Total Starts Up Production of the Giant Egina Field in Nigeria
Total has started up production on 29 December 2018 from the Egina field, located in around 1,600 m of water depths, 150 km off the coast of Nigeria. At plateau, the Egina field will produce 200,000 BPD, which represents about 10% of Nigeria’s production.
The Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit used to develop the giant Egina field is the largest one Total has ever built. This project has also involved a record level of local contractors. Six of the 18 modules on the FPSO were built and integrated locally, and 77% of hours spent on the project were worked locally. Startup has been achieved close to 10% below the initial budget, which represents more than $1 billion of CAPEX savings, due in particular to drilling performance where the drilling time per well has been reduced by 30%.
“Total is proud to deliver a project of this size under the initial budget and to contribute to the development of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector by generating employment as well as building industrial capability,” Arnaud Breuillac, President Exploration & Production, said. “Egina will significantly boost the Group’s production and cash flow from 2019 onwards, and benefit from our strong cost reduction efforts in Nigeria where we have reduced our operating costs by 40% over the last four years. Furthermore, some upside potential nearby remains to be developed and we are studying in particular Preowei discovery tie-back to the Egina FPSO.”
Initially discovered in 2003, the Egina field is the second development in production on the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130 following the Akpo field, which started up in 2009. The Preowei field is another large discovery made on this prolific block for which an investment decision is scheduled for 2019.
