Nigeria: Usan Production Starts Next Month

French supermajor Total revealed that first oil from its Usan field located in OML 138 offshore Nigeria would start flowing in March, according to Reuters.

Reuters quoted Total Nigeria Upstream manager as saying: “We are about to start. It will be before the end of the first quarter”.

On February 10, Total announced that 2012 budget for organic investments was $24 billion, of which more than 80% will be dedicated to the upstream.

The company said it was working towards achieving the objective of growing production by 2.5% per year on average between 2010 and 2015. The ramp-up of Pazflor in Angola and the start-up of several major projects, including Usan in Nigeria, Angola LNG, and Bongkot South in Thailand are expected to help Total to fulfil the objective.

The oil production will run via one of the world’s largest FPSO units built by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries. The 320-meter long and 61-meter wide vessel will take up the crude oil from the field, process it, and store up to two million barrels of oil on board. If 160,000 barrels of oil are produced per day as planned, enough capacity is available on board for ten days, following which tankers arrive and convey the oil onto land for further processing.

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Offshore Energy Today Staff, February 21, 2012; Image: Total