U.S. Navy Turns Seawater Into Fuel

 MAJOR breakthrough is imminent in the energy sector as there are indications that some United States (U.S.) Navy scientists have successfully developed a way to convert seawater into jet fuel, calling it a potentially-revolutionary advancement.

Meanwhile, SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Plc on Monday heralded a new era for Nigerian exploration and production companies as its shares began trading on the Official Trading List of the Nigerian Stock exchange (NSE). The company’s shares closed at N604.80 at the end of its first day of trading. 

In a related development, an indigenous firm, Seven Energy International Limited, has secured $255 million (about N40.8 billion) equity funding from global investors to further develop gas supply opportunities in Nigeria’s energy market.

According to ‘The Huffington Post’, researchers at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) developed technology to extract carbon-dioxide from seawater while simultaneously producing hydrogen, and then converted the gasses into hydrocarbon liquid fuel. The system could potentially trim hours off the at-sea refuelling process and eliminate time spent away from missions.

Currently, most of the Navy’s vessels rely entirely on oil-based fuel, with the exception of some aircraft carriers and submarines that use nuclear propulsion, reports the International Business Times. The ability to render fuel from seawater may change that.

Vice Admiral Philip Cullom said: “For us in the military, in the Navy, we have some pretty unusual and different kinds of challenges. We don’t necessarily go to a gas station to get our fuel. Our gas station comes to us in terms of an oiler, a replenishment ship. Developing a game-changing technology like this, seawater to fuel, really is something that reinvents a lot of the way we can do business when you think about logistics, readiness.”

NRL noted that the carbon and hydrogen gasses produced from the seawater extraction process are converted to liquids using metal catalytic converters in a reactor system and that liquid product contains hydrocarbon molecules with carbon levels suitable for replacing petroleum jet fuel.

The Navy successfully used the new fuel-from-seawater process to power a radio-controlled scale-model replica of a World War II aircraft with an internal combustion engine.

Cullom added: “Basically, we’ve treated energy like air, something that’s always there and that we don’t worry about too much. But the reality is that we do have to worry about it.”

The NRL projects the new fuelling system could be commercially-viable in less than 10 years and could produce jet fuel that costs $3-6 dollars per gallon.

Forbes columnist Tim Worstall sounded a caution, saying the system could be great for the Navy, but he doubts if it will be an economically-feasible or energy-efficient alternative for people on land.

“We need more energy to go into the process than we get out of it. As a general rule, it’s not really all that useful. We want to produce energy, not just transform it with efficiency losses along the way,” he said.


The dual listing of the company’s shares on the NSE and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) follows the successful completion of its IPO, which was over-subscribed.

SEPLAT announced its intention to float on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 in which it said it was seeking to raise $500 million and thereafter list, simultaneously, on the NSE and LSE.

Facts and figures that have emerged following the successful completion of the book building exercise and allotment of shares indicate that SEPLAT offer was hugely successful and over-subscribed.

On Wednesday, April 9, 2014, the company announced that its Offer Price had been set at NGN 576 per Ordinary Share for shares to be listed on the Official Trading List of the NSE (the “Offer Price”) and 210 pence per Ordinary Share for shares to be traded on the LSE’s main market.

Based on the Offer Price, the total market capitalisation of SEPLAT at the commencement of conditional dealings will be approximately £1.14 billion (equivalent to $1.90 billion or N3.13 billion) (excluding the exercise of the over-allotment option).

The Global Offer comprises a base offering (the “Base Offer”) of 143,284,130 new shares issued by the company, representing 26.4 per cent of the company’s enlarged issued share capital (excluding the exercise of the over-allotment option)

The Base Offer raised gross proceeds of approximately £300.9 million (equivalent to $500 million or N82.5 billion) while the Over-allotment Option shall consist of 10,336,183 new shares representing 15 per cent of the final amount allocated to investors outside of Nigeria (the “International Offering”) in the Base Offer. The Over-allotment Option can be exercised for a period of 30 calendar days from April 9, 2014.

Reacting to the Development, Dr. ABC Orjiako, Chairman of SEPLAT said: “We are delighted with the support shown and happy to welcome a range of blue chip investors to our share register. Despite a challenging market for oil and gas stocks, the response has been excellent and demonstrates strong demand in both London and at home for a leading Nigerian indigenous E&P player” while the CEO, Austin Avuru, added that “we are already a leading indigenous independent in our home market but the opportunities opening up in Nigeria for companies like ours are significant.”

As the company stated in its intention to float announcement, the net proceeds of the Global Offer will primarily be used to acquire and develop new acquisitions, and/or pay down any additional debt raised in connection therewith, of both onshore and shallow offshore acreages, assets and joint venture farm-ins. Approximately $48 million shall be used to pay down in full a shareholder loan from Maurel & Prom International (“MPI S.A”).

A statement by the Chief Executive Officer, Seven Energy, Phillip Ihenacho, yesterday said the facility was secured from global financiers, including Singapore’s investment company, Temasek, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund.

Giving the breakdown, it stated that Temasek committed $150 million, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, committed $75 million, while the IFC African, Latin American, and Caribbean Fund (IFC ALAC Fund) committed $30 million. 

“The investments will be in two tranches, the timing of which is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions in the investment agreements,” it stated. 

According to Ihenacho, “the institutions are investing in Seven Energy’s irredeemable convertible loan notes which bear no coupon and are akin to equity capital. On a converted and fully diluted basis, on full satisfaction of the investment agreements, the new investors would account for approximately 26 per cent of the equity capital of the group. 

“This new equity capital will assist Seven Energy in the development of its growing portfolio of assets in Nigeria where the group is focusing on the development of upstream reserves and resources and gas infrastructure to provide gas to the domestic market for power generation and industrial consumption.”