(Ecofin Agency) - After several failed attempts to achieve first oil, the Aje field situated within Block OML 113, offshore Lagos, Nigeria has finally achieved its first oil.

This is coming after Panoro Energy announced last month that the last assembling procedures were ongoing with the aim of starting production soon. Subsea installation operations had been ongoing at the Aje field since January 2016 and was concluded in March set for the connection of the Front Puffin Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, which was received in Nigeria on March 16, 2016.

Output from the field is to be stored on the Front Puffin which has a production capacity of 40,000 bopd and storage capacity of 750,000 bbls.

According to the Chairman of Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Corporation Limited, Tunde Folawiyo, recording this kind of success in this present global oil climate, alongside the peculiar challenges of the field, was clearly a no mean achievement.

“The attainment of this milestone is indeed a laudable achievement not just for the 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. 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 told Energy-pedia.

Discovered twenty years ago, the Aje field is located in water depths from 100 to 1,000 metres and is about 24 km from the coast and covers hydrocarbon resources in sandstone reservoirs in three main levels.

Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited, is the operator of the OML 113 alongside New Age Exploration Nigeria Limited, EER (Colobus) Nigeria Limited, Panoro Energy and PR Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited.

Anita Fatunji