Oriental Energy Resources Limited was founded by our Executive Chairman and CEO, Alhaji (Dr.) Muhammadu Indimi in 1990. In September of that year, Oriental was awarded OPL 224 by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Work began on OPL 224 almost immediately as Oriental entered into a Technical Services Agreement with DuPont Nigeria Ltd. which took them through the first half of the 1990s. At the end of the decade the Nigerian Department of Petroleum Resources gave the approval to convert OPL 224 in to OML 115 as a result of the work that had been done on the Block.
In the decade of the 2000s, the growth of Oriental proceeded quickly. Oriental developed a technical advisory collaboration with Mr. Joe Bruso, CEO of Sovereign Oil & Gas, which continues to today. This collaboration of the two Companies resulted in a favorable result stemming from the settlement of the International Boundary Dispute between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea which impacted Oriental’s holdings in OML 115. This result gave Oriental the opportunity to farm-in to both the Okwok (2006) and Ebok (2007) Fields of OML 67 from Mobil and NNPC. Strategic alliances followed with Addax Petroleum (Okwok); Nexen E&P Services Nigeria Ltd. (OML 115); and Energy Equity Resources Oil & Gas (OML 115). Oriental and Addax announced the successful well test of Okwok 4 in 2006 flowing 32 degree API oil from the lower D2 Reservoir. In 2008, Oriental announced that it had entered into a Technical Services Agreement with Afren Energy Resources to appraise the Ebok Field. This Partnership expanded quickly with announcements of Afren signing a JVA with Oriental and Addax for the development of Okwok (2009) and then Afren signing a JVA with Oriental and EER for the exploration and appraisal of OML 115 (2010). In 2009, the Ebok appraisal drilling program resulted in Ebok 4 confirming a total gross oil column of 284 ft in high quality reservoir sands, the Ebok 5 encountering a total of 377 ft. gross oil column, and the Ebok 6 encountering 107 ft. gross oil pay. This was followed in 2010 with the Okwok 9 appraisal well successfully confirming the commerciality of the Okwok Field.
The last year has seen the rapid development of the Ebok Field with an aggressive drilling program. In August 2010, Oriental and Afren celebrated the Naming and Sailaway Ceremony for the Virini Prem Floating, Storage, and Offloading Vessel from the Yulian shipyard in China. In December 2010, production testing resulted on three Phase 1 production wells delivered a constrained aggregate rate of 12,500 bopd of 24 degree API crude. In January 2011, Oriental and Afren announced the sailaway of the Mobile Offshore Production Unit from Galveston, Texas to the Ebok Field. In March 2011, Oriental received approval from the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the establishment of the Ebok Terminal for the offloading of crude oil. By the end of March 2011, the production, processing, and storage facilities have been installed at the Ebok Field and are being readied for First Oil.
About Oriental – Fast Facts
- Privately held oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Nigeria
- 3 assets in the offshore Nigerian Oil and Gas industry
- OML 115, Ebok Field (OML 67) and the Okwok Field (OML 67); all in various stages of appraisal, development and/or production
- Established the offshore Ebok Terminal for the storage and offloading of crude oil