ExxonMobil Nigeria’s unit starts $1bn Usan deepwater project

…To unlock 40,000 Barrels Daily

Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Offshore East) Limited, a unit of Exxon Mobil Corp., has begun on-block work on the Usan Infill Project, adding to the US oil major’s push to expand output from its deepwater holdings off Nigeria’s coast.

The project, located in Oil Mining Lease 138, is designed to boost production from the Usan field, which flows into the Usan floating production, storage and offloading vessel. Once complete, it’s expected to add as much as 40,000 barrels a day of incremental output, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Esso and its OML 138 partners, Chevron Corp., TotalEnergies SE and Nexen, a unit of China’s CNOOC Ltd., have committed roughly $1 billion to the venture. The company is targeting first production within 18 months, a timeline it credited to seismic data acquired and processed in 2024 that identified the investment opportunity.

“The start of the Usan Infill Project reflects ExxonMobil’s continued focus on developing our deepwater portfolio in Nigeria,” Jagir Baxi, chairman and managing director of ExxonMobil’s Nigerian affiliates, said in the statement. He said the company aims to apply what it called proven execution capabilities to lift output “safely and efficiently” while delivering value to stakeholders.

The move adds to a string of recent deepwater commitments in Nigeria, as international oil companies weigh the country’s fiscal terms and security environment against the scale of its offshore reserves.

Exxon has been recalibrating its Nigerian portfolio for several years, having sold its shallow-water assets to Seplat Energy Plc in a deal completed in 2024 while retaining and continuing to invest in its deepwater blocks, including OML 138.

Esso said the project underscores confidence in the Usan resource base and in Nigeria’s broader deepwater potential, and it pointed to steps taken by the Nigerian government to improve the investment climate for offshore projects.

The company also acknowledged support from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, and NNPC Ltd., the state energy company and its production-sharing contract partner on the block.

The Usan field has been producing since 2012, and operators have periodically pursued infill drilling and subsea tie-backs to offset natural output declines from the reservoir.

Analysts have said such short-cycle projects — which lean on existing infrastructure like the Usan FPSO rather than new standalone facilities — tend to carry lower execution risk and faster payback than greenfield deepwater developments, making them an attractive way for majors to sustain output without the multiyear lead times typical of new offshore fields.

OML 138 is held under a production-sharing contract with NNPC Ltd., with Esso as operator alongside Chevron, TotalEnergies and Nexen.

Nigeria remains Africa’s largest oil producer, and deepwater fields off its coast account for a growing share of national output as onshore and shallow-water production has been hit by pipeline vandalism, crude theft and years of underinvestment.