Africa emerging as key global oil producer

The Chad-Cameroon pipeline, shown here under construction in 2002, runs more than 660 miles to a marine terminal on the Cameroon coast.

Besides producing energy for world markets, ExxonMobil’s diverse African projects help develop local capacity to support sustained economic growth and improved prosperity.

Africa continues to be one of the most important areas of ExxonMobil’s operations. Company affiliates have invested heavily in the energy industry in nine countries across the continent, and Africa accounts for about a quarter of ExxonMobil’s global net liquids production.

“We believe strongly in Africa’s future,” declares ExxonMobil Chairman Rex W. Tillerson. “That’s why we’re working with Africa’s governments and businesses to build capacity, create local jobs, educate and train workers, transfer skills, and purchase local goods and services. We’re committed to continuing these mutually beneficial relationships.”

ExxonMobil’s African upstream operations include both onshore and offshore exploration, development and production. Downstream operations include retail fuel sales, marketing terminals, transportation, and lubricants and specialty products manufacturing and sales.

Upstream, downstream operations in Nigeria
ExxonMobil affiliates in Nigeria are active in both shallow and deep water. In shallow water, Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) operates a joint venture covering more than 800,000 acres in four leases off the southeastern coast of the country. MPN has a 40 percent working interest for crude and condensate and a 51 percent working interest for natural gas liquids.

Our affiliates hold leadership positions in deepwater developments with interests in six blocks that include the Bonga, Bosi, Erha, Uge and Usan discoveries.

ExxonMobil recently started up the Erha and Erha North deepwater developments, located about 60 miles offshore Nigeria in 3,900 feet of water, and encompassing more than 30 subsea wells tied to a floating production, storage and offloading vessel. The two fields have a combined maximum production capacity of 190,000 barrels of oil a day. After extracting natural-gas liquids for sale to global markets, the produced gas from Erha and Erha North is reinjected into the reservoir to reduce flaring and boost oil production.

The Erha developments also achieved several significant firsts: they involved the first subsea integration test to be completed in West Africa and the largest catenary anchor leg mooring buoy built to date in Nigeria.

Another recent completion is the Natural Gas Liquids II project, which included an offshore gas-processing complex, 125 miles of new pipelines and expansion of Nigeria’s Bonny Terminal. Significant amounts of local resources were engaged for these projects, with about $220 million in costs financed by Nigerian banks  a first for oil and gas ventures in Nigeria.

ExxonMobil’s Nigerian affiliates operate more than 90 offshore platforms comprising approximately 300 producing wells.

Mobil Oil Nigeria plc (MON) is one of the country’s major marketers of motor fuels, lubes and specialty products. MON operates outlets nationwide, along with a manufacturing complex in Lagos state that makes lubes and petroleum specialties, supplying these products to many key sectors in the country, including the transportation, power generation, cement and food industries.

Deepwater production offshore Angola
ExxonMobil affiliates in Angola own interests in four deepwater blocks that cover more than 3 million gross acres. The company and its co-venturers have announced 60 discoveries totaling 14 billion gross oil-equivalent barrels.

Production in Block 15, where ExxonMobil operates with a 40 percent interest, began in 2003 with the Xikomba deepwater development, followed in 2004 with Kizomba A. The deepwater projects are approximately 90 miles offshore in 3,900 feet of water. Production has since expanded rapidly. The Kizomba B project came onstream in 2005, the Marimba North project began production in 2007, and Kizomba C followed in 2008. Combined daily production on the block peaked at 700,000 barrels a day in 2008.

ExxonMobil technology contributed significantly to the company’s deepwater success in Angola. For example, the Kizomba B project features the world’s largest floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Every few days, a tanker loads crude oil from the FPSO for delivery to world markets. The Marimba North project incorporates a subsea connection to the FPSO at Kizomba A. The Kizomba C development includes 36 subsea wells, two FPSO vessels and two offshore production hubs to develop three fields: Mondo, Saxi and Batuque. Kizomba C is also ExxonMobil’s largest subsea development, and its startup in 2008 has positioned Esso Angola as one of the country’s largest oil producers.

Elsewhere offshore Angola, ExxonMobil has interests in acreage operated by others: Block 17 (20 percent), Block 31 (25 percent) and Block 32 (15 percent). Fifteen discoveries have been announced in Block 17, and exploration is under way in all three areas.

In Egypt, a number of distribution facilities, including On the Run convenience stores like this one, provide transportation fuel to millions of vehicles a year.

Largest oil producer in Equatorial Guinea
ExxonMobil affiliate Mobil Equatorial Guinea, Inc. is the largest oil producer in Equatorial Guinea and operates the offshore Zafiro producing field in Block B (ExxonMobil interest 71 percent) in water depths ranging from 400 to 2,800 feet.

In 2008, the Zafiro field produced an average of 185,000 barrels of oil per day (gross). Production from the project flows to three facilities: the FPSO vessel Serpentina, the Jade Platform and the Zafiro Producer, a floating production unit.

Chad/Cameroon project
Five years after an ExxonMobil affiliate first produced oil from the Doba Basin in southern Chad, this project continues to provide significant economic growth and development for Chad and its neighbor, Cameroon.

Oil produced from the Miandoum, Kome, Bolobo, Nya, Moundouli, Maikeri and Timbre fields in Chad is sent via a 663-mile pipeline through Cameroon to a marine terminal off that country’s coast. By mid-2008, the project had shipped more than 266 million barrels of Chadian crude to world markets. ExxonMobil’s average gross production in 2008 was about 130,000 barrels a day.

Exploration in Madagascar
In 2004 and 2005, an ExxonMobil affiliate obtained a large acreage position and now holds more than 17 million acres (gross) in four frontier exploration blocks offshore northwest Madagascar. The company has implemented a phased approach to its exploration program, and is now acquiring and analyzing seismic data in anticipation of exploratory drilling.

Re-entry into Libya
After departing the country in the 1980s, ExxonMobil established an affiliate organization and re-entered Libya in 2004. The following year the company was awarded the 2.5-million-acre Contract Area 44 lease block in the Cyreniaca Basin offshore Libya’s northeast coast.

In 2007, ExxonMobil was awarded the 2.5-million-acre Contract Area 20, in the offshore Sirte Basin. This was followed in 2008 by a third award, Contract Area 21, also in the Sirte Basin, and lying about 110 miles offshore. Exploratory drilling is planned on all three blocks.

Offshore acreage in Congo
An ExxonMobil affiliate holds a 30 percent interest in the Mer Tres Profonde Sud Block, which was awarded to the company in 1997. The co-venturers have announced five discoveries, with a total resource of about 500 million oil-equivalent barrels. Planning for development is progressing, along with continued exploration.

The company also acquired a 40 percent interest in 1997 in the Mer Tres Profonde Nord Block. Exploration activity is under way.

Operations in Egypt
ExxonMobil operates an extensive fuels and lubricants network in Egypt that includes terminals, a transportation fleet, marine and aviation facilities, and two world-class lubricants-blending plants. The company’s branded retail service stations provide motorists with exceptional products and services throughout the country. The fully automated lube-blending plants are located in Alexandria and Cairo, and incorporate industry-leading technology to supply quality lubricants to motorists as well as to commercial and industrial sectors.