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Nigeria's oil and gas production and reserves capacities continue to record increases contrary to global trends which are moving in the opposite direction. Proven crude oil reserves now stand at about 35 billion barrels, up from about 20 billion barrels a decade ago. Production capacity potential is currently estimated at about 3 million bpd compared with the 2 million (plus) bpd currently being produced.
This phenomenal growth is being fueled by recent large deepwater discoveries. Some 7 billion barrels of oil and 19 Tcf of gas has been discovered in Nigeria's deepwater areas since 1996. For example, the $3.6 billion Bonga field, containing up to 1 billion barrels of reserves and operated by Shell Nigeria, began production in October 2005. At peak production by year end, the field is projected to produce an estimated 225,000 bopd and 150 MMscf/d of natural gas.
Located in more than 1,000 meters of water, production facilities comprise one of the world's largest Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels and deepwater subsea infrastructures. The field's initial 16 subsea oil producing and water injection wells are connected to the 2 million barrel storage capacity FPSO by production flowlines, risers and control umbilicals.
Another significant discovery is Chevron's Agbami field that holds more than 1 billion barrels of reserves and ranks among the single largest deepwater discoveries in the world.
Given these discoveries and the current rate of exploration, the country's oil reserves aspiration of 40 million barrels and production of 4.5 million bpd by 2010 may be realizable.
Nigerian Content Initiative
Investment in the Nigerian petroleum industry continues to grow. Between 2005 and 2010, more than $67 billion of new investments are projected. However, unlike in previous years, a significant portion of this investment will be retained in the country through the Nigerian (local) Content Policy initiative of the Nigerian Government. This initiative calls for 45% Nigerian content for some projects by the end of...