French energy major TotalEnergies has made a new oil and gas discovery offshore Nigeria in the OML102 oil field.

According to the company, the Ntokon-1AX discovery well encountered 38m of net oil pay and 15m of net gas pay.

The well is located in shallow waters, 60km off the south-east coast of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Ntokon-1AX’s side-track Ntokon-1G1 encountered 73m of net oil pay, in “well-developed and excellent quality reservoirs”, it added.

The side-track well tested for up to a maximum rate of around 5,000 barrels per day of 40° API oil.

Ntokon oil and gas discovery, which is located 20km from the Ofon field facilities, is due to be built using a tie-back to the existing facilities.

TotalEnergies exploration and production president Nicolas Terraz said: “The Ntokon discovery opens a promising outlook for new tie-back development. After the start-up of production of the Ikike tie-back on OML99 in 2022, this new success in the area further demonstrates the potential of nearby exploration to create value within our low-cost, low-emission strategy."

TotalEnergies EP Nigeria, which holds a 40% stake in OML102, operates the project with partner NNPC, which holds the remaining 60%.

According to GlobalData, with peak production in 2018, the conventional oil field OML102 recovered 83.67% of its total recoverable reserves.

Production will carry on until the field hits its economic limit in 2030. Currently, the field produces around 2% of the daily output of the nation.