By Ambrose Nnaji
Teamwork among operators of the marginal refineries and the marginal fields would guarantee long-term supply of the crude product, the General Manager, Commercials, Oando Energy Resources, Bambo Ibidapo-Obe, has said.
He spoke on the sidelines of an event in Abuja. He said the linkage between marginal fields and modular refineries was in the supply of crude oil produced by the marginal fields, which according to him was the primary feed stock for the modular refineries adding that there’s need for teamwork between the modular refineries and the marginal fields to guarantee long term supply of crude.
Stressing what is common to both the modular refineries and marginal field, Ibidapo-Obe said in an industry such as the oil and gas with significant high entry cost, conversations around skills, process and operations were available all the time, adding that these are common to both marginal fields and modular refineries.
The Federal Government’s favourable posture towards modular refineries is underscored, for example, by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board‘s (NCDMB) acquisition of a 30 percent stake in WalterSmith Modular Refinery Project.
The Oando chief said, however, that there was work that had to be done in terms of regulatory consideration towards incentivising modular refinery investment in the country. He said there was the need for synergy between the modular refineries and marginal fields’ operators.
“Although the oil production of marginal fields has increased, it is still below the six percent mark of the marginal fields licenses awarded today as over 60 percent of them are yet to reach commercial production,” Ibidapo-Obe said.
Some of the challenges being faced by marginal fields licensees, he noted to include production ramp up, financial and evacuation constraints, community agitations and assets vandalism, among others. He said that the successful delivery of the project was proof not only to the technical and financial competences of the indigenous companies but also to the power of partnership which everybody must tap into.
Modular refinery is a skid-mounted modular structure based crude oil processing refinery plant. Each modular structure is an essential component of crude oil refinery. Modules manufactured are transported to the required site for installation, resulting in a much quicker installation time than conventional refineries.
Marginal fields refer to discoveries which have not been exploited for long, due to very small sizes of reserves/pool to the extent of not being economically viable as well as lack of infrastructure in the vicinity and profitable consumers.
Nigeria has a total of 159 oil fields and 1481 wells in operation, according to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
Leave a Reply