TotalEnergies’ fresh oil & gas discovery opens doors for new tie-back off Nigeria

French energy giant TotalEnergies has made a new oil and gas discovery in a shallow water block offshore Nigeria, which puts a tie-back to the existing infrastructure on the table.

TotalEnergies disclosed on Tuesday, 13 June 2023, the Ntokon oil and gas discovery on OML 102 offshore Nigeria. According to TotalEnergies, the Ntokon-1AX discovery well – located in shallow waters, 60 km off the southeast coast of Nigeria – encountered 38 meters of net oil pay and 15 meters of net gas pay, while its side-track Ntokon-1G1 encountered 73 meters of net oil pay, in “well-developed and excellent quality reservoirs.”

Furthermore, the company explains that the Ntokon-1G1 well tested successfully up to a maximum rate of about 5,000 barrels per day of 40° API oil. Located 20 km from the Ofon field facilities on OML 102, Ntokon is planned to be developed through a tie-back to these existing facilities. The OML 102 is operated by TotalEnergies EP Nigeria with a 40 per cent interest, alongside its partner NNPC with the remaining 60 per cent.

Nicolas Terraz, President, Exploration & Production at TotalEnergies, remarked: “The Ntokon discovery opens a promising outlook for a new tie-back development. After the start-up of production of the Ikike tie-back on OML 99 in 2022, this new success in the area further demonstrates the potential of nearby exploration to create value within our low-cost, low-emission strategy.”

TotalEnergies started production from the Ikike tie-back in July 2022. Regarding its most recent activities in Nigeria, the oil major secured at the end of May 2023 the renewal of the OML 130 production license, which will enable it to further develop the hydrocarbons in the block covered by this license over a period of 20 years.