TotalEnergies looks forward to developing Nigeria’s offshore oil & gas industry further thanks to 20-year extension

French energy giant TotalEnergies has secured the renewal of a production license offshore Nigeria, which will enable the oil major to further develop the hydrocarbons in the block covered by this license over a period of 20 years.

TotalEnergies, as the operator of OML 130 in Nigeria, revealed the license renewal on this block on Monday, 29 May 2023. Located 150 kilometres off the Nigerian coast, the OML 130 block contains the Akpo and Egina fields, which came into production in 2009 and 2018, respectively.

The production at the block amounted to 282,000 boe/d in 2022 while nearly 30 per cent was gas sent to the Nigeria LNG plant, contributing to Europe’s energy security. The French oil major highlights that the production start-up from a short-cycle project called Akpo West is expected by the end of 2023. Aside from this, the OML 130 license contains the Preowei discovery, which is expected to be developed via a tie-back to the FPSO Egina.

Henri-Max Ndong-Nzue, Senior Vice President Africa, Exploration and Production at TotalEnergies, commented: “Through the OML 130 license renewal, TotalEnergies is pleased to continue its contribution to the development of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. This 20-year extension will enable us to move forward with the FEED studies on the Preowei tie-back project which aims to valorize a discovery using existing facilities in line with the company’s strategy focusing on low-cost and low-emission assets.”

TotalEnergies Upstream Nigeria Limited operates OML 130 with a 24 per cent interest, in partnership with CNOOC (45 per cent), Sapetro (15 per cent), Prime 130 (16 per cent), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd as the concessionaire of the PSC. Previously, legal and fiscal uncertainties presented a hurdle for oil majors when it came to investing in new PSCs in Nigeria and many signed PSCs were approaching their expiration date.

However, Nigeria’s efforts to bring new investments into the oil and gas sector and boost production by tapping into the country’s deepwater hydrocarbon potential are hammered home not only by a mini-bid round for seven offshore blocks but also by the production sharing contracts (PSCs) for six offshore licenses, which were inked with oil majors last year, including the one for OML 130.

These renegotiated PSCs were revealed less than a month after President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), a development that saw the firm officially transiting into a limited liability entity as enshrined in the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Recently, NNPC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Norwegian Golar LNG to build a floating LNG plant in Nigeria. In additionr, the TotalEnergies-operated Ikike field off Nigeria started production last year, after it was tied back to the existing Amenam offshore facilities through a 14 km multiphase pipeline.