The Federal Government said it has mapped out plans to ensure an increase of about 810,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from the country’s deepwater oil fields through a new cluster and nodal development initiative.
Commission Chief Executive (CCE), Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja at its stakeholders’ workshop on deep/shallow water cluster/nodal development.
The initiative which is being championed by the NUPRC is part of a broader effort to revive Nigeria’s offshore oil production, which has suffered a decline in recent years.
The workshop had as its theme, “Harnessing the potential of deep/shallow water, oil and gas accumulations through clusters/nodal development in Nigeria”.
Represented by Mr Babajide Fashina, Executive Commissioner, Economic Regulation and Strategic Planning (NUPRC), Komolafe said if fully implemented, the additional output could raise Nigeria’s total monthly crude production by 2.51mbpd with condensates.
This, he said would significantly strengthen the country’s revenue generation capacity and improve compliance with OPEC+ production quotas.
He said the plan was conceived in response to the industry’s dwindling offshore output and the need to harness untapped reserves for sustainable growth.
“At the peak of our deep water oil production in 2016, Nigeria was producing about 800,000bpd. Sadly, that figure has now dropped to below 500,000 bpd,” he said.
The CCE explained that its data showed that there are over 5.13 billion barrels of oil and 13.53 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas still sitting untapped in the deep water acreages.
He said of this, 3.59 billion barrels fell under 2P reserves, meaning that they were proven and probable but yet undeveloped.
“A preliminary regulatory deep-dive through the Field Development Plans (FDPs) approvals indicates that current developments-in-view could unlock around 1.55 billion barrels of oil and condensate and another 1.49 tcf of associated gas.
“Once these approved FDPs are executed, we could see peak oil production rise by as much as 810,000 barrels of oil per day.
“A new Shallow and Deep Water Cluster Development Committee was inaugurated within the NUPRC to work closely with International Oil Companies (IOCs) and indigenous producers to identify and mature these opportunities.
“Through this collaborative approach, we want to maximise returns from existing assets, ramp up volumes, and reduce unit technical costs,” he said.
Komolafe expressed dissatisfaction that in spite of the huge potential, the deep water fields were underutilised due to challenges such as funding gaps, infrastructure limitations, regulatory bottlenecks and delayed project sanctions.
He said the eight Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSOs) units, were grossly underutilised, adding that with collaboration, more would be achieved.
He said that currently the country had cumulatively produced over 4.4 billion barrels from deep water operations with contributory efforts from Shell, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Agip and Chevron.