By ABAH SUNDAY, Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has announced the successful commencement of oil production from Akpo West Field.
A statement signed by Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, said the milestone which was achieved through the unwavering commitment of all stakeholders in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to the NNPCL to optimise production from the nation’s oil and gas assets, will add 14,000 barrels per day condensate to the nation’s production.
This, it added, will be followed by the production of about 4million cubic meters of gas per day by 2028.
The development of Akpo West which is on Petroleum Mining Lease (PML) 2 (formerly OML 130) leverages the existing Akpo Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility via a subsea tie-back to keep costs low and minimise greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the statement, the milestone was enabled by the strategic leadership of the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mr Mele Kyari, and the Upstream Directorate of the NNPC Ltd whose support played no small role in propelling the operators to actualise the short- and mid-term hydrocarbon production goal of the President Tinubu administration.
Located 135 kilometres offshore, Akpo West is one of the discoveries on PML 2 with proximity to the Akpo main which started up in 2009 and produced 124,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2023.
PML 2 is operated by TotalEnergies 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 Production Sharing Contract (PSC).