Total has announced that its subsidiary, Total Exploration & Production Nigeria Ltd, has discovered hydrocarbons in the southern portion of the Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 223 deepwater offshore Southeastern Nigeria.
The Owowo South B-1 well was drilled in a water depth of 670 m and is located 20 km east of the Usan field, currently under development. The well reached a total measured depth of 2227 m and discovered several oil bearing reservoirs with a fluid qualified as light oil according to shows during drilling and from logging data.
Under the production sharing contract governing the OPL 223, Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) is concessionaire of the licence, which in turn is operated by Total Exploration & Production Nigeria Ltd (18%) in partnership with its co-venturers: Chevron Nigeria Deepwater F Ltd (27%), Essp Exploration and Production Nigeria (Upstream) Ltd (27%), Nexen Petroleum Exploration & Production Nigeria Ltd (18%) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Co. (NPDC) Ltd (10%).
Commitment to local communities
Total is committed to promoting the development of local communities through its activities and has actively encouraged its contractors to use Nigerian resources wherever possible.
The Akpo project, with production started in 2009, has generated more than 11 million man-hours in Nigeria and will generate up to an overall total of 15 million man-hours in the country by the time it is complete.
The Usan project will follow suit with approximately 60% of man-hours planned in Nigeria. The basic engineering studies for the Egina field on Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130, will be performed in Nigeria.
Exploration and production in Nigeria
The company has been operating in exploration and production in Nigeria for close to 50 years. The operated production in Nigeria comes from the OML 58, 99, 100 and 102 blocks as part of a joint venture with NNPC. The main fields are Obagi, Obite, Amenam-Kpono, Ofon and Odudu. Total also operates block OML 130, which contains the Akpo deepwater development that started production in March.
The company also has significant equity production in Nigeria from its interests in non-operated ventures, particularly the SPDC joint venture (10%) and SNEPCO (12.5%), which includes the Bonga field. The company also holds a 15% interest in NLNG with a current LNG production capacity of 21.9 million tpy.