Nigeria Sees Lull in Deepwater Activity as Seven Offshore Projects Await FIDs

The lack of final investment decisions (FID) on seven offshore deepwater oilfield projects in the country poses a threat to the country’s target of 40 billion barrels of crude oil reserves by 2020.

Industry analysts have attributed the lack of the FID to the delay in passing the Petroleum Industry Bill, the proposed review by the Federal Government of the existing Production Sharing Contracts and the steep fall in global oil prices. Projects without the FID are Shell’s Bonga South-West and Aparo (225,000bpd) and Bonga North (100,000bpd), Eni’s Zabazaba-Etan (120,000bpd), Chevron’s Nsiko (100,000bpd) and ExxonMobil’s Bosi (140,000bpd), Satellite Field Development Phase 2 (80,000bpd) and Uge (110,000bpd).

The 125,000-bpd Usan deepwater field started production in February 2012, and since then, no major oil field has come on stream in the country. The 40,000-bpd Bonga North-West field and 50,000-bpd Bonga Phase 3 project, which are extensions of Shell’s Bonga deepwater field, came online in August 2014 and September 2015. ExxonMobil’s Erha North Phase 2 project started production in October 2015

Total’s $16bn Egina deepwater oilfield project, whose Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel is undergoing integration in Lagos, is expected to achieve first oil in the fourth quarter of this year. It will add 200,000 barrels per day to Nigeria’s oil production. The Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, Bayo Ojulari, said on Tuesday that Royal Dutch Shell and its partners would decide next year on whether to go ahead with the development of Nigeria’s Bonga South-West offshore oilfield.

Source: EnergyMixReport