To Fund Joint Venture Cash Calls, NPDC And Seplat Will Need A N59bn Loan

• The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, and Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc are looking to secure loan facilities up to a limit of $300m (N59bn) to fund joint venture cash calls.
• Apart from having 100 per cent ownership of some assets, the NPDC, which is the exploration and production arm of the NNPC, is also in a joint venture with other oil companies, with operatorship in some of the assets and participatory interest in others.
• But over the years, funding of its cash-call obligations has been a major challenge.
• The company recently entered into strategic alliance agreements with Septa Energy and Atlantic Energy for the funding of some of the divested assets assigned to it by the NNPC in 2011.
• Seplat, while announcing its half-year results, said,
  

  “The NPDC and Seplat have agreed to jointly source loan facilities, up to a limit of $300m, to fund joint venture cash calls with effect from January 2015.”

Source: Punch