Nigerian oil and gas firm, Seven Energy International Limited says it has secured a $255 million equity capital from multiple investors in furtherance of its plan to develop opportunities for the supply of gas to boost the country’s domestic energy market.

Singaporean investment company, Temasek committed $150 million to Seven Energy’s new equity capital. Member of the World Bank Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC) also committed $75 million, and the IFC African, Latin American, and Caribbean Fund (“IFC ALAC Fund”), $30 million.

“Seven Energy has developed a strong and strategically important position in the rapidly developing gas market in Nigeria,” Seven Energy CEO, Phillip Ihenacho said.

He said he was pleased to have the support of Temasek, IFC and the IFC ALAC Fund, who are all highly-respected global investors, saying the investments show the confidence they have in Seven Energy’s vision to be Nigeria’s leading supplier of gas.

The Group has a contract to supply Ibom Power with 43.5 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMcfpd) for the next 10 years, and  a 20-year contract to supply state-owned power plant at Calabar 131 MMcfpd. It also has gas supply contracts with privately-owned organisations. All these commitments require it to build infrastructure to ensure efficiency.

Upon commissioning, the Akwa Ibom and Calabar power stations will together have an installed capacity of approximately 750 MW. This will add 20 percent to the current operating electricity generation capacity in Nigeria.

The new investment is expected to foster the growth of the company’s portfolio of assets in Nigeria, where it has interests in development of upstream reserves, resources and gas infrastructure to make gas available to the domestic market for power generation and industrial consumption.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and largest oil and gas producer, currently generates between 3,000 – 4,000 megawatts of electricity, which is inadequate for its over 170 million population, unlike South Africa, with just over 51 million people, according to a 2012 estimate by World Bank, and  a 43,000 megawatts generation capacity.

Seven Energy’s new deal would be helpful in the country’s quest to improve power as its plants produce well short of their capacity in recent times due to gas supply shortages.

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