| TotalEnergies, who jointly manage Oil Mining Licence (OML) 99 together with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) declared on Monday that production from the Ikike field had begun. Total energies which control 40% of the oil field said the Ikike platform is connected to the current Amenam offshore facilities by a 14km multiphase pipeline. The oil field is located 20km off the coast at a depth of around 20 meters. It will deliver peak production of 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of 2022, Total energy said. The oil company went on to say that the Ikike project uses existing infrastructure to keep costs low and is intended to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, which are estimated to be less than 4kg CO2e/boe. They added that They will help lower the average carbon intensity of TotalEnergies’ upstream portfolio. The company noted that the jacket and topside modules were totally constructed and integrated by local contractors and that 95% of the work hours were performed locally. “By tapping discoveries close to existing facilities, this project fits the Company’s strategy of focusing on low-cost and low-emission oil projects,” Henri-Max Ndong-Nzue, Senior Vice President Africa, Exploration and Production at TotalEnergies said. The start of production from Ikike will help Nigeria lift its flagging crude output, which slumped to a 17-month low of 1.26 million barrels a day in June which is 510,000 bpd below its OPEC target for the month, according to Argus estimates. This year, oil shipments to Nigerian terminals have been hampered by theft. The major Qua Iboe and Forcados streams saw a decline in shipments last month, which worsened the force majeure that has been preventing Bonny Light exports since mid-March. TotalEnergies stated earlier this month that it anticipates a reduction in second-quarter upstream output of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day due to the interruption in Nigeria and port blockades in Libya. Last year, the business produced 240,000 boe/d in Nigeria. The European union is seeking extra gas supplies from Nigeria as the union gets ready for potential Russian supply cuts, according to the deputy director general of the European Commission’s energy division. This oil production commencement in the Ikike field will be a huge boost to the Nigerian economy. It will contribute to meeting up with OPEC’s target allocated to Nigeria. It is quite unclear the effect of this oil production on the prices of AGO, PMS and DPK. |
Source: Business Day, Oriental News.
