By Bunmi Aduloju

Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited says it has recorded a significant hydrocarbon discovery offshore Nigeria in oil mining lease (OML) 74.

In a statement on Tuesday, the company said the discovery followed the successful delivery of the “JK-004 exploration well”.

Renaissance Energy said preliminary evaluation indicated that the JK-004 well encountered an estimated 1,000-foot hydrocarbon-bearing interval spanning seven reservoirs.

The company said “initial log interpretation and fluid analysis confirm excellent reservoir quality and light oil”.

Speaking on the company’s first exploration execution milestone, Tony Attah, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Renaissance, said the discovery reflects the company’s commitment and the collective efforts of its staff, partners, regulators and contractors to support Nigeria’s long-term liquids production goals.

“The success of JK-004, just over one year after assuming operatorship of these assets demonstrates the strength of our exploration programme,” Attah said.

He commended the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), saying the exploration performance reflected the collaboration with the company’s joint venture (JV) partners, comprising the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, TotalEnergies Limited, and Agip Energy and Natural Resources.

Attah said Bayo Ojulari, NNPC’s group chief executive officer (GCEO), and Udobong Ntia, the company’s executive vice-president, upstream, provided the strategic leadership and commitment necessary to drive value delivery across the joint venture assets.

On his part, Johnbosco Uche, vice-president exploration and chief explorer at Renaissance, said the exploration success was due to the company’s subsurface excellence, technical rigour, and disciplined approach to reserve replacement.

“The JK-004 well provides a strong foundation for accelerated maturation with clear pathways to early development and value realisation,” he said.

Uche added that the strategic location of JK-004 near an existing field would enable rapid commercialisation.

Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, CEO of the NUPRC, described the feat as a perfect alignment with the commission’s vision of growing the nation’s reserves “to future-proof sustainable national growth”.

She reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to fostering an enabling regulatory environment that supports the growth and competitiveness of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

Also commenting, Layi Fatona, chairman of the Renaissance board of directors, said the discovery underscores the enduring prospectivity of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon basins and highlights the value of disciplined, technically grounded exploration.

Source: TheCable