Pan Ocean Oil Corporation (Pan Ocean) was incorporated as an Exploration and Production company in 1973. Soon after, Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 70/71 which was originally granted to Delta Oil Company was farmed out to Pan Ocean Oil Corporation Incorporated. In December 1975, OPL 70/71 was converted to Oil Mining Lease (OML) 98. Pan Ocean has been in a Joint Venture with the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) in respect of OML 98. As a Joint Venture (JV) partner, the NNPC has 60 percent working interest in OML-98 while Pan Ocean has 40 percent.

OML 98 is located in the Northern Delta Depobelt, and in the northern fringe of Niger Delta Basin, OML 98 covers an area of 523 km² in Edo and Delta State. Fields within the block includes the Ogharefe, Ologbo, Asaboro, Adolo, Owe, Ossiomo, Ona and Erimwindu fields. Pan Ocean commenced crude oil production at the Ogharefe field (OML 98) with an initial production of about 11,000bpd in 1976.

Pan Ocean corporate model of continuous improvement through performance standards is designed to facilitate continuous growth and financial stability.

Through strategic planning, aggressive exploration and production activities and tenacity, Pan Ocean acquired the Oil Prospecting License 275 during the 2007 bid round. In 2009, Pan Ocean signed a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with the NNPC on Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 275. The acreage  is located in the extreme Northern-most part of the Northern Depobelt of the Niger Delta petroleum province.

Since the award of the block, Pan Ocean as the sole Operator, has acquired 545sq.km of high resolution 3-D seismic data which after processing and interpretation afforded a good understanding of the subsurface structures. Thereafter, 6 wells had been drilled (5 in Obi Anyima field and 1 in Ute-Erumu field) and all encountering oil and gas in commercial quantities.

With the successful completion of work program in exploration phase as defined in the PSC contract, the asset was converted from Oil Prospecting License (OPL) to Oil Mining Lease  (OML) in 2015. Approval has also been secured for Obi Anyima Field Development Plan.

On-going projects includes the construction of 20,000bbls and 70MMscf/d, 3-phase, modularized Early Production Facility in Owa Aladinma, 67kilometers Owa Aladinma to Ogharefe pipeline and various flow lines to bring fluids from the well heads to the EPF. These projects are at very various stages of completion.

Production is expected to commence in OML 147 before the end of first quarter (Q1), 2018.