The joint venture (JV) between Nigeria National Petroleum Co. Ltd. (NNPC) and Chevron Corp. is targeting to reach production of 165,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) by the end of 2024 after converting their licenses under the terms of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
The partners opted not to wait until the leases expire before converting them and instead exercised their right of voluntary conversion, national oil and gas company NNPC said in a statement. Their five Oil Mining Licenses (OMLs) under the Petroleum Profit Tax Act (PPTA) have been converted into 26 Petroleum Mining Leases and four Petroleum Prospecting Licenses under the PIA, which was passed 2021.
“The PIA terms are generally perceived as more investor-friendly, compared to the erstwhile PPTA terms”, said the statement on the NNPC website.
NNPC and Chevron’s local arm Chevron Nigeria Ltd. expect the conversion to “significantly boost crude oil production”, paving the way for reaching 165,000 bopd before the year ends, according to the statement.
NNPC chief executive Mele Kyari told the conversion signing ceremony in Abuja, as quoted in the statement, “Over the years, Chevron has been a partner of choice that has not contemplated completely divesting/exiting the shallow water and we are proud of them”.
Several multinationals decided to offload or scale back their onshore operations in Nigeria to focus offshore.
Eni announced August 22 it had finalized the divestment of its onshore oil and gas exploration and production subsidiary in Nigeria to local player Oando PLC. The subsidiary, Nigerian Agip Oil Co. Ltd., focuses on the Niger Delta, an oil theft-plagued region in the south of the West African country.
“Eni will continue to be present in the country through investment in deepwater projects and Nigeria LNG, while also exploring new opportunities related to agri-feedstock sector”, the Italian government-controlled energy major said in a statement then.
Britain’s Shell PLC said January 16 it had signed a deal to divest its 30 percent operating stake in the Shell Petroleum Development Co. Joint Venture (SPDC JV) to Renaissance Africa Energy Co. Ltd.
“This agreement marks an important milestone for Shell in Nigeria, aligning with our previously announced intent to exit onshore oil production in the Niger Delta, simplifying our portfolio and focusing future disciplined investment in Nigeria on our Deepwater and Integrated Gas positions”, Shell integrated gas and upstream director Zoë Yujnovich said in a company statement at the time.
On July 17 TotalEnergies SE said it had also agreed to sell its 10 percent interest in the SPDC JV to Nigerian-owned Chappal Energies Mauritius Ltd.“TotalEnergies continues to actively manage its portfolio in Nigeria, in line with its strategy to focus on its oil offshore and gas assets”, Nicolas Terraz, president for exploration and production at TotalEnergies, said in a company statement at the time.
Exxon Mobil Corp. has also entered an agreement to sell its stake in Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to local player Seplat Energy PLC, as announced by the United States company February 25, 2022. Mobil Producing Nigeria holds a 40 percent stake in four OMLs including over 90 shallow-water and onshore platforms and 300 producing wells, ExxonMobil said then.
Source:https://www.rigzone.com