OpeOluwani Akintayo
19 July 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Tom Shot Bank oilfield, offshore Akwa Ibom State, has been identified by SweetcrudeReports as one of the marginal fields awarded since 2004 but has not been able to produce a single barrel of oil.
A marginal field is one with capacity to produce between 8,000 to 10,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The field, originally owned by Shell. was awarded to Dansaki Petroleum Limited, which was established on June 5, 2000 by a group of retired engineers and professionals.
In the 2000s when the Federal Government invited applications from indigenous companies for allocation of marginal fields, Dansaki Petroleum Limited applied for two fields of interest, one offshore and the other onshore.
After consideration of the applications submitted by 71 companies in 2002, the government awarded 24 fields to 31 companies in year 2004.
Tom Shot Bank offshore oilfield was awarded to two companies namely, Associated Oil And Gas Services Company Limited AOGSL, with 51 percent equity and Dansaki Petroleum Limited with 49 percent equity, while AOGSL was designated the operator.
SweetcrudeReports learnt that Dansaki Petroleum at the moment, has not produced a single barrel after thirteen years of being in possession of the field.
The company, we learnt, was unable to reach oil when it first entered the well. Later on, the well was closed, and would be re-entered in the last quarter of this year, with target to produce first oil by 2018.
When contacted by this Newspaper, the Chairman/MD of the company, Engr. Adenrele Afolabi, confirmed the situation, saying the company had financial issues, among others.
“Yes, we are not on production yet. What we have done is to reenter the oil field and also reenter the discovery well, and tested the zone. We did that and found out that the test was not conclusive. So, we suspended that well, and blocked it back the way we met it. Now, we have been allotted another field, and we are planning to go back in the fourth quarter of this year. We will be doing some drilling and production.
Afolabi explained that the company has got a new technical partner. “Our financial and technical partners came on board at a time when crude oil price per barrel was like $120. But when the price started dropping, they left. The crash in oil price affected the project”, he said.
“We now have other partners who took advantage of the studies we have done. That’s why we are planning to go back in the fourth quarters on the year”, he said.