The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) TotalEnergies and partners have commenced crude oil production from the Akpo West Field, adding about 14,000 barrels per day of condensate to Nigeria’s oil production, with an expected production of about 4 million cubic meters of natural gas per day by 2028.

Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd. made this known in a statement obtained by Advisors Reports on Wednesday.

According to the statement from NNPC, the efforts to boost the country’s oil and gas output is in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to the company to optimize production from the nation’s oil and gas assets.

Soneye further noted the milestone, which is the result of meticulous planning, strategic collaboration, and unwavering dedication from all stakeholders involved in the project.

He further said, “The development of Akpo West which is on Petroleum Mining Lease (PML) 2 (formerly OML 130) leverages the existing Akpo Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility via a subsea tie-back to keep costs low and minimises greenhouse gas emissions.

“The milestone was enabled by the strategic leadership of the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mr. Mele Kyari, and the Upstream Directorate of the NNPC Ltd. whose support played no small role in propelling the operators to actualise the short- and mid-term hydrocarbon production goals of the President Tinubu administration,” he said.

Mike Sangster, TotalEnergies Senior Vice President Africa, Exploration and Production in a statement said, “After Ikike in 2022, TotalEnergies is pleased to start production of another tie-back project in Nigeria, Akpo West, which will contribute to maintaining the production of the existing Akpo facilities by developing additional nearby resources.

“This project fits the Company’s strategy of developing low-cost and low-emission projects.This project leverages TotalEnergies’ solid footprint in Nigeria and will quickly bring value to the country, TotalEnergies and its partners,” Sangster noted.

Advisors Reports gathered that the Akpo West, located 135 kilometres offshore, is one of the discoveries on PML 2 with proximity to the Akpo Main, which started up in 2009 and produced 124,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2023.

It was further revealed that the PML 2 is operated by TotalEnergies with a 24% interest, in partnership with CNOOC (45%), Sapetro (15%), Prime 130 (16%), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. as the concessionaire of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC).