List of Oil and Gas Wells

The exercise identified a total of 53 wells that are spread across four oil blocks – OML-11, OPls 207, 208 and 234, with OML-11 as the only block with production from Imo River, Isimiri and Oza fields in Abia State. Out of the 53 wells, OML-11 also has 5 non-producing, partially appraised fields -Ohuru, Uzuaku, Ngboko, Obeaja and Obuzo, with a total of 10 wells that have remained capped since discovery.  Of the four oil blocks with existing wells, OPLs 207, and 208 are open and are yet to be allotted to any operator. These blocks in total have 3unappraised fields – Bende, Ngwa, and Olumbe each with one discovery well, while OPL-234, assigned to Monipulo, has Aba Town, Ika and Ikwueke partially appraised fields with a discovery well in each field. There has been no further exploration or appraisal work on this asset.

There are also 3 additional blocks – OPLs 910, 911, and 913 that are open and unallotted to any operator, and do not have records of any discovery well as of the time of this exercise. Two other blocks – OPL-907, and OPL-235 also marginally cut across Abia State boundaries. OPL-907 which was assigned to Afren Global Energy Resources Limited expired in 2018, with no record of renewal, while OPL-235 currently assigned to First Aries Petroleum Limited, was revalidated after a protracted court case.  Since the portions that fall into Abia State boundaries are marginal, there may not be any development effort within the small acreage, however, the State should watch out for any possible future exploration work within in these blocks.    Table 5 shows the distribution of the 142 wells found within Abia State.

Appendix 7 shows the status of OPLs in Nigeria as of 2023

Besides the 53 wells in known Oil and Gas blocks, there are additional 89 wells that this exercise has not been able to assign to any oil and gas block because of paucity of information on them. These wells are part of some 105 wells found within Abia State during a field verification and assessment exercise carried out by an environmental research group –Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy & Development (FENRAD, in collaboration with the Federal Government, to identify all the capped crude Oil and Gas wells including their Communities within Abia State. The group found a total of one hundred and five (105) cap wells with Christmas trees spread across twenty (20) host Communities in Ukwa West, Ukwa East and Ugwunagbo Local Government Areas of Abia State. (Nigerian Voice, 2016).  Some of those fields and wells are tabulated below:

Table 3: List of additional Oil and Gas partially appraised fields in Abia State

These additional wells/fields lacked basic subsurface reservoir/well information that would enable proper assessment of their resource potentials as marginal fields.

While the field verification exercise provided the physical locations of these capped wells-, such as well names, locations, and host communities in Abia State, their surface GPS coordinates will be required to be able to chart them on the Niger Delta concession map to confirm their OML or OPLs.

The State Government, as a way forward can engage the Environment Research Group to procure the full verification report to confirm their GPS, and where they lacked the necessary GPS information, should  collaborate with the group and the State Surveying Department to revisit these capped wellheads to obtain their GPS information. The information will then be plotted on the Niger Delta Concession Map to locate the OML or OPL of each field. The group has their head office at Plot 101 Jubilee Road,2nd Floor, Front, Aba, Abia State

In course of this exercise, one of the major challenges encountered was the delineation of Obigbo North and Imo River wells between Rivers State and Abia State as most of the wells are clustered around the two states boundaries on the Niger Delta Concession Maps. This was resolved by plotting the wells’ coordinates in a georeferencing modelling tool, with a confirmatory topographic charting of the coordinates by a surveyor. 

Figure 13: Sample map showing Obigbo North and Imo River wells in clustered around the State Boundaries.

As shown in Figure 13, some wells in Obigbo North and Imo Rivers cluster around the states’ boundaries, with significant number of the wells within River State. However, it may be necessary to investigate the subsurface coordinates and directions of these border wells to ascertain if these wells may be draining from subsurface reservoirs underneath Abia State, even though the surface wellheads are located within Rivers State.

Tables 4 A & B shows results of the georeferencing result of wells positioning in Abia State and Rivers State

Appendix 2 is the map showing the distributions of Obigbo North and Imo River wells across Abia State and Rivers State, while Appendix 3 shows the list of Obigbo North and Imo River Wells and their distributions within Abia State and Rivers State.

From the georeferencing results presented in tables 4A and 4B, table 5 now presents the breakdown of the oil blocks and wells located in Abia State.

Also, combining the information from the report of the Environmental Group, Abia State is on the way to becoming a major oil and gas state in Nigeria, with the accrued benefits when these assets are fully developed and put into production.

Figure 14: Sample map showing the positions of some Obigbo North and Imo River wells in Abia and Rivers State.

Table 5: Summary of OMLs/OPLs and their wells in Abia State