NIGERIA - Oil & Gas Fields.

Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) operates more than 25 offshore fields, including discoveries yet to be developed, in the Gulf of Guinea. They are close to the territorial waters of Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, with some of the new fields discovered by Mobil and Elf Aquitaine having been the subject of territorial disputes between Nigeria and these countries.

Mobil's production capacity has fallen to 510,000 b/d, compared to almost 590,000 b/d in 1998. The fall is due to non-payment of arrears by NNPC and budget cuts. Mobil's budget for 1999 was cut from $1.02 bn to $600m and the company only has one rig working on site, compared to nine in 1997. It has cancelled several upstream contracts and its activities in Nigeria now are at their lowest point for the 1990s.

Production consists of 395,000 of conventional crude oils blended into an export grade, Qua Iboe, 37 deg. API with 0.1% sulphur, and 110,000 b/d of condensate (excluded from OPEC's quotas) from the Oso gas field. The conventional crudes are produced mainly from fields of the Qua Iboe group. Mobil's capacity had risen steadily from 430,000 b/d in mid-1995 and the US major was aiming for 1.05m b/d by 2010 (see OMT).

This is a JV in which NNPC holds 60% and Mobil 40%. It comprises the Qua Iboe group and other fields, under a set of licences, and Oso under another licence. Qua Iboe and Oso are part of the eastern Akwa Ibom state. Exports are done from a Qua Iboe terminal.

Mobil came to Nigeria after independence in the early 1960s and took up several E&P licences offshore. Its first main oil discoveries in 1966 were six fields: Ekpe, Asabo, Eku, Idoho, Inim and Utue. They were all developed and went into production two to three years later. In 1967 it discovered the Adua oilfield, which it developed, and the Oso gas/condensate field which it decided not to develop at the time because the incentives were not adequate. Oil discoveries were made in the subsequent decades and Mobil developed most of them to replace older fields which were depleting.

The Qua Iboe group includes large structures, such as Edop which in the early 1980s was described as the biggest oil discovery in Nigeria. It has the biggest platform in the country. Edop has been developed again and now produces about 160,000 b/d, up from 50,000 b/d in mid-1995, with large reserves to feed a capacity of 280,000 b/d by 2002. Ubit is the second largest, producing 110,000 b/d from 85,000 b/d in mid-1995. Isobo, a nearby field, came on stream in July 1995 at the rate of 30,000 b/d. Gas compression and reinjection facilities have been installed in the Ekpe and Edop fields as part of an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) programme.

Other fields found by Mobil and developed include Inanga, Ufan, and Yoho. Yoho is being developed for an eventualy capacity of up to 250,000 b/d. Omon, a large oilfield, is to be developed for a capacity of more than 100,000 b/d. Usari oil and gas field was partly put on stream in late 1998 to feed Oso's expanded gas liquids system (see below).