Chairman, Green Energy International Ltd., Prof. Anthony Adegbulugbe, has said marginal oil field producers in Africa must leverage unique opportunities in the oil and gas business to survive.

Adegbulugbe, who spoke at the African Marginal & Independent Oil and Gas Producers Conference, in London, argued that marginal oil producers holds significant promise for the robust participation of skilled African human resource in the sector.

He adding that more incentives are needed from government to encourage sustainability of marginal fields, and was quoted: “sustainability of Africa’s one asset marginal field producers may depend on leveraging on their unique opportunities and eventual transformation into integrated energy companies.”

He said uncertainties in the crude oil business environment have imposed serious sustainability challenges on small oil producers, adding that this could only be addressed through integrated energy development approach.

Speaking on “Financial sustainability and Efficiency of Marginal field operations,” he identified sustainable development strategies to include: increasing base production, reduction in operational cost per barrel, diversification of revenue base, and linkage of upstream and downstream opportunities and the broader economy.

Using his firm as a case study, Adegbulugbe said its strategy of linking Otakikpo’s upstream activities to the larger economy tremendously de-risked the marginal field.

He added that Green Energy from the onset has been positioned as an integrated energy company, using the gas produced from the field for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and power generation, for which it had secured a licence to construct (LTC) from the Federal Government for the LPG plant being manufactured in China.

He added that 6MW gas generators are on site for the first phase of the gas-to-power project, to provide electricity for the adjoining host communities while the balance of the power will be wheeled to an Industrial Park being facilitated to attract industries in need of uninterrupted power.

He noted that as part of sustainability strategy, the company has embarked on development of a 10,000 barrel daily (bpd) Otakikpo Refinery and Diesel Plant for which licence had been obtained with a conceptual design already in place.

Adegbulugbe further disclosed that Green Energy is investing in the development of an onshore terminal for its crude export that will also serve other small crude producers in the Andoni area.

He added that the company is currently producing 6,000bopd, with plans to ramp up to 20,000bopd and to drill more wells planned for 2019 after conclusion of the processing of newly acquired seismic data.