Oil Producers Secure Fast-track Permits To Restart Nigeria’s Idle Wells

…As NUPRC grants SeaSeis, partner 3-year petroleum exploration licence

Nigeria’s oil sector is accelerating to capitalise on crude prices near $100 a barrel, with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) slashing approval times for reviving idle wells from weeks to hours, Bloomberg reports.

This is as NUPRC) has signed a Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) No. 5 agreement with SeaSeis Geophysical Limited (SeaSeis), authorising the company, in partnership with the Commission and TGS, to acquire and process new 3D seismic and gravity data.

The commission, which made this known on Wednesday, said the three-year agreement also empowers the partnership to issue data-use licences, with revenues to be shared between the company and the Commission.

The official execution of the agreement between SeaSeis Geophysical Limited and its partner, TGS, was held on Tuesday at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission is approving permits within hours of application, according to people familiar with the process, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorised to speak to the media.

With oil trading near $100 a barrel, Africa’s top producers are moving to capitalise on demand as buyers turn to suppliers such as Nigeria and Angola, away from the Middle East conflict. The West African nation has also fast-tracked approvals for evacuations and barges at production facilities and export terminals.

A spokesman at the regulator told Bloomberg that “speedy approvals” were being given for all activities that could increase production.

The recent surge in applications has come from mostly local oil companies seeking to re-enter old wells. They are being encouraged by the regulator, which is streamlining an approval process that previously took anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks.

Repairing older or suspended wells for production is cheaper than drilling new wells, which can take years of planning, and any potential crude typically takes an average of 4 weeks to reach the surface.

Nigeria’s production fell to 1.31 million barrels per day in February, the lowest level in 17 months, largely due to maintenance work at a 225,000 barrels per day production facility operated by Shell Plc.

Output has yet to recover to peaks above 2 million barrels a day, limiting the country’s ability to capitalise on rising crude prices relative to its peers. The OPEC member averaged 1.34 million barrels a day in 2022, when oil surged to as much as $130 a barrel following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The regulator approved 500 permits to reopen old wells in 2024, including for Tony Elumelu’s Heirs Energy and Seplat Energy Plc.

The government set a production target of 1.84 million barrels per day for this year, a target the country has struggled to meet.

Meanwhile, the major seismic data acquisition project, PEL No. 5, covers an area of 11,700 square kilometres offshore the Eastern Niger Delta, in water depths of 400-2800 meters.

The licence is expected to unlock stronger prospectivity, enhance subsurface understanding, and support more efficient development of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon resources in line with Section 71(1-10) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

Speaking at the event, the NUPRC chief executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said the issuance of the PEL5 licence reflects the Commission’s continued commitment to data-driven exploration, transparency, and long-term value creation for Nigeria and the oil and gas sector.

Eyesan noted that exploration is fundamentally driven by confidence in data and processes, adding that the PELNo. 5 initiative underscores the importance of credible partnerships in achieving national production and reserve growth targets.

“The PIA recognises that we assign licenses on non-exclusive acreages to contractors who are willing to carry out exploration activity, and as the chief superintendent of the industry, we also ensure that we maintain our production targets, including reserves, and the only way we can achieve that successfully is if we have partners who are willing to explore,” the CCE said.

The NUPRC boss further stated that the execution of the PEL No. 5 licence signals a growing appetite for exploration activities within the sector.

In his remarks, the managing director of SeaSeis Geophysical Limited, Goke Adeniyi, described the PEL5 as the company’s largest project in Africa, noting that it underscores the scale of opportunity within Nigeria’s upstream sector.

Adeniyi said, “We are pleased to be here, not just as SEASEIS but in partnership with TGS”

He further noted that the PEL 5 area has been carefully selected – covering approximately 11,700 sq km in the Outer Fold & Thrust Belt of the eastern Niger Delta — Nigeria’s most prolific but geologically complex region.

“Using TGS GeoStreamer dual-sensor tech with long offsets, wide tow and triple-source – broadband acquisition technology.

“We are confident that the resultant high-fidelity 3D seismic data will provide operators with the data quality needed to evaluate prospects with greater confidence,” he stated.