OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc has signed a crude oil purchase agreement, CPA, with Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited.
The CPA is for the supply of between 2,000 and 4,000 barrels of oil per day, bopd, from existing working-interest production from the Ohaji South Field within OML 53, for Waltersmith’s new 5,000 bopd modular refinery at Ibigwe field in Imo State.
Previously, Seplat’s share of Ohaji South crude was primarily evacuated to the export terminal via a third-party crude handling agreement with Waltersmith.
However, this new agreement enables Seplat to sell its crude oil directly to Waltersmith for refining, thereby eliminating crude losses and downtime experienced along the evacuation and export route.
Roger Brown, Chief Executive officer of Seplat, while commenting on the deal, said it was a way of further promoting local content development in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
“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,” he said.
According to him, the transaction would also boost the capacity of Waltersmith in providing its products particularly to the immediate region of Seplat operations, thereby supporting Seplat’s commitment to national energy security.
