Eni Starts Production at Obiafu 41
Italian oil major Eni said it has started gas and condensate production from the Obiafu 41 discovery, Niger Delta, three weeks after well completion. The discovery contains approximately 28 billion cubic meters of gas and 60 million barrels of condensate, and the gas from this discovery will largely be channeled to the domestic market in order to feed the power sector.
This record time-to-market was made possible thanks to an integrated model, under which the various disciplines work in parallel from the exploration phase, and all synergies with existing production facilities are properly leveraged, Eni said. At the end of ramp-up, production will reach a capacity of about 3 million cubic meters of gas and 3,000 barrels of condensate per day.
The gas from this discovery will be processed at the Eni-operated Ob-Ob plant, and then sent to the Okpai Power Plant, also operated by Eni. Okpai is Nigeria’s first independent power plant and one of the most efficient ones in the country. It currently has an installed capacity of 500 MW and an upgrade is underway which will double its capacity to 1 GW. Once the upgrade is completed, Eni will generate 20% of the entire national electricity production, establishing itself as the leading electricity producer in the country.
In Nigeria, approximately 30% of Eni’s gas production is supplied to the domestic market, and the company is invollved in projects aimed at reducing gas flaring. The sale of gas, that previously would have been flared, to local companies is a contribution to the development of the domestic gas market as well as a boost to the local economy. Through this multi-pronged flaring down strategy Eni aims at zeroing flared gas from all its operations by 2025.
In addition to Okpai power plant, Eni supplies power from its facilities to 85 local communities with approximately 500,000 people.
Eni has been present in Nigeria since 1962, with operated and non-operated exploration, development and production activities on 30,049 square kilometers in the onshore and offshore areas of the Niger Delta. In 2018, Eni's equity hydrocarbon production amounted to 100,000 boe/day.
