Many of Total's Nigerian developments - whether already in operation, under construction or on the drawing board - have been designed for combined production of both oil and associated gas. The Group deploys its technical expertise to Niger Delta sites onshore, offshore and deep offshore.

In-house Geoscience leads the way

While a significant number of staff is mobilised to increase the company's production, other members are busy preparing its future. The Geosciences Division (GSR) created at the end of December 2000, is the hub or our exploration and reservoir engineering activities aimed at increasing our reserves. The division has three departments comprising completely integrated teams of geologists, geophysicists and reservoir engineers. These in turn are supported by two other departments, Operations and Information Technology. The Division's main goals are:

• to provide the basis for development decisions on existing operations;

• to mature and drill specific high-value prospects in the deep offshore;

• to compensate existing fields' natural production decline by proposing in-fill wells and stimulation jobs (for enhanced oil recovery).

Many of the division's accomplishments have been achieved with the development and introduction of innovative new techniques in exploration and production. Among them are: the optimisation of reserves through improved reservoir management practices; water injection techniques since 1984 (Obagi, Ofon fields), simultaneous water & gas injection design for the Amenam/Kpono field, and reservoir optimisation through horizontal wells and development of very thin reservoirs.

Deep Offshore : The New Frontier for Total

Of the ten deep offshore discoveries in Nigeria, Total Upstream is operator in three and partner in another three. Finding Nigeria's fields was not a question of luck but rather the result of 30 years of experience in deep offshore production worldwide. Total's development of innovative seismicprocessing and interpretation tools and methods allows it to correctly predict the location of such reservoirs. Production methods for raising oil and gas from great depths and under great pressures and temperatures represent another major achievement making today's exploits possible.

Furthermore, our successes are often based on game-changing concepts:

• the discovery of the Ofon field was based on changing the exploration concept from structural to stratigraphic;

• the discovery of the Amenam field was based on the application of the (then) new concept of sequence stratigraphy which permitted the successful exploration of a deep sand series (below 3500 meters ) against the then conventional wisdom that no significant sand series exist below 3500 meters in the Niger Delta.

Monetization begins onshore

One concrete example of our expertise is the continued success of the Obite Gas Project. Technical processes behind this project began with the production of condensate-rich gas at 400 bar and 75° C, operating the field and its reservoir at a depth of 4,300 meters , calling on all our expertise in high pressure/ high temperature operations. Total later decided to add the associated gas produced on the Obagi oil field. Since then, the technical facilities installed on this mature field have prevented the flaring of about one million cubic metres of gas per day.

Complex processes for extracting, cleaning and transporting gas

Gas is conveyed by pipeline from the production fields to the Bonny complex for processing by the various liquefaction trains. It is first cleared of its impurities, dewatered, neutralized and cleaned of any trace of mercury. Successive cooling and fractionation steps help to isolate the heavier hydrocarbons (propane, butane). The methane then undergoes several heat exchanges with refrigeration cycles to bring it down to its temperature of liquefaction ( -160°C ). It is then transported by methane carrier: following the completion of Train 6 approximately 350 cargoes will be dispatched from the complex each year.