Yetunde Taiwo appointed GM of Seplat’s ‘New Energy’ portfolio

YETUNDE Taiwo has been appointed to head the New Energy portfolio in Africa’s largest homegrown E&P company, Seplat.

The new position comes with the company’s Gas Business, which she had managed before, so it’s an expanded portfolio.

Taiwo was, until January, the Chief Executive Officer of the ANOH Gas Processing Company (AGPC), the incorporated Joint Venture owned equally between Seplat and the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), which manages a $700Million midstream development that will monetise 300Million standard cubic feet produced every day from the Assa North /Ohaji South fields, straddling Shell operated Oil Mining Lease (OML) 21 and Seplat operated OML 53, onshore eastern Nigeria.

According to Africa Oil & Gas Report, Taiwo took the AGPC job after three and half years as the first GM Gas (or Head of Gas Business as it is called), where she oversaw the development of one of the fastest growing domestic gas businesses in Nigeria.  On her watch, Seplat grew its operated gas production capacity from 300Million standard cubic feet per day (300MMscf/d) to 525MMscf/d.

As GM, her new role of superintending the New Energy unit involves the increase of gas products to be monetised in the form of LPG, CNG and other gas derivatives, with opportunity framing in the renewable energy space.

The company’s CEO, Roger Brown, told London South East last November that,“A different set of skills is required to get into renewables,” but also added that the New Energy unit would provide guidance for the company.

“We are looking at LPG, Liquid Petroleum Gas on all of our gas plants and that can be utilised in the local market,” Mr. Brown said.

“We’re looking to Compress Natural gas (CNG) and, we are looking further down the value chain potentially into supplying smaller scale, probably not retail but certainly, smaller scale wholesale and customers. And then, through that, we look at what renewable energy means for Nigeria into the future and it’s got huge potential, particularly, in solar. We’ve got a lot of the sun all year round here. That will be a great renewable fuel source for the country. And what we really want to do is that we need to get the grid system up to a level we are having more of the gas going through it and then, the grid will rely on grids solar power rather than, off grid small scale. So that’s something we are looking at.”

The newly appointed GM, Taiwo, started her career as a reservoir engineer with Chevron Nigeria Limited in 1991, straight from National Youth Service.

After some years, she joined BG in 2007, where she was a planning advisor at the company’s Asset Management Division. She also worked for BG as Economics manager before joining Seplat in May 2011 as head of planning and economics.

In 2013, she joined NNPC as General Manager, Planning at NAPIMS, the Investment arm. Upon returning to Seplat in 2015, she was appointed head of Gas Business.