Nigeria: Output lifted by Agbami start-up

THE CHEVRON-operated Agbami field – the country's largest deep-water discovery – came on stream at the end of July, providing an initial 100,000 barrels a day (b/d) lift to the country's troubled oil production. Output is expected to build quickly to 230,000 b/d and, by the end of next year, to have reached its plateau rate of 250,000 b/d of high-quality (43°-45°API) crude and natural gas liquids.

Agbami is Chevron's first deep-water development in the country and a vital project for the company, in view of the terrorism it is experiencing in its onshore and shallow-water areas in the western delta. Agbami has been extremely expensive – the firm's most recent figure for the development cost is $5.4bn – but the field is expected to flow for 20 years from its "potentially recoverable" reserves of 0.9bn barrels. Chevron says Agbami spans 182 square km across the OML 127 and OML 128 licences, about 115 km south of the delta. Agbami was discovered by a Chevron predecessor, Texaco, in 1998, but development work was held up by a legal dispute involving a partner, Nigerian firm Famfa. Chevro