Indigenous energy company, Seplat Energy Plc, grew its gas revenue by 10.21 per cent to $63.7m in the first half of 2023 compared to $57.8m recorded in the same period in 2022.
A statement released by the group on Monday stated that the appreciation in gas revenue was on the back of increased gas prices that was realised and a rise in sales volume.
Within the period under consideration, the average realised gas price rose by 4.4 per cent to $2.87/Mscf, while gas production saw a moderate 1.4 per cent increase to 21.6 Bscf compared to 21.3 Bscf in the first half of 2022.
The average realised gas price improvement reflects the impact of upward gas price revisions implemented in the period, Seplat Energy said in a recent breakdown of performance for its business operations.
In its outlook for the remaining part of the year, Seplat Energy said, “Our group production performance has improved in 2023, thanks to greater uptime on OML 40 and reduced losses on our Western Asset. We maintain our 2023 guidance range at 45,000-55,000 bpd, which we are confident of meeting, given year-to-date production and the expected benefit of new well stock as it becomes available in the latter part of the year.
“We stress that our guidance does not include any expected contribution from Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited or ANOH projects. Our capital expenditure guidance for 2023 is adjusted to a range of $160-190m. Our commitment to meeting the planned drilling targets remains steadfast, and we have a drilling plan in place to meet these targets in 2H 2023.”
During the period under review, Seplat Energy’s average working interest gas volumes reached 119.4 million standard cubic feet per day, showing improvement compared to 117.7 MMscfd in the first half of 2022. This increase can be attributed to enhanced well performance and the availability of condensate evacuation routes.
The company added that it had entered into a new Gas Sales Agreement with a bulk gas supplier for a volume of 50 MMscfd and that gas supply would commence once all the necessary conditions precedent were met by the new customer.
“We are also actively working on securing third-party gas to feed both the Oben and Sapele gas plants. The execution of the plan for separating the midstream business from the upstream operations has progressed according to schedule. We have completed the internal transfer of midstream assets to Seplat midstream company.
“Additionally, we have issued notices to our joint venture partners and relevant regulators to inform them of these developments. We will continue to keep the market updated on the progress of this separation process,” Seplat added.
During the period, five wells in Seplat Energy’s drilling programme were delivered, including Opuama-17, Sibiri-2, Gbetiokun 4 workover, Gbetiokun[1]10, and Assa North-05.