Energy mogul Bryant Orjiako’s Seplat posts more than $70 million in profit amid surge in oil prices

Seplat Energy Plc, a leading Nigerian energy group founded and partly owned by energy mogul Ambrosie Bryant Orjiako, saw its profit exceed $70 million in the first nine months of its 2022 fiscal year, thanks to a double-digit percent increase in global oil prices.

According to figures in its recently published financial statement, profits in the first nine months of its current fiscal year rose by 111 percent to $73.9 million, up from $35 million during the same period last year.

The increase in earnings can be attributed to higher realized oil prices as a result of the impact of the Ukraine conflict on global energy prices and a post-pandemic recovery in international oil demand.

Total revenue from oil and gas sales was $618.6 million during the period under review, a 34.4-percent increase from the $460.4 million sold the previous year, while total crude oil revenue increased by 44.8 percent to $534.9 million from $369.5 million.

Aside from a rise in revenue from oil and gas sales and crude oil sales, the uptick in earnings was also supported by a decrease in direct operating costs, which include crude-handling charges, barging and trucking, operations, and maintenance costs.

Seplat explained that the decrease in direct operating costs was due to lower production and a $5.3-million net-credit note resulting from the reconciliation of crude-handling charges between 2020 and 2021, which offset fees incurred during the period.

As a result of the firm’s outstanding financial performance, which saw retained earnings exceed $1.2 billion, the boards of directors declared a third interim dividend of $0.025 per share, bringing the total dividend paid this year to $0.075 per share, or $44.1 million.

Seplat Energy is an independent oil and gas company with a strategic focus on Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.

Orjiako and Austin Avuru, Nigerian energy magnates who founded the company in 2009, are credited with turning it into the largest listed energy group on the Nigerian Exchange.

Orjiako and Avuru each own 6.43 percent and 8.2 percent of the energy firm, respectively.