TotalEnergies puts into production another tie-back project off Nigeria

French energy giant TotalEnergies has kicked off production from a field offshore Nigeria, which has been tied to an existing floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. As the project’s carbon intensity is anticipated to be below 5 kg CO2e/boe, this will contribute to curbing the average carbon footprint of the French oil major’s portfolio.

TotalEnergies started drilling the first of three wells – two water injectors and one production well – on the Akpo West field in November 2023 with Noble Corporation’s Gerry de Souza drillship. This field is located in the PML2 license, previously known as OML 130, offshore Nigeria, which also contains the Akpo field. The production from these wells, which were expected to be tied to the FPSO Akpo, was anticipated by the end of 2023. 

However, the French energy giant and its partners did not announce the start of production until February 7, 2024. The Akpo West development leverages the existing Akpo facilities to keep costs low and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. TotalEnergies is the operator of PML2 with a 24% interest, in partnership with CNOOC (45%), Sapetro (15%), Prime 130 (16%), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company as the concessionaire of the PSC.

Mike Sangster, Senior Vice President Africa, Exploration and Production at TotalEnergies, commented: “After Ikike in 2022, TotalEnergies is pleased to start production of another tie-back project in Nigeria, Akpo West, which will contribute to maintaining the production of the existing Akpo facilities by developing additional nearby resources.

“This project fits the company’s strategy of developing low-cost and low-emission projects. This project leverages TotalEnergies’ solid footprint in Nigeria and will quickly bring value to the country, TotalEnergies and its partners.”

Located 135 kilometers off the coast, Akpo West is tied back to the existing FPSO Akpo, which came online in 2009 and produced 124,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2023. By mid-2024, Akpo West is slated to add 14,000 barrels of condensate production per day, to be followed by up to 4 million cubic meters of gas per day by 2028.

Currently, TotalEnergies is in the process of acquiring a stake in a drillship and enlarging its overall gas portfolio with more assets offshore Malaysia, thanks to deals with Vantage Drilling and Austria’s OMV.