Chevron Nigeria Limited has recorded its third exploration success since late 2024, pointing less to a sudden revival and more to a deliberate return to measured investment in Africa’s largest oil producer after years of reduced spending and regulatory uncertainty.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited and Chevron Nigeria Limited Joint Venture completed the Awodi-07 appraisal and exploration well in the shallow offshore western Niger Delta on December 28, uncovering about 675 feet of hydrocarbon pay across several reservoirs.
The team drilled the well to a total depth of 12,420 feet in under three weeks and plugged and suspended it after completing wireline logging and fluid sampling.
The results include 310 feet of appraisal reservoirs that met pre-drill expectations and 365 feet across six hydrocarbon-bearing exploration sands, highlighting strong development potential in an area where existing infrastructure could speed up production.
Jim Swartz, chairman and managing director of Chevron Nigeria and the Mid Africa Region, said the outcome reflects the strength of Chevron’s exploration program and the benefits of close collaboration with NNPC.
The joint venture also reflects a broader shift toward cooperative project development following the Petroleum Industry Act, which simplified fiscal terms and regulatory processes that had discouraged investment for years.
Chevron’s vice president for Exploration, Kevin McLachlan, placed the discovery in a wider strategic frame, noting that all three finds support the company’s global approach of balancing infrastructure-led opportunities with frontier exploration.
Nigeria passed the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021 after two decades of debate, introducing incentives for frontier exploration, clarifying host community responsibilities, and setting clearer timelines for regulatory approvals.
Industry analysts say Chevron’s recent shallow-water discoveries, located near existing infrastructure, support the government’s reform efforts under President Bola Tinubu, which focus on restoring the oil sector to strengthen foreign exchange earnings and support the national budget, about half of which depends on petroleum revenue.
The discoveries come as Nigeria works to recover from years of declining output, which dropped below 1.3 million barrels per day in 2023 from more than two million barrels per day ten years earlier.
Chevron’s strategy of extending the life of producing assets in established operating areas aligns with national goals to increase recovery from mature fields while keeping development costs under control.
The NNPCL and Chevron joint venture reaffirmed its commitment to working closely with regulators and stakeholders to meet compliance requirements, reinforcing the collaborative approach Nigeria is promoting as it competes for global exploration capital during the energy transition.
source:businessday.ng
African Energy Council