TotalEnergies spuds first of three wells on field off Nigeria

French energy giant TotalEnergies is in the process of drilling the first of three wells on a field offshore Nigeria with one of Noble Corporation’s drillships. Upon completion, all three wells are expected to be tied into an existing floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

Before TotalEnergies secured a 20-year renewal of the OML 130 production license offshore Nigeria in May 2023, the French oil major embarked on a nine-well drilling campaign with the Noble Corporation’s Gerry de Souza drillship on February 22, 2023. Located 150 kilometers off the Nigerian coast, the OML 130 block contains the Akpo and Egina fields, which came into production in 2009 and 2018, respectively.

TotalEnergies Upstream Nigeria Limited operates OML 130 with a 24% interest, in partnership with CNOOC (45%), Sapetro (15%), Prime 130 (16%), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd as the concessionaire of the PSC. A maintenance shutdown is planned for the Akpo field during 1Q 2024, which was previously slated for 4Q 2023.

Africa Oil, which has shareholdings in Prime, confirms that the drilling program on OML 130 continues, as the drilling rig is currently drilling the first of three wells on the Akpo West field. These wells will be tied into the FPSO Akpo. TotalEnergies expects the production start-up from this short-cycle project by the end of 2023. 

Three wells – two water injectors and one production well – in this multi-well program, encompassing up to nine wells on Egina and Akpo in the license area during 2023 and 2024, have been drilled and completed on Egina. As a result, the infill drilling has offset production declines with the first quarterly increase in the average daily production since the second quarter of 2021.

Furthermore, the acquisition of 4D monitor seismic surveys is planned for Akpo, Egina, and Agbami from late 2023 through early 2024. This also includes a baseline 4D seismic survey of the Preowei field. According to Africa Oil, these surveys will support future drilling decisions across OML 127 and OML 130.

In addition, FEED studies are expected to take place through the fourth quarter of 2023, which could facilitate the final investment decision for the Preowei oil discovery development project, which is located to the north of the FPSO Egina. This development opportunity is expected to be realized via a satellite subsea tie-back project to the FPSO.