Nigeria’s crude production rises on NNPCL Akpo West 14,000bpd addition 

Ben Eguzozie

Nigeria’s national oil company, NNPC Limited, says it has begun production of oil from the 14,000 barrels per day (bpd) Akpo West field.

The milestone, the company said, is the result of meticulous planning, strategic collaboration, and unwavering dedication from all stakeholders involved in the project, and will add 14,000 bpd condensate to the nation’s production.

This will be followed up by the production of about 4 million cubic meters of gas per day by 2028, according to a statement by Olufemi Soneye, chief corporate communications officer at NNPC Ltd.

Development of Akpo West is on Petroleum Mining Lease (PML) 2, formerly OML 130. It leverages the existing Akpo Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility via a subsea tie-back to keep costs low and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

The national oil company said, the milestone was enabled by the strategic leadership of the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Mele Kyari and the Upstream Directorate of the NNPC Ltd whose support played a key role in propelling the operators to actualise the short- and mid-term hydrocarbon production goal of the President Tinubu administration.

Akpo West is located 135 kilometres offshore. It 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.

PML 2 is operated by TotalEnergies with a 24% interest, in partnership with China National Offshore Oil Corporation – CNOOC (45%), South Atlantic Petroleum – also known as Sapetro (15%), Prime 130 (16%), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd as the concessionaire of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC).