Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari; and the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Simbi Wabote, have commended Seplat Petroleum Development Company for its sterling leadership in the growth of oil and gas development in the country.
Speaking at the maiden edition of Seplat Energy Summit held virtually on Thursday, the trio took turns to celebrate what they described as Seplat‘s pace-setting role in the development of the country’s oil and gas sector in the past decade.
The Nigerian indigenous energy company is listed in both Nigerian and London stock exchanges.
Sylva, who opened the summit themed ‘Business Sustainability and Strategic Leadership in Africa,’ recalled the emergence of Seplat 10 years ago and declared that the company had demonstrated the capacity to drive the innovation and expertise required for local content development.
According to him, Seplat’s investment in gas development aligns with the National Gas Expansion Programme, noting that the government declared 2020 as ‘The Year of Gas.’
The country has sufficient gas reserves to meet its energy needs if others adopt the efficient utilisation and monetisation template of companies like Seplat, he added.
“On January 16, we inaugurated an Inter-agency Committee saddled with the responsibility of coordinating our concerted efforts to ensure the penetration of domestic utilisation of Liquefied Petroleum, encourage auto LPG, compressed natural gas and LPG for the domestic market.
“This will drastically reduce the massive outflow of the nation’s foreign exchange currently being expended on the importation of Premium Motor Spirit,” the minister said.
Lamenting Nigeria’s lot as a net importer of petroleum products, Kyari announced that Seplat was collaborating with NNPC to create a splitter plant in short term” to address the refining challenge facing the country.
“There are other private initiatives. As we know, there are several licences granted by the Federal Government for people to construct refineries, but they can’t do this because of the clear issue around the market structure.
“But thankfully, we have transited out of the regulated petroleum market into a deregulated market,” said the NNPC boss.
Speaking during a panel session dubbed ‘The Impact of Global Energy Transition on African Economies,’ Wabote congratulated Seplat for surviving till its 10th anniversary, saying that the crop of the board members, management and staff contributed immensely to the feat.
He added, “Seplat is a poster child of local content development in Nigeria. I want to congratulate its chairman, Dr. ABC Orjiako, for being steadfast to steer the ship to what we have today.”
Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Dr. Orjiako declared that the event would be an annual platform for the company to continue to the narrative on relevant issues in the energy sector.
He noted that at inception, Seplat became a trail-blazer for indigenous participation in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria and had since recorded historic accomplishments in various aspects of its business.
“We have grown our operations, our reserves and became the first company to be listed on both the Nigerian Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange,” Orjiako stated.
The founding and outgoing Seplat CEO, Austin Avuru, recalled the company’s journey from inception and how it successfully surmounted various challenges.
Avuru attributed the company’s success to its commitment to the highest standards of corporate governance as well as an unwavering focus on sustainable value creation for stakeholders. “We are very strong on corporate governance, structure and have zero tolerance for unethical practices,” Avuru affirmed.
Seplat’s new CEO, Roger Brown, described the summit as a crucial platform to debate challenges and solutions for the transition to a future sustainable energy system in Africa.
He expressed optimism at the future prospects of Seplat despite prevailing challenges in the operating environment, adding, “We are still a company that is looking forward to very big strides and we are looking to the future to becoming an energy company delivering best practices globally value to our customers and all stakeholders.”
