Omotolani Oresanwo
In a statement issued by the Group General Manager of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr Ohi Alegbe on Sunday, the corporation made it known that it had secured $1.2bn multi-year drilling financing package for 36 offshore/onshore oil wells.
The funding is packaged by a consortium of indigenous and international lenders, according to the statement and it is an integral part of the Accelerated Upstream Financing Programme initiated by the NNPC to address the perennial challenge being experienced by the Federal Government in providing its counterpart funding for JV upstream activities.
Alegbe said the initiative apart from supplementing the country’s cash-call commitments, would also help in the maintenance of current production levels in the short term as well as replacing the depleting foreign reserves.
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The statement read, “Breakdown of the NNPC/ Chevron JV deal, which was executed at a signing ceremony in London over the weekend, indicates that the $1.2bn is to be channelled into the development of 23 onshore and 13 offshore wells in OML 49, 90 and 95 in two stages over 2015 to 2018.
“Stage one, comprising 19 wells, is projected to deliver 21,000 barrels of crude oil and condensate per day alongside 120 million standard cubic feet of gas per day over 2015 and 2016. Stage two, comprising 17 wells, is projected to yield 20,000 barrels of crude oil and condensate per day alongside gas production of 7mmscf/d between 2016 and 2018.”
It is expected that both stages of the project would generate $2bn to $5bn of incremental revenue to the Federation Account.
It added that beyond the contribution to the national treasury, the projected peak incremental gas production of 127mmscf/d, which is an electricity equivalent of 400 megawatts, would help boost the Federal Government’s domestic gas aspirations with expectant positive effect on power supply.
