TotalEnergies has made the final investment decision for the $550 million development of the Ubeta gas field in license OML 58 onshore Nigeria.
About 80 km northwest of Port Harcourt in Rivers state, the OML 58 license contains two fields currently in production, the Obagi oil field and the Ibewa gas and condensate field.
OML 58 gas production is processed in the Obite treatment center and supplied to both the Nigerian domestic gas market and to Nigeria LNG (NLNG) plant.
Also in OML 58, the Ubeta gas condensate field will be developed with a new six-well cluster connected to the existing Obite facilities through an 11-km buried pipeline with a targeted production plateau of 300 MMcf/D (about 70,000 BOE/D including condensates).
Gas from Ubeta will be supplied to NLNG, a liquefaction plant in Bonny Island with an on-going capacity expansion from 22 to 30 mtpa, in which TotalEnergies holds a 15% interest.
Production from Ubeta is scheduled to start in 2027.
TotalEnergies calls Ubeta “a low-emission and low-cost development,” leveraging OML 58 existing gas processing facilities. The carbon intensity of the project will be further reduced through a 5-MW solar plant currently under construction at the Obite site and the electrification of the drilling rig.
TotalEnergies is working closely with NNPCL to enhance local content, with more than 90% of manhours expected to be worked locally.
“Ubeta is the latest in a series of projects developed by TotalEnergies in Nigeria, most recently Ikike and Akpo West,” said Mike Sangster, senior vice president for Africa exploration and production at TotalEnergies. “I am pleased that we can launch this new gas project, which has been made possible by the government’s recent incentives for nonassociated gas developments. Ubeta fits perfectly with our strategy of developing low-cost and low-emission projects and will contribute to the Nigerian economy through higher NLNG exports.”
TotalEnergies is the operator of OML 58 with a 40% working interest. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd holds the remaining 60% stake.
The Ubeta field was discovered in 1964 in the northwest of Port Harcourt in the eastern part of the Niger Delta.
TotalEnergies has been in Nigeria for more than 60 years, and the nation is one of the main contributing countries to TotalEnergies’ hydrocarbon production, with 219,000 BOE/D produced in 2023.
