01 August 2013, Lagos – The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, said on Tuesday that Marginal Fields operations account for 2.1 per cent of the country’s total crude production, with a daily production of about 60,000 barrels of oil per day.
Speaking at the Society for Petroleum Engineers, SPE 2013 Nigerian Annual International Conference and Exhibition, NAICE, in Lagos, the Director, DPR, Mr. George Osahon, said, however, that the Marginal Fields’ grew their reserves to 302.6 million barrels as at 2013, from 141 million barrels in 2004.
Osahon, who was represented by the Head, Upstream, DPR, Mr. Sam Obiora, said of the 24 marginal fields awarded in 2003 and the five fields awarded on a discretionary basis, only nine are producing.
He listed the active and productive marginal fields’ owners as Platform Petroleum, owner of Asuokpu/Umutu field; Walter Smith and Morris Petroleum, owners of Ibigwe field and Frontier Oil, owner of the Uquo field.
Others are Britania-U, owners of Ajapa field; Midwestern Oil and Gas and Suntrust, owners of Umusadege field and Pillar Oil, owner of Obodogwa/Obodeti field.
He further stated that out of the five marginal fields that were awarded on a discretionary basis, only Oriental Energy, owner of two of the fields — Okwok and Ebok fields, and Niger Delta Petroleum Development Company, NDPDC, owner of Ogbelle field are involved in active production.
Osahon further noted that the country’s crude reserves holding is currently skewed in favour of Joint Ventures, JV, and Production Sharing Contracts, PSC, accounting for 70.86 per cent and 22.67 per cent respectively.
He further stated that Joint Ventures and Production Sharing Contracts still hold majority of the country’s gas reserves, accounting for 77.73 per cent and 14.52 per cent respectively.
He maintained that there is the need to affirmatively invest in indigenous participation in the Nigerian petroleum industry.
The DPR boss, however, stated that the challenges facing the marginal operators have been adequately analysed and remedial legislation and actions are being proposed, especially as some of the marginal field operators are beginning to break new grounds in area of unlocking stranded molecules through deployment of new technologies, thereby creating opportunity for employment and empowerment among others.
He disclosed that identified enablers will be applied in the next marginal fields bid round, adding that numerous opportunities abound to unleash the potential of small operators.
– Michael Eboh, Vanguard
