An indigenous marginal field producer, Energia Limited and operator of the Energia/Oando, Oil Mining Lease (OML 56) Ebendo/Obodeti marginal field, has announced plans to increase production from the oil field to 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2015.
Managing Director/Chief Executive of Energia, Mr. Felix Ofori, who made the disclosure Wednesday while announcing the successful drilling of the Ebendo well-six, said the company intends to attain the set production target through aggressive drilling.
He said production from the well-six, schedule to begin next month, would raise the company’s production to between 8,000 and 9,000bpd.
“We are presently preparing to complete this well, which we expect will add additional 2,000-3,000 bpd in July 2013. This is following another successful drilling and completion of our Ebendo well-five in March 2013. Upon completion of well-six, Energia is expected to produce 8,000-9,000 bpd in July 2013,” Ofori said.
He noted that the successful drilling of the well-six had opened up more opportunities in Ebendo field, as the company already plans to drill wells seven, eight and nine in the coming months.
Speaking on the company’s field development plans, Ofori said: “We expect to ramp up field production to more than 10,000bpd with these new opportunities in 2014.”
He added: “In line with Energia’s development concept, we would continue to manage our reservoirs to ensure optimal production without creating problems associated with fast depletion of reservoirs. This year 2013, Energia has also engaged herself in major facility upgrade to carter for the planned increase in crude production, which is consistent with her field development plan.”
Ofori said the company was poised to develop its asset to full capacity by 2015-2017 and had commenced discussions with its bankers on the possibility of obtaining the needed funds to implement the full field development programme.
“It takes about $20 million to drill a well. So if we are drilling three wells, we are looking at $60 million. But we are looking for $40 million to augment what we have to be able to pay contractors,” he said.
The Energia boss said the major challenge faced by the company was crude injection capacity restriction on its export line to Brass terminal by Agip.
He however stated that the company was working with marginal field clusters-Midwestern Oil and Gas, Pillar Oil, Platform Petroleum and Chorus Energy to negotiate for higher injection capacity with Agip.
As a permanent solution to the crude injection restriction, he said Energia, in collaboration with Midwestern Oil and its joint venture partners was constructing a 53-kilometer, 12 inch export line from Umusadege field to Eriemu manifold, to serve as an alternative export line for the cluster group.
“This line should remove the present bottleneck we presently face through the export line to Brass terminal. The alternative line is expected to handle the additional crude produced from the new wells (Ebendo 6 and 7),” he added.
He also disclosed that illegal bunkering had also remained another headache for the cluster companies, noting that the clusters lost about $72 million in 2012 alone to illegal bunkering, while Energia loses about 15 per cent of its daily injection to the illicit trade.
