Nigeria's Shoreline in $530 Million Deal to Boost Oil Output

(Bloomberg) -- Shoreline Group, a Nigerian oil producer, plans to almost double its crude output after agreeing a $530 million finance deal with Vitol Group and local lenders.

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 lenders Ecobank Transnational Inc., Fidelity Bank Plc, Union Bank Plc and 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.

Shoreline, which holds an estimated 1 billion barrels in crude reserves, also produces 100 million standard cubic feet a day of gas. The company plans to increase that to about 500 million standard cubic feet a day, Karim said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaric Nightingale at anightingal1@bloomberg.net, Rakteem Katakey, Dylan Griffiths

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