TotalEnergies, which operates Oil Mining Licence (OML) 99 in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), announced on Monday that it had started production from the Ikike field in Nigeria.
The company, which owns 40 percent of the oilfield located 20 kilometres off the coast at a depth of about 20 meters, said the Ikike platform is tied back to the existing Amenam offshore facilities through a 14 km multiphase pipeline.
It will deliver peak production of 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of 2022, TotalEnergies said.
Explaining further, the oil company said the Ikike project leverages existing facilities to keep costs low and is designed to minimize greenhouse gas emissions: estimated at less than 4kg CO2e/boe, saying they will contribute to reducing the average carbon intensity of TotalEnergies’ upstream portfolio.
The company added that 95percent of hours were worked locally, noting that the jacket, as well as the topside modules, were entirely built and integrated by local contractors.
“TotalEnergies is pleased to start production at Ikike, which was launched a few months before the Covid-19 pandemic, and whose success owes a lot to the full mobilization of the teams.
“By tapping discoveries close to existing facilities, this project fits the Company’s strategy of focusing on low-cost and low-emission oil projects,” Henri-Max Ndong-Nzue, Senior Vice President Africa, Exploration and Production at TotalEnergies said.
Read also: What you need to know about Ikike oilfield
The field is expected to recover 77.41 million barrels of oil equivalent, which includes 69.6 million barrels of crude oil and condensate reserves and 46.87 billion cubic feet of liquid natural gas reserves.
The French company, which took a Final Investment Decision on the Ikike project in January 2019, said in 2021 that it expected to reach first oil late last year. It said it had hoped to begin production at the project in 2020.
The engineering studies for the development of the Ikike field were completed in 2018. It said the field would be developed as a satellite tie-back to the Amenam-Kpono field, which is also owned and operated by the TotalEnergies/NNPC JV.
Total has been operating in Nigeria for more than 50 years in upstream and downstream sectors. The company operates five offshore production licenses, including OML 130, OML 102, OML 100, OML 102, and one onshore licence OML 58. The licences hold various fields including the Akpo, Egina, Ikike, Ofon 2, and Preowei.
