Nigeria's offshore hydrocarbon field development typically incurs expenditure running into billions of dollars. Amongst several reasons, this is driven by the high installation and running costs related to infrastructure, the complexities of executing operations in several meters of water and is compounded by the need to contract out-of-country resources, with its inherent project schedule challenges. Despite these obstacles, offshore hydrocarbon fields across the world remain lucrative sites where substantial quantities of oil and gas resources have been identified, harnessed, and still remain locked-in as reserves and undiscovered opportunities. The offshore Niger Delta basin of Nigeria is a prime example, where it has been estimated by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), that as of January 1st, 2024, Nigeria had an estimated hydrocarbon reserve of ~38 billion barrel of crude oil/condensate and ~210 trillion cubic feet of associated and non-associated gas, across its onshore and offshore hydrocarbon fields (Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, 2024). Additionally, it is believed to hold several more billion barrels of oil equivalent in undiscovered resources. A substantial quantity of these reserves and undiscovered resources are estimated to be stored in the offshore Niger Delta basin, hence making it an incredibly attractive hub for deriving energy. While crude oil has notably driven advancements across local and international industries and economies, the impact of its exploration, production and utilization on the environment and the consequent increase in global temperatures has necessitated the adoption of a more diversified energy mix which incorporates more sustainable and secure energy sources, which will enable countries across the world reduce their carbon footprint and meet climate goals which are aligned with the COP 21 (Paris Agreement) international treaty.
Umeogu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.