Mr. Jagir Baxi MD, ExxonMobil Nigeria
…Investment at Usan Field will unlock around 40,000 barrels per day of new deepwater oil production.
Felix Douglas
Joint announcement of the on-block commencement of $1bn Usan Infill Project (potential 40kbd production added to Nigeria) at the 2026 Nigeria Oil & Gas Energy Week (NOG) on July 8, 2026.
The announcement was made by Jagir Baxi MD, Esso Nigeria with GCEO NNPCL and CCE NUPRC.
Baxi said Esso Nigeria, on behalf of OML 138 partners, is proud to announce commencement of the on-block execution of a cumulative 1 billion-dollar investment at the Usan Field by next month that will unlock around 40,000 barrels per day of new deepwater oil production.
According to the ExxonMobil helmsman:
“This milestone will be marked by the on-block arrival of a world-class deepwater drilling rig, together with sail-away of major and massive new subsea deepwater equipment towards the block.”
Speaking further, Baxi pointed out that the investment known as the Usan Infill Project, is a significant milestone for all stakeholders. The investment and its new production align strongly with the aspirations of the Federal Government of Nigeria for near-term production growth.
This project is different from other major greenfield FIDs in that it is a short-cycle investment designed to deliver first new production within around six months from start of on-block execution.
Peak production of 40,000 barrels per day will be achieved within 18 months, and the entire investment has been developed within around 18 months from when advanced seismic acquisition and processing was completed in mid-2024.
Over 300 million dollars has already been committed by OML 138 partners towards this project. In addition, the 2022 renewal of OML 138 for an additional 20 years created the most important signal of confidence in the asset, the stakeholder partnerships, and the supporting regulatory framework.
The Usan field has been producing for 14 years, in which time the OML 138 partners have invested around 16 billion dollars to develop and produce over 350 million barrels of production. In these 14 years, around 4.6 billion dollars of value has been delivered to Nigeria. The Usan Infill Project is expected to generate a further 1.2 billion dollars in revenues to Nigeria over the next four years, with first of these new revenues beginning to flow this year, Baxi said.
The Usan Infill Project will also implement two important step-out technologies within Esso Nigeria’s portfolio, ensuring Nigeria’s deepwater sector continues to sustain global deepwater technology capabilities in Nigeria.
Firstly, one of the deepwater wells to be drilled in this project will be the most complex extended-reach well ever for Usan – it will measure over 4 kilometers in length and be designed to achieve maximum resource recovery from an untapped part of the Usan field by leveraging the already-invested subsea infrastructure.
Secondly, several wells in this project will leverage world-class intelligent drilling and completions technologies to target multiple narrow zones of oil within the trajectory of a single wellbore. Both these step-outs will ensure the most cost-efficient investment that also maximizes resource recovery which ultimately will deliver maximum value to Nigeria.
However, Baxi explained that Usan’s achievements are not solely in the measure of barrels, revenues and technologies.
“We should also take a measure of Usan through its people. I am proud that the Usan FPSO offshore operations is delivered by a workforce of nearly 400 talented professionals, the vast majority being Nigerians, who work day and night as one team to safely operate this massive production facility that is 320 meters in length, in water depths of 850 meters, and located around 100 kilometers offshore. That offshore team is supported by many hundreds more Nigerians in the offices of our Concessionaire, our Regulators, and our Contractors.”
Baxi submitted that Esso Nigeria wishes to recognize and appreciate the strong collaboration of its partners – NUPRC, NNPCL and NCDMB – without whom this investment could have remained dormant.
He commended the leadership of NUPRC that it has consistently and rapidly enabled key stepwise regulatory processes to match the short-cycle timeline of this investment.
“Leadership at NNPCL has strongly supported critical technical and execution decisions including ensuring top-tier execution partnerships were in place to deliver this kind of deepwater investment at world-class competitiveness.”
Baxi also eulogized the leadership at NCDMB that has enabled multiple win-win outcomes with on-time decisions on local content.
He made it known that Esso Nigeria appreciates its investment partners in OML 138 – Chevron, TotalEnergies and Nexen – for their constant active partnership to make this investment.
Baxi was of the view that that ExxonMobil, through its Esso affiliates in Nigeria, is firmly committed to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and is motivated to bring its global competitive capabilities of scale, technology, execution excellence, talented people and strong balance sheet to grow its Nigeria deepwater portfolio in line with the aspirations of Nigeria.
The ExxonMobil boss said the company will build on Usan Infill Project investment through ongoing sector reforms to lock in further investment, growth and value at OML 138 and across several other deepwater blocks where Esso has interests.
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