TotalEnergies to Start Drilling Exploration Wells in Nigeria on Monday, Says CEO

TotalEnergies EP Nigeria MD says recent policy reforms have brought back investor interest, and that stability is now needed to support long-term investment

French oil major TotalEnergies has brought a drilling rig into Nigeria that will start drilling on Monday, mostly on exploration wells. The company’s Nigeria chief says this shows that the country’s recent oil and gas policy reforms are drawing new investment.

Matthieu Bouyer, managing director/chief executive of TotalEnergies EP Nigeria and country chair, spoke on a panel on Wednesday at the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists’ conference in Lagos. He said a lot had been done over the past three years to shape policy and encourage investment in the industry.

He pointed to the executive orders on non-associated gas and on deepwater operations, as well as recent exploration bid rounds.

Bouyer said several final investment decisions have been taken since 2023, mainly in gas, with two of them being TotalEnergies projects, namely Ima and Ubeta.

He said the deepwater executive order issued in August had helped the company bring drilling equipment into the country.

“As we speak, we have a rig in the country that will start drilling on Monday,” he said. “We don’t only talk, we actually deploy rigs.”

He said several deep offshore exploration wells are planned on the blocks TotalEnergies won in Nigeria’s 2024 bid round. He added that it was the first time in more than 10 years that the company had won new acreage in the country.

Bouyer said bid rounds have become more transparent and accessible. He pointed to how quickly the company had moved, bringing in a rig about two years after the bid round and preparing to drill on the new acreage about two and a half years after it.

“In a nutshell, the policies are there, and they are encouraging investment in Nigeria,” he said.

Bouyer said Nigeria had become attractive to investors again.

“Nigeria’s attractiveness has clearly returned to the top of our portfolios, I believe,” he said. “Stability is what we need in order to make the long-term investment the country needs to go into production.”