West Africa Exploration and Production Company (WAEP), the upstream subsidiary of Dangote Group, plans to increase production from its Nigerian assets and establish gas monetisation arrangements within the next two years.

The Company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Olajumoke Cecilia Ajayi, disclosed this at the AOW Energy Conference in Accra, Ghana, where she mentioned that WAEP was implementing a phased approach to its brownfield assets, beginning with near-term production opportunities and using the resulting cash flow to fund further development.

She said Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 71 and 72, previously operated by Shell, contain more than 1.6 billion barrels of oil in place and about 1.9 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, based on discoveries to date.

She added that WAEP had signed contracts for three jack-up rigs, with drilling expected to begin in December. The programme is intended to increase production from the OML 71 and OML 72 assets.

Ajayi said six field development plan studies were also under way to guide further development of the assets.

She said Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, which is linked to the group’s upstream interests, could provide a domestic market for crude produced by WAEP.

According to her, WAEP is also working on plans for a dedicated terminal for crude evacuation, noting that the facility could also be used by other producers to aggregate and evacuate crude.

On the development of African-owned exploration and production companies, Ajayi said operators taking over mature assets needed adequate technical expertise, capital and operational capacity to sustain production.

She, however, mentioned that WAEP had been strengthening its technical and organisational capacity ahead of further development work.