ExxonMobil has signalled a major re-engagement with Nigeria’s deepwater oil sector, unveiling a potential pipeline of multi-billion-dollar investments that stretch from life-extension work on the two-decade-old Erha field to a possible $15bn–$16bn greenfield development at the adjacent Bosi oil and gas field. Speaking during a visit to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in Abuja, ExxonMobil Upstream Company’s Senior Vice President for Deepwater, Hunter Farris, said the improvements in Nigeria’s investment climate had prompted the company to “renew our vows to Nigeria.” The announcement, which coincided with the 20-year anniversary of first oil at Erha, caps a period of accelerating upstream activity in the country and suggests the golden age of Nigerian deepwater development may still be ahead.
Key Overview
- ExxonMobil plans up to $16 billion in new capital for the Bosi oil and gas field if developed with a new FPSO and pipeline infrastructure.
- The Owowo deepwater project, holding roughly one billion barrels of developed resources, could see a Final Investment Decision (FID) as early as 2027, with project value estimated at $7bn–$8bn.
- ExxonMobil is preparing to drill additional wells at the Usan field and carrying out life-extension work on the Erha FPSO.
- The Erha Production Sharing Contract has been extended to 2042.
- Nigeria approved 28 field development plans worth $18.2 billion in 2025, targeting 1.4 billion barrels of reserves.
- Crude production has rebounded to 1.6–1.7 million barrels per day, up sharply from the lows of recent years.
- NUPRC Chief Executive Dr. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan welcomed the announcement and pledged continued regulatory support.
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A Two-Decade-Old Deepwater Pioneer Gets a New Lease on Life
The timing of ExxonMobil’s announcement carries considerable symbolic weight. It was delivered during a visit to the NUPRC headquarters in Abuja to mark 20 years of production at the Erha deepwater field — Nigeria’s first deepwater oil project, which streamed first oil in April 2006. That field, operated by Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (EEPNL), was originally built with a roughly $3.5 billion investment and designed to deliver up to 190,000 barrels of oil per day at peak from the main and satellite developments tied back to a single FPSO sitting in 1,200 metres of water.
Two decades later, the asset has aged — but ExxonMobil is clearly not ready to retire it. The company is undertaking extensive life-extension works to restore the Erha Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel to peak performance, and the Production Sharing Contract on Erha has been extended to 2042. Industry reporting on the anniversary notes that the field continues to operate safely and efficiently, producing approximately 75,000 barrels per day, with indigenous personnel now forming over 95 per cent of the offshore workforce.
That long tail of production is the platform from which ExxonMobil is now pitching its next chapter in Nigeria.
“Renewing Vows”: The New Investment Pipeline
Speaking during the courtesy visit, Farris told NUPRC officials that the improved business climate in Nigeria had given the supermajor sufficient confidence to commit fresh capital across several assets. According to a statement from the regulator, the company is now actively progressing three distinct opportunities beyond Erha itself.
Owowo. The most near-term of the three, the Owowo deepwater project, holds roughly one billion barrels of developed resources. Farris described it as a $7bn to $8bn project that the company is progressing toward a Final Investment Decision “as early as next year.” That would put a potential FID in 2027, an aggressive timeline for any deepwater project of that size.
Usan. The Usan field, which ExxonMobil officially took over as operator in 2013 after Total E&P Nigeria’s divestment, is next in the queue. Farris said the company was preparing to drill “a handful of wells” in the field — likely infill and life-extension activity rather than a major greenfield commitment, but still a meaningful vote of confidence in an asset that has been producing for more than a decade.
Bosi. The largest opportunity by dollar value sits in the Bosi oil and gas field, located adjacent to Erha. Farris said Bosi could attract fresh capital of between $15 billion and $16 billion if ExxonMobil were to proceed with a greenfield development involving a new FPSO and new pipeline infrastructure. Bosi has been on the company’s long-term portfolio radar for years; the willingness to now publicly price a development range that big is a meaningful signal.
Taken together, the three projects imply a potential capital programme in the $22–$24 billion range on top of the life-extension work already under way on Erha itself. Farris framed the proposed investments as evidence that the company is “getting back in business and we’re serious about what we’re doing,” and said ExxonMobil was positioning itself to take advantage of what he called the “golden age of deepwater development” — or the rejuvenation of deepwater operations — in Nigeria.
Why Now? Regulatory Reform and a Rebounding Sector
The signal from Abuja is consistent with a broader pattern of renewed investor interest in Nigeria’s upstream sector. The country has reported increased upstream activity supported by recent reforms, new project approvals and a shift in asset ownership. In 2025, Nigeria approved 28 field development plans valued at $18.2 billion, targeting an estimated 1.4 billion barrels of reserves. Crude production has rebounded to approximately 1.6–1.7 million barrels per day, driven by increased drilling activity and government-led initiatives aimed at restoring output after years of decline.
The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), passed in 2021, remains the backbone of that reform effort. The legislation created the NUPRC as the upstream regulator and commercialised the old Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into the limited liability Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, moves that together reshaped the fiscal and regulatory framework governing the sector. According to the NNPC, Nigeria recorded $16 billion to $17 billion in foreign investment inflows in 2024 following the implementation of these regulatory reforms — a figure the company highlighted at CERAWeek in Houston as it lobbied for further capital from Chinese and Indian players.
Reform has continued under the current administration. In February 2026, President Bola Tinubu issued an Executive Order realigning oil and gas revenue flows with constitutional provisions, suspending certain structural deductions, and clarifying regulatory roles. Under the new directive, all income from production-sharing contracts is paid into the Federation Account rather than being partially retained by NNPC, eliminating certain management-fee deductions and exploration allocations that the company previously withheld.
The fiscal reforms have sparked domestic debate about NNPC’s role, but from an international oil company perspective they arguably reduce ambiguity in how deepwater revenue flows through the system — a plus for long-duration capital commitments like Bosi.
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Farris: From Skepticism to “Serious About What We’re Doing”
That regulatory arc matters because it reverses the earlier narrative about ExxonMobil’s commitment to Nigeria. As recently as 2022, speculation swirled about the supermajor’s potential exit, driven by the drawn-out effort to sell its shallow-water Mobil Producing Nigeria assets to local operator Seplat. An earlier NUPRC engagement pegged ExxonMobil’s forward commitment at a more modest $1.5 billion focused on accelerated development of the Owowo and Erha deepwater oil fields, with the company publicly supporting the regulator’s “Project 1 Million Barrels” initiative to push national crude output toward 2.4 million barrels per day in the medium term.
The new disclosures represent a meaningful escalation in both dollar value and project scope. Farris commended Nigeria’s improved regulatory environment, noting that it had significantly enhanced the ease of doing business in the country. The phrase “renew our vows to Nigeria” — widely quoted across Nigerian outlets covering the visit — captures the tone the supermajor is trying to set. According to reporting by Punch Newspapers, Farris explicitly linked the proposed spending to the improved investment climate and framed Bosi as an opportunity to “unlock a fresh wave of capital inflows” if fully developed.
NUPRC Welcomes the Commitment
Responding to Farris’s remarks, NUPRC Chief Executive Dr. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan welcomed the company’s renewed commitment and pledged regulatory support. “To hear that FIDs are likely next year is very exciting, and rest assured, we are willing to support you,” she said, adding that the commission would continue to encourage and safeguard petroleum investments, particularly those aligned with the interests of the Nigerian people.
Eyesan, who took charge at NUPRC in late 2025 with a mandate to deliver a bold reset in the upstream oil and gas sector, has been leaning into that business-enabler framing since her first weeks in office. The Erha anniversary visit gave her a high-profile platform to reinforce the message that Nigerian regulators are open for capital — and that the country’s long-maligned upstream bureaucracy is moving faster than its reputation suggests.
For Nigerian officials, ExxonMobil’s pipeline announcement also dovetails with the broader push to reverse production declines. Independent analysis by Economy Post notes that the proposed spending is being read as a sign that ExxonMobil is re-engaging with Nigeria’s upstream sector, with the improved regulatory landscape playing a key role in restoring investor confidence.
The Bigger Picture: A Deepwater Renaissance?
Nigeria’s oil reserves stood at 37.01 billion barrels at the start of 2026, modestly down from 37.5 billion barrels a year earlier — a reminder that even in a reform-friendly climate, reserve replacement requires fresh exploration and development capital, not just life-extension work on existing assets. Deepwater in particular remains the single biggest lever for adding high-quality barrels, because the continental shelf and onshore Niger Delta have been heavily drilled for decades.
The Erha story itself is instructive. The original development, which was completed in 2006 at an estimated recoverable reserve of roughly 500 million barrels, has sustained production for two decades in water depths between 1,000 and 1,200 metres. The Erha North Phase 2 expansion, completed in 2015, added another 165 million barrels through a subsea tieback to the existing FPSO — five months ahead of schedule and $400 million under budget. That track record of on-time, under-budget delivery is part of the case ExxonMobil is now making internally for sanctioning Owowo and, eventually, Bosi.
If the company’s timeline holds — FID on Owowo “as early as next year,” followed by staged progression on Bosi — the mid-2030s could see ExxonMobil operating one of the largest integrated deepwater complexes on the African continent. That, in turn, would reinforce Nigeria’s positioning ahead of international energy forums, where the country’s petroleum ministry is actively courting global capital with licensing opportunities and investment-ready assets.
What to Watch Next
Three milestones will determine whether Thursday’s announcement translates into actual capital commitments.
First, the Owowo FID timeline. Farris floated 2027 as the target. Deepwater FIDs of that size routinely slip, but the fact that ExxonMobil is publicly committing to a window puts meaningful reputational capital on the line.
Second, the Bosi concept development. Any project in the $15bn–$16bn range requires a new FPSO order, a pipeline campaign, and long-lead equipment procurement that will need to start well before formal sanction. Watch for pre-FEED and FEED contract awards over the next 12 to 18 months.
Third, the pace of Usan drilling. Farris’s “handful of wells” comment is the most near-term piece of the pipeline and will likely be the first visible test of whether ExxonMobil’s renewed confidence is translating into rig activity, rather than just press statements.
For now, the message from Abuja is unambiguous: after years of speculation about whether the supermajors would pull back from Nigeria, at least one of them is making the opposite bet — and doing so with billions of dollars on the table.
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