Africa’s biggest oil-producing country is expected to get output boost from the start-up of Anyala-Madu field in 2021 following the first export cargo of Nigeria’s newest crude grade, Anyala, reported to be on its way to Northwest Europe.
The above development is expected to boost Nigeria’s crude and condensate production, which led to a substantial shortfall in revenue collections in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on economic activity.
According to S&P Global Platts, the ship called Aframax Minerva Clara loaded a 700,000-barrel stem of Anyala crude from the Abigail-Joseph floating production, storage and offloading vessel on January 10, 2021, and the tanker is on its way to the Fos-sur-Mer terminal, located at France’s Mediterranean port of Marseille.
Production from the Anyala-Madu field development project is expected to reach 60,000bpd, providing a much needed boost to Nigeria’s oil output.
The project is Nigeria newest oil development since the start-up of the giant 200,000bpd Egina field in late 2018. It is also the country first wholly indigenously executed and funded integrated oil and gas project in the shallow offshore.
What is Anyala
Anyala is the country’s newest oil development since the start-up of the giant Egina field in late-2018.
The Anyala Field, which was discovered 42 years ago, is a shallow water asset. It has been labelled a medium sweet crude grade, similar in quality to Nigeria’s flagship crude Bonny Light, and when refined, Anyala will produce a high yield of middle distillates, making it attractive to both simple and complex refineries.
Other types of crude grades currently produced in Nigeria include Qua Iboe, Forcados and Brass River.
When was Anyala discovered?
Oil was first struck in the Anyala West oil fields in the Niger Delta in November, and when fully developed, production is expected to reach 60,000bpd, according to FIRST E&P.
In a note by FIRST E&P, seven development wells have been planned in Phase 1 in the Anyala West field (OML 83), which will be developed along with the nearby Madu field in (OML 85).
The project is estimated to contain 300 million barrels of crude oil recoverable reserves.
The final investment decision on the project was made in July 2018, while first oil was initially expected in 2019.
Implication of new discovery for Nigeria
This remarkable milestone is expected to lead to expected peak production of 60,000bpd and further move Nigeria’s oil production towards its 2021 targets of 3 million bpd.
Nigeria is desperate to increase its oil reserves as a fall in investment has put some strain on the country’s oil and gas sector.
“It is a project that will go a long way in helping us achieve our strategic objective of 3 million bpd by 2023,” said Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) group managing director, Mele Kyari, about the project.
Nigerian oil output has fallen sharply in the past six months as it has come under pressure to adhere to its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut obligations. Some of the country’s key grades like Qua Iboe, Forcados and Brass River have also recently faced outages.
