The NNPC E&P Limited (NEPL), formerly the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) is an upstream subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) established in 1988 to operate the Petroleum Exploration and Production business. Thus, the company became Nigeria's first indigenous Oil and Gas Company.

NEPL core services include Exploration, Appraisal, Drilling, Development, and Production. The company engages in Oil & Gas activities in the hydrocarbon-rich region of coastal Nigeria - onshore, offshore, and in the swamp. Our operations are concentrated in six States in the Niger Delta region namely: Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Imo, Rivers, and Bauchi.

HISTORICAL ACTIVITIES

At incorporation in 1988, NPDC inherited the assets of the former Exploration & Exploitation (E&E) Division of the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation including 69 wells mostly in the continental shelf with discoveries more than one (1) billion barrels of crude oil reserves. It is pertinent to state that most of the E&E personnel formed the core staff of NPDC; hence, NPDC’s formation was a re-structuring & re-christening of the NNPC E&E division. NPDC thus took with it the exploration, drilling, and production experience garnered from the inception of E&E in the 1970s. 

In the following year, 1989, NPDC acquired OMLs 64, 65 & 66 and made its debut in direct oil production operation with Abura field in OML 65 at an initial rate of 980 barrels of crude oil per day (bopd). Eight years later, NPDC ramped up Abura production to over 6,000 bopd through workovers, new development wells, and prudent reservoir management. Nonetheless, the company developed Oredo and Oziengbe fields, which came into production in 1996 and 2002 respectively. Between 2002 and 2005 NPDC:

• in collaboration with the Nigerian Agip Exploration (NAE) won the deep-water block OPL 244,

• took over interests of Petronas in OPLs 214 & 318, 

• obtained interests in OPL 223 and OPL 256 offered to her on a carry basis,

• farmed into OPL 242 and

• acquired interests in three deep-water blocks (OPLs 251, 325 & 332)

Between 2005 and 2006, some NNPC Ltd assets (NNPC-SPDC & NNPC-CNL) were transferred to NPDC to operate with a view to building capacity. However, in March 2007, NEPL competitively bided for and won a block, in Equatorial Guinea.

NPDC had to come to a grip with the human and technological challenges associated with the oil and gas exploration and production business. Determined to succeed, the company set out to work and demonstrated the expertise and experience of its Management and staff.

However, to ensure the survival of the company, Management went back to the drawing board and proposed an alternative option for the development of OPL 91 (now OML 119). This proposal further gave birth to a contract agreement with any reputable and experienced oil company for the funding and development of OPL 91. The option scaled through and in 2000, NPDC signed a memorandum of understanding with Agip Energy and Natural Resources (AENR) in Abuja. Both partners were mandated to manage the development and operation of OPL 91 for five years after which NPDC would assume full control. That option paid off a great deal as the first oil of 1,250 bopd was produced on 31st December 2001 with the temporary use of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel tagged ‘Jamestown’. NEPL became the first company in Nigeria to use a subsea well-head (Christmas tree) for offshore production. FPSO Mystras with a storage capacity of 1.35 million barrels of crude was purchased in 2003 to replace Jamestown. The swapping successfully took place in December 2003 and production started on 14th January 2004. Shortly after NPDC took over 100 percent operatorship of OML 119 in 2007, the company recorded an all-time peak of 71,000 bopd production.

In August 2009, NPDC reported its landmark attainment of a Hundred Million Barrels (100 MMbbls) milestone in oil production from Okono/Okpoho fields in OML 119. This was achieved within 2,772 calendar days representing seven (7) years of crude oil and gas production excluding the period of one year of insecurity occasioned by incessant attacks on FPSO Mystras. 

Since then, NPDC Management has not rested on its oars in the development of the other parts of its lucrative offshore block. In 2010, NPDC was assigned 55% participatory interest by NNPC in Petroleum Mining Lease (OML) 4, 38, and 41. This boost was occasioned by the transfer of 45 percent interest by the trio of SPDC, Agip, and Total E&P to SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Limited.

The Federal Government also handed over 55% equity shares and operatorship of OMLs 26, 30, 34, 40, and 42 in 2011. These new oil blocks increased NPDC production capacity to over 130,000 bopd in 2012 while the oil reserve soared by over 400 percent.

Furthermore, NPDC made another feat in 2011 and 2012 when it single-handedly drilled, completed, and resumed production in Okono 6 and 7 producing 11,000 bopd and 5,000 bopd respectively. OML 119 has proved to be a beautiful bride with a recent discovery of over 19 million proven oil reserves in Okono 8. Having seen overwhelming evidence of the company’s capability to efficiently handle the oil and gas business, the Federal Government again and again handed over several other assets to NPDC. These assets in no order include OMLs 11, 13, 98, 116, 24, 28, 60, 61, 62, and 63.

Following the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), NNPC transitioned to a Limited Liability Company on July 19^th, 2022, giving rise to the NNPC E&P (NEPL).

Today, the company stands tall with established footprints of achieving its corporate vision of developing our most valuable assets. We have not only endured, but we have also become one of the five largest oil and gas companies in Nigeria.