ExxonMobil on Wednesday at the ongoing NOG energy week holding in Nigeria’s federal capital, abuja, has announced the official commencement of the on-block execution of a cumulative 1 billion-dollar investment at the Usan Field, expected to begin August, an investment designed to unlock around 40,000 barrels per day of new deepwater oil production according to Jagir Baxi, managing director, ExxonMobil.
“This milestone will be marked by the on-block arrival of a world-class deepwater drilling rig, together with sail-away of major and massive new subsea deepwater equipment towards the block” Baxi declared
Speaking further on behalf of the OML 138 partners, Baxi noted that the investment known as the Usan Infill Project, is a significant milestone for all stakeholders.
“The investment and its new production align strongly with the aspirations of the Federal Government of Nigeria for near-term production growth” Speaking further on the new investment the ExxonMobil managing director said the latest investment by the energy company is different from other major greenfield FIDs in that the project is a short-cycle investment designed to deliver first new production within around six months from start of on-block execution.
“Peak production of 40,000 barrels per day will be achieved within 18 months, and the entire investment has been developed within around 18 months from when advanced seismic acquisition and processing was completed in mid-2024”
While speaking on the funding, Baxi noted that over 300 million dollars has already been committed by OML 138 partners towards the project, declaring that the 2022 renewal of OML 138 for an additional 20 years created the most important signal of confidence in the asset, including stakeholder partnerships, and the supporting regulatory framework.
“The Usan field has been producing for 14 years, in which time the OML 138 partners have invested around 16 billion dollars to develop and produce over 350 million barrels of production. In these 14 years, around 4.6 billion dollars of value has been delivered to Nigeria”
The Usan Infill Project according to Jagir Baxi is expected to generate a further 1.2 billion dollars in revenues to Nigeria over the next four years, with first of these new revenues beginning to flow in the year 2026.
Baxi noted that the Usan Infill Project will also implement two important step-out technologies within Esso Nigeria’s portfolio, designed to ensure Nigeria’s deepwater sector continues to sustain global deepwater technology capabilities in Nigeria.
Baxi said Usan’s achievements are not solely in the measure of barrels, revenues and technologies, insisting that stakeholders must also take a measure of Usan through its people.
“I am proud that the Usan FPSO offshore operations is delivered by a workforce of nearly 400 talented professionals, the vast majority being Nigerians, who work day and night as one team to safely operate this massive production facility that is 320 meters in length, in water depths of 850 meters, and located around 100 kilometers offshore” Baxi stressed to buttress his position.
Baxi who acknowledged the role of critical stakeholders like the NUPRC, NNPCL and NCDMB said the role of these critical partners in the success journey cannot be overemphasised . “Leadership at NUPRC has consistently and rapidly enabled key stepwise regulatory processes to match the short-cycle timeline of this investment. Leadership at NNPCL has strongly supported critical technical and execution decisions including ensuring top-tier execution partnerships were in place to deliver this kind of deepwater investment at world-class competitiveness. Leadership at NCDMB has enabled multiple win-win outcomes with on-time decisions on local content” baxi concluded
ExxonMobil Moves To Scale Up Nigeria’s crude Production By 40,000bpd In New Investment
