State-owned Nigerian Petroleum Development Company and its partner Eland Oil & Gas are set to start a five-well drilling campaign this month in OML 40 onshore the Niger Delta, writes Iain Esau.

Production from this asset, which borders the Gulf of Guinea and flows to Shell’s Forcados terminal, is currently running at about 26,000 barrels per day all from the Opuama field, according to Eland chief executive George Maxwell.

However, by the end of this drilling campaign, he said gross output could hit about 45,000 bpd.

“We are planning to drill five wells this year, with a rig going to spud two development wells on Gbetiokun beginning in June and a further two wells in Opuama.”

In addition, an exploration well is due to be drilled on the Amobe prospect, which could house about 78 million barrels of recoverable oil.

Located just 6.5 kilometres form Opuama’s production facilities, first oil could be fast-tracked.

London-listed Eland describes Amobe as “a large, clearly-defined structure... comparable to Opuama in terms of structural style and areal extent.”

Gbetiokun is set to be exploited by an early production facility with a capacity of up to 25,000 bpd.

Eland’s other asset is the Ubima licence in northern Rivers State where an extended production test on the Ubima-1 discovery well is due to start “at the end of June,” said Maxwell.

Weekly

Five-well Nigeria campaign