Indigenous upstream oil and gas firm, Shoreline Energy has sealed a $530 million financing deal which will enable it increase its crude oil production by about 100%.
Bloomberg reports, Shoreline will seek to boost production to between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels a day this year, Chief Executive Officer Kola Karim said. The company currently pumps about 55,000 barrels a day. Besides Vitol, the world’s biggest independent oil trader, Farallon Capital Management LLC, and local Nigerian banks, Ecobank Transnational Inc., Fidelity Bank Plc, Union Bank Plcand FCMB Group Plc will provide the financing.
“The funds will be used to refinance existing debt and provide us with working capital to expand production,” he said Thursday in a phone interview from Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub. “As part of the funding arrangements, Shoreline will work with Vitol to market the crude, and in the development of its export logistics capabilities.”
Shoreline is one of several Nigerian producers that bought fields in the oil-rich Niger River delta after international producers including Royal Dutch Shell Plc withdrew amid persistent attacks on infrastructure. The company didn’t pump oil for a year following the closure of the Forcados terminal in February 2016. Flows resumed after the link was reopened in June last year.