Uche Cecil Izuora
Nigeria is expected to add more crude production capacity as ExxonMobil takes Final Investment Decision (FID) on a $1 billion infill drilling project at the Usan deepwater oil field in offshore block OML 138.
First production is expected to flow within 18 months after seismic data identifies the drilling targets.
The project marks the company’s first drilling campaign at the field in a decade and is intended to revitalize production. The Usan field is located in the eastern Niger Delta, approximately 43.5 miles offshore.
Jagir Baxi, managing director of ExxonMobil’s affiliate companies in Nigeria while announcing this said the investment aims to boost Usan’s production by 40,000 B/D.
Esso Exploration and Production operates OML 138 under a production-sharing contract (PSC) with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. Its co-venture partners in the block are Chevron, TotalEnergies, and Nexen, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC.
Nigeria plans to raise crude oil production above 2 million B/D with new investments after having introduced fiscal incentives and regulatory reforms under the country’s Petroleum Investment Act, which has sought to restore investor confidence in the sector.
In April, ExxonMobil briefed the NUPRC on plans to for several multibillion-dollar deepwater projects. In making the presentation, Hunter Farris, the company’s senior vice president for deepwater, praised Nigeria’s improved investment climate which had led ExxonMobil to “renew our vows to Nigeria,” according to a NUPRC report on its website.
Outlined projects included, Life-extension works on the Erha floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit in the Erha oil field in Gulf of Guinea (OML 133). ExxonMobil operates the project through its Esso subsidiary, with partners Shell and NNPC under a PSC that has been extended to 2042.
The $7 billion to $8 billion Owowo project, which is estimated to contain about 1 billion bbl of developed resources, is progressing and could reach “FID as early as next year,” Farris said.
The Bosi oil and gas field adjacent to Erha could attract up to $16 billion, if ExxonMobil chooses to develop a proposed new FPSO and pipeline.
ExxonMobil is “getting back in business (in Nigeria), and we’re serious about what we’re doing” in targeting Nigeria’s deepwater resources for development, Farris told the NUPRC.