Nigeria's Shoreline in $530-million deal to boost oil output

Shoreline will seek to boost production to between 80,000 and 100,000 bpd this year, CEO Kola Karim said. The company currently pumps about 55,000 bpd. 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 Bbbl in crude reserves, also produces 100 MMscfd of gas. The company plans to increase that to about 500 MMscfd, Karim said.