TotalEnergies has signed an agreement to sell a 40% participating interest in Nigeria’s offshore oil block OPL257 to South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO), paving the way for a joint appraisal programme for the Egina South oil discovery.
Under the farm-out agreement, TotalEnergies will retain a 50% operated interest in the block after the transaction is completed, while SAPETRO will hold 40% and Conoil will retain the remaining 10%.
OPL257 is located approximately 150 kilometres offshore Nigeria, adjacent to PPL261, where TotalEnergies and its partners discovered the Egina South field in 2005. The oil discovery extends across both blocks.
The transaction brings SAPETRO into OPL257 as a major partner, building on its existing relationship with TotalEnergies in the neighbouring PPL261 block, where TotalEnergies holds a 24% interest.
The companies plan to undertake an appraisal campaign on the OPL257 portion of Egina South in the coming months. The programme is expected to establish the resource potential on that side of the discovery and support a possible development plan.
If commercially viable, Egina South could be developed as a tie-back to the Egina floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, located approximately 30 kilometres from the field.
A tie-back development would allow production from the discovery to be connected to existing offshore infrastructure, potentially reducing the cost and time required to bring the resource into production compared with developing an entirely new standalone facility.
Mike Sangster, Senior Vice President of Africa Exploration and Production at TotalEnergies, said the partnership would support a faster appraisal programme and subsequent development if the results prove successful. He said consolidating the companies’ relationship across OPL257 and PPL261 would help advance the Egina South project.
Completion of the farm-out agreement remains subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.
