Lekoil, the oil and gas exploration and production company with a focus on Nigeria and West Africa more generally, announces the start of oil production from the Otakikpo Marginal Field (“Otakikpo”) in oil mining lease (OML) 11 which is located on the shore line in the south-eastern part of the Niger Delta.
Following the successful re-entry of the Otakikpo-002 well, first oil flowed to surface late on 5 September 2015 with production testing being conducted over the weekend. The Otakikpo-002 well produced from only the first of four planned production strings, and flowed oil at various choke sizes for over 24 hours at a peak rate of 5,703bopd at a 36/64 inch choke, significantly ahead of expectations. The Addendum to the Competent Persons Report prepared by AGR TRACS International Ltd released by the Company on 21 January 2015 indicated that it expected to produce around 6,000bopd from the four strings at Otakikpo-002 and -003. Based on these preliminary results, the Directors of Lekoil currently believe that this guidance is likely to be exceeded substantially, although further testing and analysis will be required before the Company is able to provide formal guidance.
It has taken just nine months for the Otakikpo Joint Venture (Lekoil as Financial and Technical Partner and Green Energy International (“Green Energy”) as Operator) to bring the Otakikpo field into production since it began operations on the field in December 2014, and less than 16 months in total since Lekoil entered into a farm-in agreement with Green Energy.
Otakikpo-002 will now be temporarily suspended to allow completion and testing of the upper C5 zone following which an official well-test programme will commence and the rig will move to start re-entry operations on Otakikpo-003. During the well test, oil will flow into onshore storage tanks. The second production well, Otakikpo-003, is expected to come on stream around year end.
Lekan Akinyanmi, Lekoil’s CEO, said, “We are delighted to announce that Lekoil is now an oil producer. We
always believed in the potential of Otakikpo but the production rate from the first re-entered well has
exceeded our expectations. This is a real achievement for the Otakikpo Joint Venture. I would like to thank the
entire team that has worked so hard to deliver this resut, our partners Green Energy, investors and our host
communities for their continued support.”
“However, there is a lot more to be done. We expect to finalize the evacuation infrastructure during the official well test period and determine the optimal production rate that maximises value from the two wells.”
“Production at Otakikpo represents the first major step in fulfilling our strategy to be the world’s leading E&P company focused on Africa and maximising value for our stakeholders and host communities in a sustainable manner. Safety remains our key priority and we will continue applying the highest standard to our operations as we grow production to, and now beyond, our initial Phase 1 target.”
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