Nigeria’s oil output has risen by additional 200,000 barrels per day, bpd, following the coming on stream of Egina field.
Before the coming on stream of the field, the Federal Government had put Nigeria’s oil output at 2.3 million bpd, meaning that the output has now increased to 2.5 million bpd.
Total, operator of the field, Wednesday, stated that it started the production on December 29, 2018, from the Egina field, located in around 1,600 meters of water depths, 150 kilometers off the coast of Nigeria.
The company said in a statement: “The Egina field will produce 200,000 barrels of oil per day, which represents about 10per cent of Nigeria’s production. The Floating Production Storage and Offloading, FPSO, unit used to develop the giant Egina field is the largest one Total has ever built.
“This project has also involved a record level of local contractors. Six of the 18 modules on the FPSO were built and integrated locally, and 77 per cent of hours spent on the project were worked locally.
“Startup has been achieved close to 10per cent below the initial budget, which represents more than 1 billion dollars of CAPEX savings, due in particular to excellent drilling performance where the drilling time per well has been reduced by 30 per cent.
“Total is proud to deliver a project of this size under the initial budget and to contribute to the development of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector by generating employment as well as building industrial capability.
”Egina will significantly boost the Group’s production and cash flow from 2019 onward, and benefit from our strong cost reduction efforts in Nigeria where we have reduced our operating costs by 40 per cent over the last four years.
“Furthermore, some upside potential nearby remains to be developed and we are studying in particular Preowei discovery tie-back to the Egina FPSO.
“Initially discovered in 2003, the Egina field is the second development in production on the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130 following the Akpo field, which started-up in 2009. The Preowei field is another large discovery made on this prolific block for which an investment decision is scheduled for 2019.
“Total Upstream Nigeria Limited operates OML 130 with a 24% interest, in partnership with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), South Atlantic Petroleum – SAPETRO Ltd. (15%), CNOOC E&P Nigeria Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited (45%) and Petrobras Oil and Gas BV (16%).
However, a recent loading programme, obtained by Vanguard showed that the Egina oil will be lifted by Total, China’s CNOOC and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and exported in February to the global market.
