Lagos
State is set to join the league of oil producing states in the country
come next year as the joint venture partners on the Aje Field offshore
Lagos have taken the final investment decision on the exploration of the
field.
A group led by Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company
Limited took the FID to develop the first phase of the Aje shallow water
oil field for $220m.
The aim of the first phase is to produce
10,000 barrels per day of oil from two target wells in the Oil Mining
Lease 113 area. A re-entry of Aje-4 will form the first producer, while
drilling of Aje-5 is expected to be the second.
The
plans include the use of Rubicon’s Front Puffin floating production,
storage and offloading vessel, which produced oil from the Puffin field
in the Timor Sea. The vessel will be brought up to specification soon,
while the procurement of subsea equipment and the contracting of a
drilling rig are progressing.
The Aje field’s first stage is scheduled to be brought on stream at the end of 2015.
“We
believe that this development is good for Nigeria generally because our
reserves base has not increased over the years as expected, because the
international oil companies are not ready to invest since the Petroleum
Industry Bill has not been passed,” an elated Commissioner for Energy
and Mineral Resources, Lagos State, Mr. Taofiq Tijani, told our
correspondent.
Yinka Folawiyo is the operator with 25 per cent
interest in the field. The partners are Vitol, 24.05 per cent; First
Hydrocarbons Nigeria Limited, 16.875 per cent; Energy Equity Resources
Limited, 16.875 per cent; Panoro Energy ASA, 12.19 per cent; and Jacka
Resources Limited, five per cent.
The JV partners had in January
2014 submitted the Field Development Plan for the Aje field to the
Department of Petroleum Resources. The FDP was approved in March and is
primarily focused on the development of the Cenomanian oil reservoir.
The FDP envisages first oil commencing in late 2015 with mid-case reserves of 32.4 million barrels.
The
first phase of development includes two subsea production wells tied
back to a leased FPSO. These wells will most likely comprise the
re-completion of the existing Aje-4 well and a new well drilled close to
the Aje-2 subsurface location.
In addition, further potential
on the block is being defined following the 3D seismic acquisition
across both OPL 310 and OML 113.
Lagos State had last year
established its oil and gas company following the passage of a bill that
sought to establish the Ibile Oil and Gas Corporation.
The bill was to authorise the state government to invest and engage in oil and gas activities.
Credit: Femi Asu/PunchNews
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