March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, began production from its Akpo deep-water oil and gas field off Nigeria’s shore before its planned startup date.
With proved and probable reserves estimated at 620 million barrels of condensate and more than 1 trillion cubic feet of gas, Akpo is “one of the largest deep offshore projects ever undertaken” and will be the largest brought on stream in 2009, Total said in a statement today. Output was slated originally to begin in the second quarter.
Total is counting on production growth in the next decade from deep-water fields in Africa, heavy-oil ventures in Canada and liquefied natural-gas projects. Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie has predicted output will increase this year after it dropped 2 percent in 2008.
Total, which operates the Nigerian development, plans to increase gas condensate production from the field to 175,000 barrels a day by summer. Gas condensate is a liquid hydrocarbon usually produced at the same time as natural gas. Akpo’s natural-gas production is expected to reach 320 million cubic feet a day, Total said.
Total has a 24 percent interest in block OML 130, in which Akpo is located. State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, South Atlantic Petroleum, China’s Cnooc Ltd. and Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA hold the remaining interest.
‘Most Important’
Cnooc, China’s largest offshore oil producer, has a 45 percent stake. Cnooc aims to increase oil and gas output by as much as 18 percent to 231 million barrels of oil equivalent this year, the company said in January.
Akpo “will become the most important new oil field of the year,” Cnooc Chairman Fu Chengyu said in a statement today.
The field, discovered in 2000, is 200 kilometers (124 miles) off Nigeria’s shore. Oil and gas will be pumped via a floating production, storage and offloading vessel and exported through a moored oil terminal, according to the Total statement.
Akpo is one of five Total projects expected to start up this year. The others are Yemen LNG, the Tahiti project in the Gulf of Mexico and Angola’s Tombua-Landan field and Qatargas 2.
With proved and probable reserves estimated at 620 million barrels of condensate and more than 1 trillion cubic feet of gas, Akpo is “one of the largest deep offshore projects ever undertaken” and will be the largest brought on stream in 2009, Total said in a statement today. Output was slated originally to begin in the second quarter.
Total is counting on production growth in the next decade from deep-water fields in Africa, heavy-oil ventures in Canada and liquefied natural-gas projects. Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie has predicted output will increase this year after it dropped 2 percent in 2008.
Total, which operates the Nigerian development, plans to increase gas condensate production from the field to 175,000 barrels a day by summer. Gas condensate is a liquid hydrocarbon usually produced at the same time as natural gas. Akpo’s natural-gas production is expected to reach 320 million cubic feet a day, Total said.
Total has a 24 percent interest in block OML 130, in which Akpo is located. State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, South Atlantic Petroleum, China’s Cnooc Ltd. and Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA hold the remaining interest.
‘Most Important’
Cnooc, China’s largest offshore oil producer, has a 45 percent stake. Cnooc aims to increase oil and gas output by as much as 18 percent to 231 million barrels of oil equivalent this year, the company said in January.
Akpo “will become the most important new oil field of the year,” Cnooc Chairman Fu Chengyu said in a statement today.
The field, discovered in 2000, is 200 kilometers (124 miles) off Nigeria’s shore. Oil and gas will be pumped via a floating production, storage and offloading vessel and exported through a moored oil terminal, according to the Total statement.
Akpo is one of five Total projects expected to start up this year. The others are Yemen LNG, the Tahiti project in the Gulf of Mexico and Angola’s Tombua-Landan field and Qatargas 2.