Total has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Elf Petroleum Nigeria has obtained the required approvals from the Nigerian government and co-venturers to develop the offshore Usan field, which it operates.
Co-venturers in the Usan development include Elf Petroleum Nigeria (20% operator), Chevron Petroleum Nigeria (30% operator), Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (30% operator) and Nexen Petroleum Nigeria (20% operator).
Discovered in 2002 in oil prospecting license (OPL) 222, the Usan oil field is located around 100km offshore, in water depths ranging from 750m to 850m. Proved and probable reserves of the Usan field are expected to be more than 500 million barrels of oil.
Usan is expected to come on stream early in 2012 and to ramp up quickly to plateau production of 180,000 barrels of oil per day. The associated gas will be reinjected in the reservoir.