Nigeria’s crude oil export will rise by 8,350 barrels of oil per day (bopd) as Green Energy International Limited, GEIL, said it is about to commence continuous full production and evacuation from Otakikpo Marginal field in Oil Mining Lease, OML, 11.
The company in a statement in Abuja, signed by its, Technical Director, Mr. Bunu Alibe, said that this was following the successful completion of Maximum Efficiency Rate, MER, test on the production wells of the Otakikpo marginal field, supervised by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR.
He said that following the success recorded from the test, the Otakikpo field has been given a ‘Technical Allowable rate’ of 8,350 bopd from the four strings in two wells — Otakikpo 2 and Otakikpo 3 — for the first quarter of 2017.
In addition, he said that the company has also been given the Commercial Allowable rate of 5,000 bopd for February this year by the Crude Oil Marketing Department of the the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
According to him the field has the capacity of adding about 10,000 bpd to the national production within a short period of time.
He said, “Having successfully completed its pipeline from the field to six kilometres offshore in preparation for crude evacuation through a shutttle tanker and finalized its Crude Handling Agreement (CHA) with Amni International Petroleum Development company, GEIL has recently secured an Evacuation Permit from the regulatory body to enable it move its crude to Ima terminal operated by Amin.”
Other milestones already achieved by the company, according to Alibe, included the approval of its Field Development Plan and the installation of its processing facility, while it has also completed an onshore storage facility of 45,000 barrel capacity.
He said that the company and its Technical Partner – Lekoil Oil and Gas Investment Limited was poised to follow through all processes towards crude oil export before the end of the quarter.
Furthermore, Alibe explained that as part of its commitment to uplift the socio economic status of the host communities, the company was embarking on the immediate installation of six megawatts electricity plant while ensuring that the Trust Fund set up to finance development projects and managed by the community are adequately funded.
He expressed the appreciation of the company to all regulatory agencies and other stakeholders for their support in bringing the field to production.
He thanked the Technical Partner and all its employees for their efforts in achieving the milestones.
According to Alibe, under a Farmout from Shell Petroleum Development Company, Joint Venture, SPDC JV, the Federal Government awarded the Marginal field to Green Energy which it designated as the Operator, to implement the company’s innovative Small Scale Gas Utilisation Programme, SSGUP. He said the Otakikpo field was identified as one of the suitable sites for a pilot programme that offers unique solution to utilize the gas from the field for power generation, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, production for domestic cooking gas. He noted that the company in collaboration with its Technical Partner began the re- entry efforts on the two wells in 2015.
