Nigeria's Yoho oilfield development well ahead of schedule

July 28, 2003
ExxonMobil Corp. unit Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and its joint venture partner, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., have begun production from Yoho field off Nigeria 2 years ahead of full field start-up, reported OPEC News Agency. The field, on shallow-water Oil Mining Lease 104, has estimated reserves of 400 million bbl of oil (OGJ Online, Sept. 6, 2002).

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, July 28-- ExxonMobil Corp. unit Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPN) and its joint venture partner, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), have begun production from Yoho field off Nigeria 2 years ahead of full field start-up, reported OPEC News Agency. The field, on shallow-water Oil Mining Lease 104, has estimated reserves of 400 million bbl of oil (OGJ Online, Sept. 6, 2002).

MPN and NNPC are using the Falcon floating production storage and offloading vessel for production.

The production will add about 100,000 b/d of crude oil and 100 MMcfd of gas to the joint venture, ExxonMobil reported. Full field start-up in March 2005 targets peak oil production 150,000 b/d of crude.

The JV has expended more than $400 million for engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of facilities leading to Yoho's development.

The Yoho development is a $1.2 billion project.