31st Jan 2017 08:07
LONDON (Alliance News) - Eland Oil & Gas PLC on Tuesday said it has restarted production from the Opuama field in Nigeria after finalising transportation to export its crude oil.
Eland Oil shares were trading 4.0% higher on Tuesday morning at 48.21 pence per share.
Eland Oil owns a 45% stake in the OML 40 licence that contains Opuama and a series of other fields named Gbetiokun, Polobo, Abiala and Amobe.
The Opuama field was producing around 4,400 barrels of oil per day at the end of 2015, but, more recently, the field has not been producing due to interruptions to third-party export facilities.
In November, Eland said interruptions were continuing despite all stakeholders working together to rectify the matter. However, Eland decided to begin drawing up plans to implement crude export through shipping.
Eland said it expected to have the shipping in place by January, with a more permanent solution still being sought.
Eland said production at Opuama has restarted into the main storage vessel and the shuttle vessel will shortly arrive on site with transport of the crude commencing thereafter.
The company is initially producing from the Opuama-3 well only, which produced a gross volume of 10,000 barrels of oil over a 24-hour period.
"Although the Company will initially produce from Opuama-3, the system has the capacity to handle greater quantities of production as other wells are brought online," said Eland.
Eland Chief Executive George Maxwell said "diversification of our export routes has been a key priority".
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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