Yesterday, October 27, 2016, US-based oil Company, ExxonMobil announced a discovery of between 500 million to 1 billion barrels of oil in the Owowo field offshore Nigeria.
The company stated that the Owowo-3 well, which was spud on the 23rd of last month, encountered about 460 feet (140 meters) of oil-bearing sandstone reservoir. Owowo-3 extends the resource discovered by the Owowo-2 well, which encountered about 515 feet (157 meters) of oil-bearing sandstone reservoir.
#JustAnnounced an oil discovery of between 500M & 1B barrels offshore Nigeria. Find out more here https://t.co/62MrA9iGTf
— ExxonMobil (@exxonmobil) October 27, 2016
Nigeria’s crude oil and condensate production has declined significantly from the beginning of the year till now due to continued attacks on oil pipelines and production facilities by militants in the Niger Delta. But this discovery will no doubt have a positive impact on the country’s crippled production and export operations.
The development is also an encouragement to ExxonMobil which together with other oil exploration companies, Dutch-British Shell and Chevron, lost $7.1 billion, about 70 percent of earnings in the first half of 2016 to militancy, low oil prices, and weak refinery margins. According to Stephen M. Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil, “We are encouraged by the results and will work with our partners and the government on future development plans.”
“Owowo-3 was safely drilled to 10,410 feet (3,173 meters) in 1,890 feet (576 meters) of water. The Owowo field spans portions of the contract areas of Oil Prospecting License 223 (OPL 223) and Oil Mining License 139 (OML 139). The well was drilled by ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater Ventures) Limited and proved an additional resource in deeper reservoirs,” a released statement read.
ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company. The company has joint venture partnerships with Chevron Nigeria Deepwater G Limited (27 percent interest), Nexen Petroleum Deepwater Nigeria Limited (18 percent interest), Total E&P Nigeria Limited (18 percent interest), and the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company Limited (10 percent interest).
Just last week, ExxonMobil announced the sale of its 60 percent stake in Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc to NIPCO Plc, an indigenous Nigerian downstream oil and gas company, thus making an exit from Nigeria’s downstream oil and gas sub-sector.
