OpeOluwani Akintayo
15 July 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Tom Shot Bank offshore oil field in Akwa Ibom, has been identified by Sweetcrude Reports as one of the marginal fields awarded since 2004 but has not been able to produce a single barrel.
A marginal field is one with a capacity to produce between 8000-10,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The field was awarded to Dansaki Petroleum Limited which was established on June 5, 2000, by a group of retired engineers and professionals who have had many years of experience in the oil industry.
In the 2000s when the Federal Government of 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 all the applications, submitted by 71 companies in 2002, the Government awarded 24 fields to 31 companies in the year 2004.
Tom Shot Bank offshore oil field in Akwa Ibom State, 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.
Sweetcrude Reports 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 reentered in the last quarter of this year, to produce its first set of barrels by 2018.
Upon reaching out to Chairman/MD of the company, Dansaki Petroleum Limited, Engr. Adenrele Afolabi, he confirmed the report, saying the company had financial issues among others.
“Yes, we are not into 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.
The oil field was once owned by Shell.
Sweetcrude Reports learnt that the company’s technical partners suddenly pulled out of the deal at the last minute.
However, Engr. Afolabi explained that the company recently 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 quarter on the year”, he added.
According to him, other challenges why the company had not been able to produce was because it had issues with the local communities, security issues, and militancy issues.
He explained that the company had been asked by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), to pay a certain amount of money to re-enter the field after the leasing period was over.
The company targets a production of 5000 barrels per day once it starts producing, according to him.
Before now, there have been clamours about awarded marginal oil fields that have remained dormant for many years, costing a huge loss in revenue for Nigeria.
Many of those marginal oil fields were said to have been awarded to friends, families, cronies, and allies who have no technical or financial power to operate the fields.
