Offshore rig Nigeria’s daily crude oil output may increase by 200,000 barrels by the end of March 2018, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said. The new output will come from the Egina offshore project, where Italian Saipem is currently working on the production infrastructure and equipment. First oil from Egina is scheduled for the first quarter of 2018. The 200,000-bpd figure is the scheduled full-scale production rate for the field. The Egina ultra-deepwater project is operated by French Total , which has a stake of 24 percent in the development. Its partners in the venture are Chinese CNOOC and Petrobras Sapetro. The total value of the project is estimated at US$16 billion , with the floating production storage and offloading vessel to be installed at the field alone costing US$3.3 billion. The new production will be much appreciated as the problems the Nigerian government is having with militant groups […]