Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited was incorporated in 1996 as a joint venture between Walter Smith and Associates Limited, a Nigerian investment company and Petroman Oil Limited of Canada, to operate as an oil exploration and production company.

In 2001, Waltersmith became an wholly indigenous Nigerian company after the divest of petroman oil limited.

The company subsequently participated in the Marginal Oil field licensing round for indigenous companies and was awarded the Ibigwe field located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 16 by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2003.

OML 16 was originally operated by the joint venture of SHELL/AGIP/ELF/NNPC. The award was secured on a joint interest basis, with Waltersmith having 70% and Morris Petroleum Limited having 30%.

Consequently, Waltersmith was designated the operator of the field.

Waltersmith executed a farm-out agreement with Shell Petroleum Development Company and its Joint Venture Partners including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 2004 to effectively takeover the field for development.

A major milestone for Waltersmith was attained in June 2008 when it commenced commercial export of crude oil from the concession area.

Currently Ibigwe field produces from 5 wells, 4 of these wells were drilled after the take-over of the asset by Waltersmith. To date, Waltersmith has produced in excess of 5.3 barrels from the field, while current proven reserve is estimated at 24 MMSTBO and 120Bscf of gas.

In line with its reserve replacement strategy, Waltersmith in 2011 participated in the Shell divestment process as part of a Consortium that successfully bid and won Oil Mining Lease 34 in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Waltersmith was listed among the successful for the six blocks in Uganda’s first competitive licencing round.

The company is currently in negotiations with government for production sharing agreements (PSAs) covering four blocks before exploration license is awarded.