Speech by the Managing Director, Total Upstream ... - TOTAL Nigeria

Our second deepwater development, the USAN project, whichis currently undergoing intense and sustained developmentactivities, is due on stream by 2012 with 180,000 boepdplanned production and 11 million man-hours of employment.We also have the Egina deepwater development with aplanned production of 200,000 barrels per day, which willcommence production in 2014. Egina will be a major new stepforward for TOTAL's growth, in Nigeria, opening up theprospect of jobs in a 30-million-manhour project with a recordbreakinglevel of anticipated Nigerian content.Other planned developments include Egina South, Preowei,Ikike, Nkarika, and Etisong, all in conventional as well as deepoffshore.We consider the theme of this year’s DOWAC ConventionLuncheon: The Oil Industry in the 21 st Century - Challengesand Opportunities - as both relevant and timely.The world relies on the oil and gas industry for fuel to run ourfactories, move our vehicles, fly the planes and heat ourhomes, etc. It is our challenge to provide consumers with fuelat affordable prices. To do this, our industry has to find andrefine hydrocarbon at the cheapest possible cost. But weknow that the era of cheap oil discoveries seems to havegone. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find cheapsources of hydrocarbon with existing technology.In Total, we continue to invest in Research and Developmentwhich is aimed not only to ensure that we develop appropriatetechnology for the challenge of finding and producing oil andgas for the 21 st century and beyond, but technology that willcome with the highest possible degree of environmentalfriendliness.

Security has sometimes been a challenge for the oil and gasindustry worldwide. In Nigeria, the Federal Government’sAmnesty programme with ex-militants has led to significantimprovements within the industry’s operating environment.Total will continue to support the efforts of all stakeholders atensuring the development of Nigeria through the use of thecountry’s natural resources.The role of oil and gas professional bodies like NAPE in thedevelopment of the industry in particular and the nation atlarge cannot be over-emphasized.This is why in Total, we not only strongly support our staff tobelong to and actively participate in the activities ofprofessional organizations, we also identify with theprofessional bodies by way of sponsorships of theirprogrammes like we are doing again today, in this year’sDOWAC.Finally, as the Nigerian Government goes on with thewelcome reforms in the nation’s oil and gas industry, it isexpected that deliberations and decisions reached at eventslike we are witnessing in this year’s DOWAC, shall bechanneled to the appropriate authorities as a way of enrichingthe dialogue on the way forward.Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for your kind attention.Guy MauriceManaging Director / Chief ExecutiveTOTAL Upstream Companies in Nigeria16th November, 2010