ExxonMobil and its partners will invest $1 billion in the Usan Infill Project offshore Nigeria, a development the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission says is expected to add 40,000 barrels per day of oil production, marking a return to drilling activity by ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria after its last drilling operation in the country in 2016.
Jagir Baxi, Chairman and Managing Director of Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria, announced the investment at the 2026 Nigeria Oil and Gas Energy Week in Abuja, saying on-block execution will begin next month, marked by the arrival of a world-class deepwater drilling rig and the sail-away of major new subsea deepwater equipment toward the block.
The Usan field sits in OML 138, located 100 kilometres offshore in water depths of 850 metres, and the project stands out for how quickly it was conceived and matured: it was developed in just 18 months following advanced seismic acquisition completed in mid-2024, with over $300 million already committed by OML 138 partners, including Esso, Chevron, TotalEnergies and Nexen.
Baxi described it as a short-cycle investment designed to deliver first new production within six months from the start of on-block activity, with peak output of 40,000 bpd targeted within 18 months, a timeline he said distinguishes the project from larger greenfield final investment decisions that typically take years to reach first oil.
The investment was confirmed by NUPRC Chief Executive Oritsemyiwa Eyesan, who said the project was identified after seismic data revealed new development opportunities within the field. NUPRC accelerated regulatory approvals to match the short-cycle timeline.
Baxi was also direct about the human dimension of the project, noting that the Usan FPSO offshore operations are delivered by a workforce of nearly 400 professionals, the vast majority Nigerians, operating a facility 320 metres in length in some of West Africa's most demanding deepwater conditions.
Separately, at the NOG Energy Week, NNPC announced that the OML 138 joint venture will supply 200 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to the UTM Floating LNG project, providing the long-term feedgas certainty required to support financing and position the project for a Final Investment Decision in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The Usan announcement arrives at a moment when Nigeria's upstream sector is under considerable pressure to demonstrate that its investment climate has genuinely improved. ExxonMobil's decade-long absence from drilling in the country was itself a signal of how badly the relationship between international oil companies and the Nigerian state had deteriorated over licensing disputes, fiscal terms, and security conditions.
A $1 billion commitment, executed on a six-month timeline rather than a multi-year development cycle, is a different kind of signal, and one the federal government will be eager to amplify as it pushes to rebuild its credibility with deepwater investors at precisely the moment that global oil prices are under pressure from Citi's $60 per barrel forecast.
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