Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Nigeria’s first integrated indigenous energy company, Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc, has expressed its desire to achieve further revenue diversification across its business segments.
The energy firm stated this in a note to update the investing community on its performance in the 2022 accounting year.
In the disclosure, the chief executive of NDEP, Mr Adegbite Falade, said the revenue and profit recorded by the organisation in the year improved, adding that it also “achieved significant diversification of the revenue mix, underscored by very strong growth in the refinery business.”
“In 2023, we expect growth in our revenue and further revenue diversification across our various businesses,” he declared.
Mr Falade described the under review as “very tough for the oil and gas industry in Nigeria,” but noted that despite the headwinds, the came out stronger, attributing this to the company’s “strong, resilient and integrated business model, coupled with a focus on capital discipline and operating excellence, the business recorded notable improvements.”
It was disclosed that last year, NDEP commenced the implementation of its Alternative Crude Evacuation (ACE) project, designed to ensure that there are value realisation avenues beyond the traditional Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) and the refinery business.
The disclosure stated that to operationalise the ACE, the maiden voyage for crude oil delivery to the Bonny Terminal, through the mother vessel, was completed in December 2022, and steady state full operations by is expected by the second quarter of 2023.
According to Mr Falade, the ACE project, the four-well drilling programme commenced in Q4 2022, and the dollar-denominated refined product sale arrangements entered into to aid the company’s foreign exchange earnings profile beyond the upstream business have “the potential to deliver material returns on capital and further strengthen our production and cashflow generation.”
Business Post reports that in March 2022, NDEP commissioned its front-end studies towards the further development of the Ogbele Field, culminating in a four-well drilling campaign that began in September 2022. This project is expected to be completed in the last quarter of this year.
