TheCable

Chevron Nigeria Limited has formally handed over the producing assets in OMLs 53 and 55 to Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc following a supreme court judgement.

Officials of Seplat and Belemaoil Producing Limited (Belemaoil) attended the handover ceremony which took place at the Lagos headquarters of Chevron Nigeria on Friday.

According to a statement issued by Deji Haastrup, Chevron’s general manager, policy, government and public affairs, a similar handover exercise held at the Jisike flow station, near Owerri in Imo state.

“These events conclude the asset sale transaction between Chevron and Seplat for OML 53, and between Chevron and Belemaoil for OML 55,” the statement read.

Clay Neff, Chevron’s chairman and managing director, expressed delight over the deal when he received Austin Avuru and Nedo Osayande, the CEOs of Seplat and Belemaoil, at Chevron’s Lekki headquarters.

“We are pleased to conclude the handover of the producing assets in OMLs 53 and 55 to Seplat and Belemaoil respectively,” he said.

“This affords these companies an opportunity to grow their production, while also confirming our commitment to developing Nigerian content.”

Responding, Avuru said the deal would “create long-term value and shared prosperity for our shareholders and other stakeholders”.

He added that Seplat will leverage its core strengths and expertise to capitalise on growth opportunities available across the upstream value cycle.

On his part, Jack-Rich Tein, founder of Belemaoil said: “We are pleased that the acquisition of OML 55 by Belemaoil is now concluded and we will now proceed with our long-term strategy to maximize value for all stakeholders.”

In November 2013, Chevron signed a sales and purchase agreement for the sale of its interests in OMLs 52, 53 and 55 to Seplat Consortium comprising Seplat, Belemaoil and Amni International Petroleum Development OML 52 Company Limited.