Nigeria’s crude production increases by 65,000bpd

By Clara Nwachukwu
Nigeria’s daily crude oil production has been boosted by additional 65,000 barrels per day, bpd, as Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corporation, yesterday announced first oil from its Erha North Phase 2 project.

Nigeria currently produces about 2,000,000bpd, of which ExxonMobil, which became the leading producer some years ago, contributes about 30 percent of production. This percentage has edged even higher with these additional barrels.

Notwithstanding the crash in oil prices, the additional barrels are cheery news, as there had not been additional production in the country for a while now and existing production was hampered by crude theft, thus reducing total output.

Kachikwu

Confirming the start-up of production from the facility, ExxonMobil also said in a statement yesterday that the new volumes now ramps up total production in Erha North field to approximately 90,000bpd.

ExxonMobil project

The statement said: “The project is estimated to develop an additional 165 million barrels from Erha North field.”

It added that the project saved $400 million in cost.

The Erha North Phase 2 is a deepwater subsea development project under a Production Sharing Contract, PSC, located 60 miles offshore, in 3,300 feet of water and four miles north of the Erha Field, which has been producing since 2006.

It is situated in Oil Mining License, OML 133, where ExxonMobil operates the field with 56.25 percent interest and Shell holds the remaining 43.75 percent.