The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and its Joint Venture (JV) partner in the Awoba Unit Field, Newcross Exploration and Production Ltd, announced on Tuesday the resumption of production from the Awoba field.
A statement from the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the national oil company, Olufemi Soneye, said the asset last contributed production to the Bonny Terminal in 2021 and was finally shut down in February 2022 due to evacuation issues and crude oil theft.
According to the NNPC the resumption of activities at the Awoba field is because it is keen on optimising production from the nation’s hydrocarbon assets to boost revenues and meet the nation’s Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production quota.
Since the restart of the Awoba field by NNPC and its partner on April 13, 2024, the oil company revealed that production from the field has averaged 8,000 barrels per day and is expected to plateau to 12,000 per day at full ramp up within 30 days.
Awoba, it stressed, is also expected to significantly boost gas supply to the power sector and other gas-based industries.
“The Awoba Unit which straddles OMLs 18 and 24 is located in the mangrove swamp south of Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Both OML 18 and OML 24 assets are under the management of the NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS).
“NNPC Ltd has been recording a string of production successes from the JV portfolio which have significantly lifted overall national production.
“Besides the recent start of production at the Madu Field by the NNPC Ltd/First E&P JV, the company has achieved the restart of production at OMLs 29 and OML 18 in late 2023 which have steadily contributed an average of 60,000bpd to the nation’s production output since their restart,” the statement added.
Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, ascribed the achievement to the President Bola Tinubu administration’s success in providing an enabling operating environment for businesses to thrive.
He expressed appreciation to all stakeholders, including staff, operators, host communities, government security agencies, and private security contractors, who played a pivotal role in achieving the feat.
On its website, Newcross E&P said the Awoba oil well was the first oil well it drilled post acquisition of the OML 24 asset from Shell. The well, it said, was drilled with the Shengli 4 rig which was released on October 27, 2018.
Emmanuel Addeh
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