*Dangote refinery, OML 13 to boost country’s share of continent’s projects
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
With 89 assets under construction, spanning the upstream, midstream and downstream of the oil and gas sector in Africa, Nigeria will between 2023 and 2027 top the continent’s upcoming projects in the sector.
Information from GlobalData, indicated that Africa will witness 492 oil and gas projects in all, commencing operations during the period, with the country dominating the upcoming projects’ landscape.
To push Nigeria’s share of the projects will be the Dangote refinery in Lagos and Oil Mining Lease (OML) 13 in Akwa Ibom which are expected to begin operations this year.
“Among the upcoming field projects in Nigeria, OML 13 is a key field project during the 2023-2027 period, with a total production capacity of 184,333 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) and a project cost of $3.2 billion. Among refineries, the Lagos I refinery is a key project with a cost of $16.1 billion and a capacity of 650 million barrels per day (mbd),” it stressed.
THISDAY learnt that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) through its upstream subsidiary and Natural Oilfield Services Limited (NOSL), an indigenous operator, are jointly handling exploration work on OML 13.
It’s a large block in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria’s oil rich Niger Delta and is reported to hold in place volumes of over 900 million barrels of oil and 5 trillion cubic (tcf) of gas.
Nigeria has also recently concluded the bidding and award process for about 57 marginal fields which, other things being equal, would likely begin to produce first oil from the end of 2023.
In addition, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has begun the process of concluding a mini-bid round for seven deep offshore open blocks which will likely boost Nigeria’s oil and gas reserves.
The seven deep offshore blocks covering an area of approximately 6,700 km2 in water depths of 1,150m to 3,100m, are intended to be the first in a series of bid rounds aimed at further development of Nigeria’s prospective petroleum basins.
The GlobalData report stated that of the projects expected in Africa, upstream would total 139, midstream should be the highest with 162, refinery should total 77 while petrochemicals would be 144.
In the midstream sector, it stated that the trunk/transmission pipelines segment alone constitutes 34 per cent of all projects, followed by oil storage and gas processing with 28 per cent and 22 per cent respectively.
Refinery and petrochemical projects, it said, constitute 39 per cent of all upcoming oil and gas projects in Africa between 2023 and 2027.
GlobalData added that new build projects dominate the upcoming projects’ landscape in Africa, constituting 82 per cent of the total across the value chain.
The share of new build projects, it stressed, is especially high in the midstream sector, with 38 per cent of the total new build projects while expansion projects lead in the upstream (fields) sector.
It pointed out that around 40 per cent of projects in Africa are in the construction and commissioning stages, and are more likely to commence operations during the outlook period.
Besides, the report noted that another 40 per cent of projects are in the planning stages, while the rest have either been approved or are awaiting approval.
“In the Nigerian oil and gas sector, fields and refineries are set to lead upcoming project starts, accounting for about 57 per cent of the total project starts between 2023 and 2027,” added GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
In the report tagged: ‘‘Africa Oil and Gas Projects Analytics and Forecast by Project Type, Sector, Countries, Development Stage, Capacity and Cost, 2023-2027,’’ the firm revealed that 34 fields and 32 refinery projects are expected to start operations in Nigeria during the period under consideration.
Furthermore, the midstream sector is expected to witness substantial project starts, with the oil storage and gas processing segments leading with 12 and 11 projects, respectively in the country.
Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, Himani Pandey, commenting on the report, noted that Nigeria remains critical to oil and gas exploration on the continent.
“Being one of the leading exporters of crude oil in the world, Nigeria continues to focus on the development of fields to sustain future oil and gas production.
“There is also a focus on the development of refineries and oil storage projects in Nigeria in order to reduce imports of refined products and boost exports,” he said.
