By Emmanuel Nduka
In a milestone deal on Thursday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and TotalEnergies JV signed a $550 million Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Ubeta Field Development Project situated in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Heritage Times HT reports that signing of the agreement took place at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
The NNPC Ltd said the deal is in line with President Bola Tinubu’s presidential executive order on oil and gas reforms aimed largely at improving the investment climate and positioning Nigeria as the preferred investment destination for the oil and gas sector in Africa.
It explained that 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 350 million standard cubic feet per day (MMScf/day) of gas and 10,000 BBLS/day of associated liquids, tapping into the vast gas reserves and contributing towards securing gas supply to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).
“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 on-going capacity expansion from 22 to 30 Mtpa, in which NNPC Limited holds a 49 per cent interest,” the NNPC Ltd said.
Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, said the continuous support of President Tinubu’s administration in facilitating a conducive operational environment as a major enabler in achieving this success.
“I am very convinced that many more projects will come alongside this as we progress. And maybe not the right moment to make those announcements, but I know that a number of projects have been enabled by the executive order of Mr President.
“No doubt, this project will create opportunities, jobs, and everything that you can imagine, including making our investment in energy much more productive. I know for sure that the engagements with our other partners will ensure delivery of gas sufficient to keep our train one to seven active and at full capacity, and also realise our ambitions for the train seven.
“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 said.
In his words, Senior Vice President Africa, Exploration & Production, TotalEnergies, Mike Sangster, said the project is part of the company’s strategy to ensure more sustainable energy and less emissions in line with the global energy transition drive.
“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,” he said.
