Oil Deal: Seplat Settles $20.5m Dispute with Crestar

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Leading indigenous oil and gas firm listed on both the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and London Stock Exchange (LSE), Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc (Seplat), has announced settling a dispute it has with Crestar Natural Resources Limited (Crestar).

In a statement issued last week, Seplat said its wholly owned subsidiary, Newton Energy Limited (Newton) was taken to a court in England by Crestar in connection with the deposit of $20.5 million currently held in an escrow account.

In the statement, Seplat said both parties have now resolved issues between them and have agreed to settle the matter out of court.

According to the oil firm, “Under the terms of the settlement, the Escrow Monies will be split as follows: $10 million to Seplat and $10.5 million to Crestar.”

“A provision equal to the share of Escrow Monies due to Crestar was already provided for in Seplat’s audited 2017 annual accounts,” the statement said.

Business Post reports that the dispute between Newton and Crestar arose from the acquisition of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 25, which is 50 kilometres southwest of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in the onshore eastern delta and is part of the NNPC/Shell Joint Venture (JV).