From Uche Usim, Abuja
Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc on Tuesday announced a Crude Purchase Agreement (CPA) with Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited (Waltersmith) for the supply of between 2,000 and 4,000 barrels per day (bpd) from existing working-interest production from the Ohaji South Field within OML53 for Waltersmith’s new 5,000 bpd modular refinery at Ibigwe Field, Imo State.
According to Seplat, its share of Ohaji South Crude was primarily evacuated to the export terminal via a third-party Crude Handling Agreement with Waltersmith.
It added that the new agreement benefits it by selling its crude oil directly to Waltersmith for refining, thereby eliminating crude losses and downtime experienced along with the evacuation and export route. The transaction would also boost the capacity of Waltersmith in providing its products particularly to the immediate region of our operations thereby supporting Seplat’s commitment to national energy security.
Seplat maintains its guidance of 48,000 – 52,000 bpd for the 2020 financial year.
Roger Brown, Chief Executive of Seplat, remarked: ‘We are delighted to sign this Crude Purchase Agreement with Waltersmith as it ensures that Nigerian crude will be refined locally by a Nigerian refiner. The agreement will eliminate losses we previously experienced on the export pipeline, meaning more revenue will be booked by Seplat for the same amount of oil produced from the field. Waltersmith’s refinery will also benefit the Nigerian economy by creating local jobs to refine our oil.’
