According to TotalEnergies, a significant drilling campaign will begin on the oil fields in Egina and Akpo in December due to some form of difficulty the international oil business had faced in starting the drilling efforts, even though 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day were anticipated from the Egina field.
Keith Hill, CEO of Africa Oil, noted that the prospective 11-well drilling programme was originally scheduled to commence five months ago, but the start date was changed to December owing to several factors, including rig availability.
The delay was again confirmed by the Executive General Manager, Egina Project, Jean-Michel Guy, when he said, “The water depth poses a challenge for the development of Egina, which is one of the deepest offshore projects ever operated by TotalEnergies.”
Guy further explained the reason for the delay to be that it was due to the “difficult conditions” encountered during the course of drilling.
He added, “Operating ultra-deep offshore projects require specific expertise given the difficult conditions caused by high pressure and low temperatures.
“Drawing on nearly 20 years of experience, TotalEnergies is the world leader in the field, producing more than 800,000 barrels per day. All told, ultra-deep offshore projects account for 40 per cent of our total oil and gas production.”
The Egina field was discovered in 2003 and is a joint venture between the NNPC, CNOOC, Sapetro, and Petrobras.
Once drilling begins, the Akpo field will also increase Nigeria’s oil production by around 150,000 barrels per day, with a maximum of 175,000b/d.
Additionally, the IOC declared that it would keep with the development studies for the postponed Preowei project.
