ExxonMobil is back drilling in Nigeria for the first time since 2016, launching a $1 billion deepwater infill campaign at the Usan field aimed at adding 40,000 barrels a day of crude within 18 months.
The Usan Infill Project will be run by Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria as operator of OML 138, working alongside partners Chevron, TotalEnergies and CNOOC subsidiary Nexen under a production-sharing contract with NNPC. More than $300 million has already been committed by the consortium, with a deepwater drilling rig due at the field next month alongside the sail-away of major subsea equipment. The campaign will deploy the most complex extended-reach well ever drilled at Usan, stretching more than four kilometres to reach previously untapped reservoirs.
The OML 138 partners have invested $16 billion in the asset to date, extracting more than 350 million barrels and generating $4.6 billion in value for Nigeria; the new campaign is projected to add a further $1.2 billion in revenue over four years. Nigeria produced 1.70 million barrels a day of crude and condensate in May, above its OPEC quota of 1.5 million barrels a day but still short of the government’s 2026 budget benchmark of 1.84 million barrels a day — meaning Usan’s extra volumes won’t close the gap alone, but they send a clear signal to investors eyeing Nigeria’s upstream sector.
Source: (prospect-intel.com)