Seplat Petroleum, a Nigerian upstream E&P company, has announced the appointment of a new CEO
The company stated that its pioneer managing director and later CEO, Austin Avuru, will be retiring in July 2020 after 10 years of leading the company.
The company stated that in these 10 years, Avuru led the development of a strong organisation, the deployment of agile systems, processes and stakeholder relationships that allowed the organisation to grow rapidly from a gross production of 22,700 boepd as at December 2010 to peaks of 111,368 boepd gross production as at December 2018 through major drilling campaigns and major new oil and gas plants development.
Looking forward, Seplat plans to position itself for a next phase growth ambition which would see the expansion of its footprint in terms of energy business activities, a plan to pursue offshore assets as well as opportunity driven entry into different geographies.
To lead the company in her latest aspirations, the board has selected Roger Brown as the successor to Avuru as CEO, when Avuru steps down on 31 July 2020. The board also decided that the CEO designate will lead the restructuring during the transition period between now and final exit date of Avuru next year.
Brown who joined Seplat in 2013 as the chief financial officer (CFO) played a vital role in the successful dual listing of the company in both the London and Nigeria Stock Exchanges in 2014.
Also, since joining the company, Brown has played significant roles in various asset acquisitions by the company. He brings to the CEO role, a deep knowledge of the company in his six years as the CFO and a member of the board.He has strong financial, commercial and M&A experience as well as proven people skills which will be an asset as the company embarks on the next phase of its growth plan.
Prior to joining the company, Brown was an advisor to the company since 2010 while he was the managing director and head of EMEA Oil and Gas at Standard Bank Group. During his time at the bank, he was instrumental in providing advice and deploying capital across the African continent in the oil and gas, power and infrastructure and the renewable energy sectors.
