Yemisi Izuora
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has revealed that the much-awaited Final Investment Decision, FID, on the deepwater Zabazaba development project would be made before the end of this year.
According to the minister, some dots were still being connected for arriving at the final decision on the Eni-led project.
“The nation doesn’t plan to issue any new offshore licenses before elections due in February. We are shooting for later this year on a final investment decision at the Zabazaba development, as some contractual details are being fine-tuned”, he told Bloomberg.
The Zabazaba field development is being executed alongside Etan field, and the two are expected to grow Nigeria’s oil production by 150,000 when the project comes on stream.
First production from the $13.5 billion integrated development project is expected in 2020.
The Zabazaba and Etan fields are located in oil prospecting lease, OPL, 245 offshore Nigeria in water depths of 1,200 metres to 2,400 metres.
The oil and gas fields are being jointly developed by Eni’s Nigerian subsidiary, Nigerian Agip Exploration, NAE, and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCO. NAE is the project operator.