’s Upstream Oil Company, Seplat Petroleum Development Company winner in the case brought against it by Brittania-U Nigeria Ltd over OMLs 53 and 55 sold to it by Chevron Nigeria Limited (also a defendant in the case).

The Supreme Court hadordered all parties to maintain the status quo with respect to the action brought by Britannia-U Nigeria Limited in its bid to stop Chevron from selling oil mining assets OML52, 53 and 55 to Seplat Petroleum Development Company.

Seplat was to acquire 40% working interest in OML 53 and effective 22.5% working interest in OML 55  from Chevron in February 2015 before Brittania-U took it to court claiming it should have been the preferred  bidder.

Seplat shares gained 24% at the end of the week ended January 29th 2016.

What it means for Seplat

Austin Avuru explains;

“We are naturally very pleased with today’s ruling, not least because it means we are now free to deploy our proven operating expertise to realise the significant reserve, production and value potential these blocks hold.

To give an idea of scale, we estimate these blocks to hold recoverable volumes of around 200 million barrels of oil equivalent net to Seplat, a material volume by any standard and one which has now been unlocked for us.

“OML 53 fits neatly within our strategy of securing, commercialising and monetising natural gas in the Niger Delta to supply the rapidly growing domestic market and will further reinforce our position as a preeminent supplier of gas in Nigeria. OML 55 provides us with a number of attractive opportunities to boost oil and gas output, and is consistent with our strategy of prioritising assets that offer near-term production growth, cash-flow and reserve replacement potential in the onshore and shallow water offshore areas of Nigeria”.

What happened?

On February 5, 2015, Seplat had announced that it had acquired a 40.00% working interest in OML 53 from CNL. Simultaneously the company announced that it had concluded negotiations to purchase 56.25% of the share capital of Belemaoil Producing Limited (“Belemaoil”), a Nigerian special purpose vehicle that had completed the acquisition of a 40.00% interest in the producing OML 55, also from CNL. Seplat’s effective working interest in OML 55 as a result of the acquisition is 22.50%. NNPC holds the remaining 60.00% interest in both OML 53 and OML 55 and, pursuant to the Joint Operating Model, Seplat was designated operator of OML 53 and OML 55 (together the “Assets”).

However, the full completion and transfer of these assets and operatorship was hindered by a litigation brought against CNL and Seplat by Brittania-U, one of the counter bidders that also sought to acquire the assets from CNL and contested the outcome of the sales process.

Portions of this article was culled from Vanguard

The post above and its ensuing comments, if any, is purely the opinion of the writer(s). It therefore should never be considered as an investment advise of any sort. If required, readers should please consult a competent professional financial adviser for any investment decision.


January 2016
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
Buying and Selling FX is is easy and Safe on Nairalaw.com Agree What Nigerian Bank you ant To meet Verify and Pay the FX into your Account and Pay The Seller Easy Safe ALL Within The Banking Premises ! You can even walk into Select Banks and Ask To Speak To The Manager Code Word Nairalaw ! If anything goes wrong and you need legal representation . We are Here To Help ! YO CAN DO ONLINE FX DEALS VIA OUR DEAL ARBITER APP FREE . THEY ARE AT YOUR OWN RISK EXCEPT YOU PAY A SMALL CHARGE UPFRONT
BUY 1 MILLION UK US EMAILS AND START RESELLING ON ADVERTIS.I.NG BUY 1 Million UK US EMAILS AND START RESELLING FOR DMCA PLEASE CONTACT US
  • Related Posts

    • Naira
    • February 13, 2025
    • 2 views
    Interbank Rates Diverge Amidst Huge Liquidity Deficit

    Interbank Rates Diverge Amidst Huge Liquidity Deficit The short term benchmark interest rates diverged on the back of relatively lower funding demand as banking system faced huge liquidity deficit. Liquidity…

    Read more

    • Naira
    • February 13, 2025
    • 2 views
    Naira Falls as Foreign Obligations Crack External Reserves

    Naira Falls as Foreign Obligations Crack External Reserves The naira depreciated against the US dollar in the foreign exchange amidst declining external reserves.  The Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) experienced…

    Read more