(Ecofin Agency) - Lekoil Limited has on Monday announced that about 250,000 barrels of crude oil have been lifted from the Otakikpo Marginal field in Nigeria by Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell.

Under the existing crude sales agreement between the two firms, it is expected that Shell will forward payment for the crude within the next month.

The Otakikpo field continues to produce at a rate of about 5,000 barrels of oil per day, Lekoil said adding that it continues to focus on efforts to increase output to the Phase 1 production target of 10,000 bopd.

Otakikpo is situated in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11 which is adjacent to the shoreline in the south-eastern part of Niger Delta. The field’s development plan involves two phases. Phase 1 comprises of the recompletion of two wells, Otakikpo-002 and Otakikpo-003, with the installation of an Early Production Facility of 10, 000bopd capacity while the Phase 2 covers subsequent incremental development of the remaining parts of the field with a new Central Processing Facility and new wells expected.

Anita Fatunji