Nigeria’s state-owned oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), just signed some awesome deals to renew the Oil Mining Lease 130 (OML 130) block. How cool is that? According to Reuters, NNPC renewed agreements with Total, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), and others. These agreements include a production sharing contract (PSC) between NNPC and its contractors, CNOOC & South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO), with Total Upstream Nigeria (TUPNI) as the operator. There’s also a settlement repayment agreement (SRA) addendum between NNPC and its contractors CNOOC and SAPETRO. Woohoo! But wait, there’s more! NNPC also covered a heads of agreement (HoA) amendment between NNPC, TUPNI, SAPETRO, PRIME 130, & CNOOC. Plus, they got concession contracts for one petroleum prospecting licence (PPL) and three petroleum mining leases (PML). And let’s not forget the lease and license instruments between NNPC, TUPNI, SAPETRO, PRIME 130, and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). Phew, that’s a lot of agreements! But you know what’s even more exciting? These agreements are expected to pave the way for a ‘to firm up final investment decision’ on the Preowei project. And guess how much it’s estimated to cost? A whopping $2.1 billion! Can you believe it? Oh, and here’s another interesting tidbit: NNPC is hoping that these agreements will convert the oil mining lease into a petroleum mining licence. Talk about a game-changer! Now, let’s talk about the OML 130 block. It’s located offshore Niger Delta and has some pretty impressive features. The block includes the Akpo and Egina fields, which are producing oil, and the Preowei discovery. The Akpo field has been up and running since 2009, while the Egina field started production in 2018. And get this, the OML 130 block currently has a production capacity of 170,000 barrels per day. That’s a whole lot of oil! So, there you have it, folks. NNPC has just made some major moves with the renewal of the OML 130 block. It’s a big step towards the development of the Preowei project and the conversion of the oil mining lease. Exciting times ahead for Nigeria’s oil industry!
