Agbami

Agbami Oil Field Profile

Location and Geology

• The Agbami oil field is located approximately 112 kilometers offshore Nigeria, in the central Niger Delta region, about 354 kilometers southeast of Lagos.
• It spans across oil mining lease (OML) 127 and OML 128, covering an area of around 45,000 acres (182 square kilometers).

Discovery and Appraisal

• The Agbami field was discovered in 1998 by Texaco, with the Agbami-1 well encountering 420 net feet of pay in multiple oil zones at a depth of 8,200 to 12,400 feet in 4,700 feet of water.
• The discovery was confirmed by Statoil’s Ekoli-1 well in 2000, which extended the field into block 217. The Agbami-2 appraisal well, drilled in 2000, further confirmed the size of the Agbami structure and encountered 534 feet of pay in five separate oil-bearing zones.

Reserves and Production

• The Agbami field is estimated to hold approximately 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with potentially recoverable volumes of around 900 million barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids.
• The field became operational in July 2008 and reached its peak production rate of 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August 2009. As of 2021, the cumulative production had exceeded 1 billion barrels of oil.
• The average net daily production from the field in 2019 was 90,000 barrels of crude oil and 14 million cubic feet of natural gas.

Oil Quality

• The oil from the Agbami field is light, sweet crude with an API gravity of 35°-45° (typically around 47° API) and very low levels of contaminants such as vanadium, nickel, and iron.

Development and Infrastructure

• The Agbami field is developed using a subsea production system tied back to a Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. The FPSO was constructed by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea and was delivered to the field in December 2007.
• The FPSO has a production capacity of 250,000 bpd, a storage capacity of approximately 2.2 million barrels of crude oil, and can handle 450 million cubic feet of gas production and 450,000 barrels of injected water per day. It is moored in about 4,700 feet of water and is expected to be on location for over 20 years.
• The FPSO features 13 topside modules containing the main process and utility systems, weighs approximately 30,000 tons, generates 75 megawatts of power, and has accommodation for 100 personnel.

Subsea Infrastructure

• The field is connected to a complex subsea infrastructure of wells and manifolds that gather and transport hydrocarbons from the reservoir to the surface. At least 40 subsea wells are planned to fully exploit the field.

Operators and Partners

• The Agbami field is operated by Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) with a 68.2% interest. Other partners include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Famfa Oil Limited, Petrobras, and Statoil (now Equinor).

Economic and Strategic Importance

• The Agbami field is one of Nigeria's largest deepwater developments and plays a critical role in the country's oil production, significantly contributing to Nigeria's economy and global oil supply.
• The project is also a major engineering achievement in deepwater oil extraction and contributes to local economic development by providing jobs and infrastructure in Nigeria.

Development Phases

• A ten-well development program was planned to increase crude oil production capacity and offset the field’s decline. Drilling began in May 2010, and additional infill drilling was conducted in 2019 to maintain production levels.
• The development strategy included multiple phases (Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3), with the most significant enhancements made in Phase 3 focusing on development staging, timing, and reducing the number of wells to lower capital expenditure.

Environmental Considerations

• Associated gas from the field is reinjected into the reservoir for pressure maintenance and to eliminate gas flaring, aligning with environmental best practices.

In summary, the Agbami oil field is a significant deepwater oil development in Nigeria, characterized by its high-quality light crude oil, complex subsea infrastructure, and substantial contribution to both the local and global energy sectors.