It’s official, Lagos State will join the league of oil producing states in the country by next year with the commencement of production from the Aje oil field, offshore Badagry.
The Yinka Folawiyo led joint venture has completed development-planning studies of the Aje oil field and planned to proceed with field start-up arrangements immediately. The partners said the Final Investment Decision (FID) are expected in the near future with first production expected at the end of 2015. In 1999, when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, it declared nine states as oil producing and constituted them into the Niger Delta Development Corporation. Abia, Imo, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa and Rivers States were joined by Anambra State in 2012 when it too began commercial oil exploration. When Lagos State starts production, this 10 states will now become 11 and Lagos will also be entitled to the 13% derivation which all oil-producing states enjoy.
The Field Development Plan (FDP), which was approved by the Nigerian Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) early this year, is primarily focused on the Cenomanian oil development.
The Aje Cenomanian crude is light, sweet under-saturated oil of approximately 39.4 API gravity with a gas oil ratio of 375-480 standard cubic feet per barrel (scf/bbl). The Aje Field is located in OML113, approximately 24 kilometres offshore Lagos, Nigeria. The initial field discovery well, Aje-1 was drilled in 1996. A total of four wells have now been drilled on the Aje Field and hydrocarbon resources proven at three reservoir levels (Turonian, Cenomanian and Albian).
“An initial field production rate of approximately 10,000 barrels of oil per day is anticipated. Solution gas will be used as fuel. Drilling and completion operations are expected to commence in Q1 2015, with FPSO installation in mid-2015.
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