TotalEnergies to drill oil well in next one year, completes fresh well projects

TotalEnergies has disclosed plans to drill an oil well in the next one year, completing it either by end of 2023 or early 2024.

This was the big hint at the just-concluded Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja.

The deputy managing director of Total Energies in charge of deep-water operations, Victor Bandele, told the audience at the International Conference Centre (ICC) during the energy CEOs session on the Day 4 of the Summit that his team has an exploration well to drill in the year 2023 or early 2024 in the deep waters.

He said: “Drilling this is to consolidate on the access we have in the Joint Venture (JV).”

He went on to reveal that this year, 2023, they just finished drilling an ‘Expro’ well.

“It is being tested and the regulators are aware of this. It is a well that has just been completed. It is going to add value,” he said.

Bandele was responding to questions on the CEOs panel on future plans by oil companies under the title: ‘Building Energy for Tomorrow.’

Harping more on future plans, Bandele said their OML-8 project was now a solarisation project just to enlarge what they have started.

“More electricity to the community in that area on 100 percent solar. We are targeting the next two years to deliver on this. We are discussing with the partners. It is important to take deliberate actions and be consistent about it.”

He went on: “We need to continue to consolidate in the things we know how best to: oil and gas. We are desperate to continue this. For the future, we know we need to be a bit more conscious of the relevance of gas as a transition fuel. To this extent, we have launched those projects I talked about, so Ubeta Project on the onshore is already ongoing in the detailed engineering stage.

“What we mean to do with that is to complement all the gas resources that we have in that area. We have only one block on the onshore. The communities around there have not known darkness in the past 25 years.”

Bandele added: “We have been supplying them power. That is sustainability and it is a deliberate action.

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“TotalEnergies has branded itself as a multi-energy company, but it’s not just for branding sake, we have acquired the second largest solar company in the world. We acquired 100 per cent ownership in it in 2022. It is a deliberate action.

“Even in our downstream operations, 50 per cent of the 550 stations are on solar power. This shows it is a deliberate action. You have to decide that you want to move in that space.”

The deputy MD said the company would consolidate in what they are doing, grow in new energy, and that solar is important. “We will develop a lot of gas. We have done a lot in that space.

“We are challenging the industry to increase the scope of gas that can be used from the channel we have developed. We are underutilising that pipeline.”

Further into the future, TotalEnergies said it would need to start with actions and match talk with work.

“As everybody has said, I really believe that this country is the cornerstone to develop Africa. No other country is as matured as Nigeria to do this. We have the highest manpower. The kind of experience we have in this hall alone is huge. We have enormous manpower. All we need is to harness all we have. The environment is becoming and people will look for business opportunities I Nigeria and we have to consolidate on this.”

Earlier, Bandele said NIES was a wonderful platform and the issues for discuss were very apt. “I say this because Government has declared the ‘Decade of Gas’, and I think all investors have embarked on some sort of projects to make sure this is a reality.

“In my own small corner, TotalEnergies, we are seeing a lot of progress made in this direction. We have done significant push in meeting all domestic gas obligations we have signed with government and stakeholders which continuously enriched our portfolio in gas. To that extent, I can say we have projects to take care of all our obligations to the country in the two years.”

He said TotalEnergies has projects onshore that have been launched and which should be delivering substantial gas to Nigeria market and for export.

“Significantly, we are in the new energy sector also, pushing in all areas, especially in solar. So, the company is present in all the known sectors of energy in Nigeria. We are in the downstream, upstream, midstream, and to emphasise that in the downstream, in all the 550 fuel stations we have, 50 per cent run on solar energy. This is a testimony of our deliberate action to move into the future.”

He said they are taking big action, in fact deliberate action that the company that points to where they want to go. He talked about 2050 as a global gas target year. “We have to be compliant in Nigeria as a subsidiary. To get to that stage, we have three axes: one, the level of responsibility we will take as a company. Our history tells that story very well. Even before this talk of renewable energy or global warming, we had decided to be a responsible company.

He thus announced with huge applause that TotalEnergies would flare out this year, 2023. “That is deliberate action, and this did not start today. It started in the past 20 years and we have been progressive about that. That is why I can make that pronouncement that before the end of 2023, we stop flaring in any location.

“As another point of responsibility to say that over the years, we have been consistent in development, making sure that all infrastructure we have are fully utilized.”

On these, the anchor team at the panel commended TotalEnergies greatly as more applause trailed.