Seplat strikes 19 million barrels of oil and 157 bcf of gas in Imo State
The find at the Aku-01 well wasn't in the original plan, and it lowers the risk on four neighbouring prospects.
Lagos — Seplat Energy has found oil and gas in commercial quantities at its Aku-01 exploration well in onshore Imo State, on Oil Mining Lease 53.
Preliminary estimates put the find at 19 million barrels of oil and 157 billion cubic feet of gas, the company said in its nine-month results on Thursday. Seplat said the discovery was not part of its original drilling programme.
What happens next
- The well is being completed so it can be tied back to existing infrastructure and start producing early.
- The find lowers the risk on four nearby prospects. Seplat plans to test one of them in a second phase of exploration, possibly as early as next year.
- Five reservoir intervals were found during drilling.
Seplat holds 40% of OML 53, a stake it bought from Chevron in 2015.
The bigger picture
Nigeria wants to raise output to 3 million barrels a day by 2030, from about 1.72 million now including condensates. The upstream regulator has approved field development plans worth more than $57 billion in the past two years.
Seplat's revenue for the nine months rose 12.5% to ₦3.8 trillion, and profit after tax rose to ₦355.6 billion from ₦146.6 billion.
Source: Premium Times, 30 October 2026.
