* Chevron lost battle over jurisdiction with Brittania-U
* Seplat's $500 mln IPO in Lagos, London to fund purchases (Adds quotes, share price and details)
By Chijioke Ohuocha
LAGOS, May 22 (Reuters) - Seplat isconfident it will win a dispute over the purchase of a Chevron asset, the Nigerian oil and gas firm's chief executivesaid on Thursday.
Austin Avuru said during a presentation of Seplat's interimmanagement statement that the company had appealed against aruling which gives jurisdiction to a Nigerian court in decidingthe outcome of a Chevron oil block sale, for which Seplat's bidwas the second-highest.
A Nigerian judge last week ruled the Federal High Courtshould have jurisdiction over Chevron's asset sale dispute withNigeria's Brittania-U, dealing a blow to Chevron which had hopedto have the case dismissed.
Chevron and Brittania-U are at loggerheads after theNigerian firm said it paid a deposit to buy some onshore oilblocks from the U.S. group, only for Chevron to look foralternative bids.
The U.S. firm argued the sale was a private matter andshould not be subject to court involvement.
"We remain confident that the Chevron acquisition will besettled in our favour," Avuru said.
Avuru said Seplat had lost out on a separate bid for a Shell block in Nigeria because its bid was not the highest.
Shares in Seplat traded flat in Lagos and London on Thursdaymorning at 625 naira and 228 pence respectively. Seplat said itsinterim results will be released in July.
Avuru said Seplat, which raised $500 million via a debutstock market listing in Lagos and London in April, wasconsidering three acquisitions seriously and expects to concludethem before the end of the year.
It said it had $285 million in net cash after its IPO and ison track to achieve a production rate for 2014 of 72,000 barrelsper day.($1 = 0.5925 British Pounds) (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; editing by William Hardy andKeiron Henderson)