The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in partnership with TotalEnergies has announced a 550 million dollars Final Investment Decision on the Ubeta Field Development Project.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye via its official X account on Thursday.
According to the statement, the milestone is consistent with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Presidential Executive Order on Oil and Gas Reforms, which was primarily designed to enhance the investment environment and establish Nigeria as the continent’s top location for oil and gas sector investments.
Commenting, the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari, While thanking stakeholders for their support, emphasized that President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s ongoing efforts to create a favourable operating environment have been a major factor in this success.
“We appreciate Mr. President for supporting us with the appropriate fiscal environment. The Presidential Executive Order is instrumental to us getting to this significant milestone, and we are now seeing the impact of the policy,” Kyari added.
In his remarks, the Senior Vice President of Africa, Exploration & Production, TotalEnergies, Mike Sangster, said “Ubeta is the latest in a series of projects developed by TotalEnergies in Nigeria, most recently Ikike and Akpo West. I am pleased that we can launch this new gas project which has been made possible by the Government’s recent incentives for non-associated gas developments. Ubeta fits perfectly with our strategy of developing low-cost and low-emission projects and will contribute to the Nigerian economy through higher NLNG exports.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given investors a renewed sense of confidence in the oil and gas sector by reassuring them that additional investments are forthcoming.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Rt. Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo said the project is a testament to the effectiveness of the Government’s policies aimed at creating a conducive environment for investment in the gas sector.
According to the statement, the Ubeta field discovered in 1964, North-West of Port Harcourt in the eastern part of the Niger Delta will, once on stream, produce about 350MMScf/day of gas and 10,000 BBLS/day of associated liquids, tapping into the vast gas reserves and contributing towards securing gas supply to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited.
Located in OML58, the Ubeta gas condensate field will be developed with a new 6-well cluster connected to the existing Obite facilities through an 11km buried pipeline. Production start-up is expected in 2027, with a plateau of 300 million cubic feet per day (about 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day including condensates). Gas from Ubeta will be supplied to NLNG, a liquefaction plant located in Bonny Island with an ongoing capacity expansion from 22 to 30 Mtpa, in which NNPC Limited holds a 49% interest.
Ubeta is a low-cost, low-emission development that makes use of OML58’s current gas processing infrastructure. By electrifying the drilling rig and constructing a 5 MW solar plant at the Obite site, the project’s carbon intensity will be significantly decreased. To improve local content, TotalEnergies and NNPC Limited are collaborating closely. More than 90% of manhours will be sourced locally.
