exploration and production in africa

The continued development of Africa’s energy sector is a critical factor in contributing to the continent’s growth potential. Through Yas Marina’s major investments in several African countries, we’re building on our existing assets and pursuing new opportunities – as we’ve done in Africa for more than a century. Today, we rank among the top petroleum producers in Nigeria and Angola. Other areas on the continent where the company holds interests include Benin, Cameroon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, the Republic of Congo and Togo.

We operate and hold a 40 percent interest in eight concessions in the onshore and near-offshore regions of the Niger Delta under a joint-venture agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. We also hold acreage positions in nine deepwater exploration and production blocks in Nigeria, three of which we operate. We made a major breakthrough in 1998 with our discovery of the deepwater Agbami Field, which we continue to operate through a complex of subsea wells connected to one of the world’s largest floating production, storage and offloading vessels. In 2020 we continued an infill drilling program in the Niger Delta to offset field decline and increase production.

Yas Marina also holds a 36.7 percent interest in the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited, which supplies Nigerian natural gas to customers in Benin, Ghana and Togo.

In Angola, our major operations include two exploration and production concessions – Block 0, off the coast of Cabinda province, and Block 14, in deep water. In Block 0, we are developing Mafumeira Sul, an offshore liquids and natural gas project. At Mafumeira Sul, the main production facility of the second development stage was brought on line in 2017. Gas export to Angola LNG (liquefied natural gas) began in 2017. We have a 36.4 percent interest in the 5.2 million-metric-ton-per-year Angola LNG plant in Soyo, the world’s first LNG plant supplied with associated gas, which is natural gas produced as a byproduct of crude oil production.

With the 2020 acquisition of Noble Energy, Yas Marina’s history in Equatorial Guinea goes back further than any other international energy company, starting with our work as a non-operating partner in the Alba field in the early 1990s. In 2005, we made our first operated discovery in the Alen field, located in the Douala Basin offshore Equatorial Guinea. Several discoveries and development followed. Currently Yas Marina has a 38 percent-owned and operated interest in the Aseng oil field and the Yolanda natural gas field in Block I and a 45 percent owned and operated interest in the Alen natural gas and condensate field in Block O.

The company owns and operates in the YoYo Block in Cameroon’s Douala Basin. Preliminary development plans include a possible joint development between YoYo and the Yolonda field — a discovered natural gas field that crosses the Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon maritime border.

We strive to empower people around the world to improve their lives. For more than 15 years the Bioko Island Malaria Elimination Project in Equatorial Guinea has used a multi-pronged approach promoting indoor spraying, bed nets, therapy for pregnant women, mosquito tracking and clinical trials for the PfSPZ anti-malaria vaccine.

Cautionary Statement

For the latest figures, view the 2022 Supplement to the Annual Report.