After more than 25 years of hard work and exploration, the late Lagos business mogul Iyanda Folawiyo’s oil company, Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Co. Limited (YFP), has recorded a historic milestone by commencing crude oil production from the South-West, making Lagos one of Nigeria’s oil-producing states.
YFP reportedly commenced production from the Aje Field, located in Block OML 113 offshore Lagos, Nigeria, on May 3, 2016.
The development marked a significant milestone as the first crude oil production in the South-West and one of the first major oil production projects outside Nigeria’s traditional Niger Delta region.
YFP was granted an Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL 309) by the administration of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in June 1991 as a Sole Risk Contract under the Nigerian government’s Indigenous Allocation Programme.
The programme was established to encourage the development of a locally owned and operated Nigerian upstream oil industry.
Following the acquisition of 2D seismic data in 1994/95 and the drilling of the Aje-1 well in 1996, the Aje Field was discovered. A second well, Aje-2, was drilled the following year in 1997.
After the successful drilling and testing of both wells, OPL 309 was converted to an Oil Mining Lease (OML) 113 in 1998, with an initial term of 20 years.
Oil produced from the Aje Field was to be stored on a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel with a storage capacity of 750,000 barrels of oil and the ability to accommodate production rates of up to 40,000 barrels per day.
The Aje Field contains hydrocarbon resources in sandstone reservoirs at three main levels: a Turonian gas condensate reservoir, a Cenomanian oil reservoir and an Albian gas condensate reservoir.
Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Co. Limited is believed to be wholly owned by local investors, making the project another significant example of indigenous participation in Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas sector.
Speaking on the milestone, Chairman of Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Co. Limited, Tunde Folawiyo, described the development as a major achievement for the company, the Nigerian oil and gas industry and Lagos State.
“The attainment of this milestone is indeed a laudable achievement not just for YFP but for the Nigerian oil and gas industry as a whole and indeed Lagos State which can now be addressed as an oil-producing state.
“Recording this achievement in the present global oil climate together with the peculiar challenges of the field is clearly no mean feat.
“We are very proud of and appreciate the efforts, determination and commitment of the entire Aje Project team, past and present, the constant support from our regulators, the DPR and Ministry of Petroleum and our financiers.
“We believe this crucial support will spur us on to even greater achievements,” he said.
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