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Seplat Petroleum Development Company has commenced the construction of a multi-million dollars gas processing plant in Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.
The Chairman of Seplat, Dr Bryant Orjiako disclosed this last week when he led the management of the petroleum company to the Imo State Government House, Owerri on a courtesy visit to Governor Emeka Ihedioha.
Dr Orjiako assured that as a company that develops and commercializes gas, the trickle effect of the project in Imo would transform the state in all spheres.
While reeling out the achievements of the company in the Niger Delta as regards oil exploration and production, Orjiako called on the state government and its people, particularly the host communities to give them the right cooperation and enabling environment for the project to materialize.
His words: “Shortly after we acquired our asset in Imo State in 2016, the asset OML53 which was originally owned by Chevron, we have incrementally ramped up the production from less than 3,000 barrels per day, we are currently doing 9,000 barrels per day.
“We are hoping that in the next 12 months we should be thinking of 15,000 barrels per day and that is the beginning of the things we have.
“More importantly, we emphasize that we are a company that commercializes gas and also develops it and as at today, we produce 30 per cent of gas to power in Nigeria and we are the only indigenous company doing this. Early this year we made an investment decision to invest 700 million dollars in the ANOH project phase one, this project is going to be situated in Imo State. The most significant thing to say about this is to say that this project has been in the pipeline for over three decades, but once we took over the asset, we made it a priority and obviously the trickledown effect of that project in Imo State is capable of completely synergizing with your vision for the state and will transform development in Imo State. What we expect is to have the right cooperation and for Imo State to also position itself and create the right environment for us to do business.”
Also the Chief Executive Officer of Seplat, Mr Austin Avuru explained to the governor the benefits of the project to the state, promising that the company would fulfill its corporate social responsibility to the state and the host communities as the company has done in Edo and Delta states.
“We will build trust with the communities and also build trust with your government, we will not come to disturb you, probably you won’t see us again, but your key cabinet personnel will monitor the things we do and report back to you. We supply one-third of the gas to plant in Nigeria, we are building another one of 75 MMscfd in Sapele, we will build this one in Ohaji Egbema because we supply gas to the domestic market,” Avuru assured. Responding, Governor Ihedioha commended Seplat for the choice of Imo for the project, promising to provide all enabling environment and support for the project to thrive.
“We want to assure you of your sense of dedication and commitment to grow private sector business in our state to encourage investments, ours is a disciplined administration and we dare say that we are not greedy.
We understand the responsibilities of businesses to a state and we also understand the point of convergence and understand how civilized relationships can be built. So, we are ready and set for civilized collaborative relationships,” Ihedioha assured.
