TotalEnergies plans to drill the AFE-1X well at Nigeria’s Akpo field, while Premium Times reported its records review could not establish whether nearby communities are covered by a host-community trust.
The target date came from a post on TotalEnergies’ Facebook page, according to Premium Times. The outlet said the Noble BlackRhino drillship reached Akpo on Nov. 3 after entering Nigerian waters a day earlier, following a 738-nautical-mile trip from Côte d’Ivoire.
The Oct. 26 filing by Noble Corporation plc describes a Nigerian drilling program of four wells for TotalEnergies, assigned to the Noble BlackRhino. The filing lists six priced options and estimates the work will last about 150 days, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2026. It names no fields and does not say whether AFE-1X is included. Premium Times reported that no output target, reserve estimate or investment cost for AFE-1X had been disclosed.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) lists Akpo as PML 2, a deep offshore lease. TotalEnergies put Akpo’s 2023 production at 124,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and said the field’s floating production, storage and offloading vessel began operating in 2009. The company said Akpo West began producing in February 2024.
Under Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act, each settlor must pay the applicable host-community trust 3% of its actual annual operating expenditure from the preceding financial year. The act set a 12-month incorporation period for trusts tied to existing oil mining leases. A 2022 NUPRC presentation associated Akpo/Egina deepwater operations with littoral communities in Rivers and Bayelsa states.
Premium Times said it found no separately identifiable Akpo/Egina trust or beneficiary list in the public records it reviewed, but could not determine whether the communities were covered through another trust or whether contributions had been made. The outlet said TotalEnergies had not answered its inquiry by publication. Its report did not establish that no trust or coverage exists.
The company post cited by Premium Times targets Friday, Nov. 13, for drilling to begin.
