South Atlantic Petroleum Limited has acquired a 40 per cent participating interest in offshore oil block OPL257 from French energy giant TotalEnergies, under a newly signed Farm-Out Agreement.
The transaction will see TotalEnergies retain a 50 per cent operated interest in the offshore block, while SAPETRO will hold 40 per cent and Conoil will retain the remaining 10 per cent interest.
TotalEnergies disclosed this in a statement announcing the agreement, noting that completion of the transaction remained subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.OPL257 is located about 150 kilometres offshore Nigeria and shares a boundary with PPL261, where TotalEnergies and its partners, including SAPETRO, discovered the Egina South field in 2005.The Egina South field extends across both blocks, making further appraisal of the OPL257 section important to plans for its potential development.
According to TotalEnergies, an appraisal campaign on the OPL257 side of the field will be undertaken in the coming months to assess the resource and support its potential development.
The company said the proposed development could involve connecting Egina South to the Egina floating production, storage and offloading vessel, located approximately 30 kilometres from the field.Commenting on the agreement, the Senior Vice-President, Africa Exploration and Production at TotalEnergies, Mike Sangster, said the transaction would strengthen the existing partnership between both companies and facilitate the next phase of work on the field.
TotalEnergies is pleased to have SAPETRO as a partner in OPL257 as well as in the adjacent PPL261 block. Consolidating our long-term partnership paves the way for a quick appraisal campaign and subsequent development of Egina South in the success case,” Sangster said.
He added, “For TotalEnergies, this is consistent with our strategy to develop low-cost, low-emission resources while leveraging existing facilities.”
The proposed tie-back to the Egina FPSO would allow the partners to explore the development of the field using existing offshore production infrastructure.
TotalEnergies said the transaction was yet to be completed, as it required the necessary regulatory approvals and fulfilment of other customary conditions.
The agreement further strengthens the relationship between TotalEnergies and SAPETRO, which are already partners in the neighbouring PPL261 block.
TotalEnergies has operated in Nigeria for more than 60 years and employs over 1,800 people across its different business segments in the country.