Nigeria Oil And Gas Profile
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Introduction
- Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa, holds the largest natural gas reserves on the continent, and was the world's fourth leading exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2012
- Although Nigeria is the leading oil producer in Africa, production suffers from supply disruptions, which have resulted in unplanned outages as high as 500,000 barrels per day (bbl/d)
History
- 1999 - Nigeria sold its first LNG
- 2003 - The first deepwater field began production
Regulation
- The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was created in 1977 to oversee the regulation of the oil and natural gas industries, with secondary responsibilities for upstream and downstream developments. In 1988, the NNPC was divided into 12 subsidiary companies to regulate the sub-sectors within the industry. The Department of Petroleum Resources, within the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, is another key regulator, focusing on general compliance, leases and permits, and environmental standards.
Upstream
- Nigeria produces mostly light, sweet (low sulfur) crude oil of which the vast majority is exported to global markets. Crude oil production in Nigeria reached its peak of 2.44 million bbl/d in 2005, but began to decline significantly as violence from militant groups surged, forcing many companies to withdraw staff and shut in production. By 2009, crude oil production plummeted by more than 25% to average 1.8 million bbl/d.
- Another major factor that contributed to the upward trend in output was the continued increase in new deepwater offshore production.
- The first deepwater field began production in 2003, and since then, output from deepwater fields has added more than 800,000 bbl/d to the country's production capacity.
- Nigeria had an estimated 182 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven natural gas reserves as of January 2013, according to OGJ, making Nigeria the ninth largest natural gas reserve holder in the world and the largest in Africa. Despite holding a global top-10 position for proven natural gas reserves, Nigeria produced about 1.2 Tcf of dry natural gas in 2012, ranking it as the world's 25th largest dry natural gas producer.
- Because some of Nigeria's oil fields lack the infrastructure to capture the natural gas produced with oil, known as associated gas, much of it is flared (burned off).
- Natural gas flared in Nigeria accounts for 10% of the total amount flared globally.
- List of Oil Mining Licences (OML) in Nigeria
Active Companies
- NNPC has JV arrangements and/or PSCs with Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total, and Eni. Other companies active in Nigeria's oil and natural gas sectors are Addax Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Petrobras, Statoil, and several Nigerian companies
Crude Oils
- Nigeria's best known crude oil is Bonny Light Crude. However there are a number of others including Escravos Crude, Brass River Crude Oil, Pennington Light Crude Oil, Forcados Crude and Agbami Light Crude
Midstream
- Nigeria is supplying natural gas to its neighbours via the West African Gas Pipeline
- Nigeria and Algeria have proposed plans to construct the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP). The 2,500-mile pipeline would carry natural gas from oil fields in Nigeria's Delta region to Algeria's Beni Saf export terminal on the Mediterranean Sea and is designed to supply gas to Europe.
LNG
- Nigeria exports the vast majority of its natural gas in the form of LNG
- Nigeria exported 19.8 MMtpa (950 Bcf) of LNG in 2012, according to FACTS Global Energy, making Nigeria the fourth largest LNG exporter in the world.
- The Nigeria LNG Terminal facility on Bonny Island is Nigeria's only operating LNG plant.
- Brass LNG Limited, a consortium made up of NNPC (49%), Total (17%), ConocoPhillips (17%), and Eni (17%), is developing the Brass LNG Terminal
Downstream
- Nigeria consumed 270,000 bbl/d of petroleum in 2012. The country has four refineries (Port Harcourt I and II, Warri Refinery, and Kaduna Refinery) with a combined crude oil distillation capacity of 445,000 bbl/d, according to OGJ. The refineries chronically operate below full capacity because of operational failures, fires, and sabotage mainly on crude pipelines feeding refineries
- A Chevron-operated Escravos Gtl Plant project is currently underway. Chevron (75%) and NNPC (25%) are jointly developing the $9.5 billion facility. Sasol Chevron, a joint venture between South Africa's Sasol and Chevron, provided technical expertise to design and develop the GTL plant.
Relevant Links
- EIA, Nigeria
- Interactive Google Earth map of the oil and gas infrastructure
- Interactive Google Earth map of the production licenses
page revision: 14, last edited: 30 Mar 2015 12:00