Brown To Replace Avuru As CEO Seplat Petroleum

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Mr Roger Brown, will from August , 2020, be the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the energy firm.

Seplat Petroleum stated that Mr Brown will take charge of day-to-day activities of the company upon the retirement of the present CEO, Mr Austin Avuru, who steps down on July 31, 2020.

Avuru Achievements:

For a decade, Mr Avuru piloted affairs of the company, making it a strong organisation, with the deployment of agile systems, processes and stakeholder relationships that allowed the firm 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.

The acquisition of 40 percent of OML 53, post company’s IPO of 2014, created an opportunity in partnership with NNPC, to spawn a mid-stream subsidiary, ANOH Gas Processing Company Ltd currently progressing what will ultimately be a 300MMscf/d of Gas, 22,500bdp of condensate and 1,200boepd of LPG processing company.

Due to the achievements  the board of SEPLAT expressed its immense appreciation to Avuru with the hope that more giant strides would be recorded as he looks to retire by the middle of next year.

On who to further grow the Avuru legacy, the board elected Mr Roger Brown.

Mr Brown joined Seplat in 2013 as the CFO and played a key role in the successful dual listing of the company in 2014. Since he joined the firm, he has played significant roles in various asset acquisitions by the company.

Prior to joining Seplat, Mr 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/gas, power/infrastructure and the renewable energy sectors.

Mr. Brown brings to the CEO role a deep knowledge of the company in his 6 years as the CFO and a member of the board. He has strong financial, commercial and M&A experience as well as proven leadership skills which will be an asset as the company embarks on the next phase of its growth plan.