Seplat Energy Plc has appointed Tony Elumelu as a Non-Executive Director of the company, with the appointment taking effect on January 22.
The announcement was made in a statement by the board chairman, Udo Udoma.
The appointment follows the sale of Etablissements Maurel et Prom SA’s 20.07 percent stake in Seplat to Heirs Holdings Limited and Heirs Energies Limited.
Following the sale, Olivier Cleret De Langavant resigned from the Seplat board, effective the same date.
De Langavant had served as a non-executive director since January 2020 as a nominee of Maurel et Prom.
The company’s legal team, led by company secretary Edith Onwuchekwa, said De Langavant provided strategic counsel and technical insights during his tenure.
Mr Elumelu is the chairman of Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group.
He also leads investments in sectors including energy, power, finance, hospitality and healthcare across Africa.
In addition, he is chairman of Heirs Energies and Transcorp Group, which includes Transcorp Power and Transcorp Hotels Plc.
Elumelu established The Tony Elumelu Foundation in 2010 to support entrepreneurship across Africa.
He serves on several global boards, including UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited Global Leadership Council and the International Monetary Fund’s Advisory Council on Entrepreneurship and Growth.
Mr Udoma said the board expects Elumelu’s experience and leadership to strengthen Seplat Energy’s strategic objectives and support the company’s growth and value creation initiatives.
He also expressed appreciation for De Langavant’s contributions to the company since 2020.
The board changes were filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday in line with the exchange’s listing requirements.
The sale of the 20.07 percent stake in Seplat, representing 120.4 million shares, was completed in December 2025 at GBP 3.05 per share, in a transaction valued at approximately $500 million.
Seplat Energy is an independent Nigerian oil and gas company listed on both the Nigerian and London stock exchanges.
As of late 2025, it had 2P reserves of 1.043 billion barrels of oil equivalent and a production rate of 135,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Heirs Energies, which acquired the shares, operates OML 17 in the Niger Delta, producing over 50,000 barrels of oil per day and 120 million cubic feet of gas per day, with reserves of 1.5 billion barrels of oil and 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The company is a major supplier of gas for domestic electricity generation in Nigeria.
