West Africa Exploration and Production Company (WAEP), the upstream arm of the Dangote Group, is stepping up efforts to unlock more than 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil and establish gas monetisation infrastructure across its Nigerian assets over the next two years. Managing Director and CEO Olajumoke Cecilia Ajayi unveiled the strategy at the AOW Energy Conference in Accra, Ghana, highlighting that the company’s key assets Oil Mining Leases 71 and 72, previously operated by Shell hold significant potential, including roughly 1.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
To capture these reserves, WAEP has adopted a phased development approach aimed at tapping into low-hanging fruit to generate early cash flow. These initial returns will be immediately reinvested to fund broader redevelopment across both leases. The campaign is already moving into active execution, with WAEP securing contracts for three jack-up rigs and scheduling offshore drilling to begin in December. Supporting this operational push are six comprehensive field development plan studies designed to enable back-to-back development projects across its portfolio.
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As production ramps up, the company plans to supply crude directly to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, leveraging shared ownership to build a tight synergy between domestic upstream production and refining. To manage the expanded output, WAEP is also preparing to establish a dedicated crude evacuation terminal, which could eventually offer aggregation and transport services to third-party producers. Looking ahead over the next 24 months, the company is focusing on strengthening its technical and organizational capabilities to ensure consistent, uninterrupted output and fully realize its gas monetisation targets.
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