Nestoil Group has successfully deployed one of its rigs, the Pathfinder 500, completing workover operations on two producing wells in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42 through its strategic business unit, Scorpio Drilling International.
This is aimed at driving oil production in the Niger Delta at a time Nigeria is aiming to increase production.
In a statement, it said the campaign was carried out using the Pathfinder 500 rig, one of two rigs — the second being the Scorpio 300 — acquired by the Group as part of a combined investment of approximately $28 million.
It said the rig was successfully mobilised to site in OML 42, completed workover operations on the two wells without any Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) incidents, contributed to incremental oil production from the asset, and was safely demobilised back to base.
“The achievement is particularly notable as it represents the rig’s first productive assignment since it was acquired roughly eight years ago, at a time when there was widespread scepticism that the unit would ever be deployed successfully. Nestoil Group described the milestone as a major proof point for its long-term strategy of building indigenous drilling capacity to support the redevelopment of OML 42, a legacy Shell-operated asset, and to unlock further in-field drilling opportunities across the field.”
Speaking on the achievement, Chairman of the Nestoil/Neconde Group, Dr. Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi, described the milestone as a defining moment for the Group and for Nigeria’s indigenous drilling capacity.
He noted that the rig had sat idle for eight years amid widespread doubt that it would ever be put to productive use, making its successful mobilisation, incident-free workover operations and safe demobilisation a genuine success story for the organisation.
Obiejesi explained that the investment in the Pathfinder 500 and Scorpio 300 rigs was driven by the recognition that Nigeria’s operating environment made it difficult and costly to rely on hired rigs, and that as an asset owner in OML 42, the Group needed reliable in-house capacity to conduct workovers, revive older wells and ultimately drill new wells as the field matured. He said the milestone now positions the Group to proceed with its planned in-field drilling programme.
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