It is indeed a season of good news as the United States Energy Information Administration’s has revealed that by 2014, oil will be produced for the first time offshore Lagos State from the Aje gas and condensate field, which lies in Oil Mining Lease 113 in the Benin Basin, about 43 kilometers offshore Lagos.
The field is currently in the development planning stage, with first production expected in 2014.
Aje field is expected to reach a plateau production of between 50,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. The water depth in the region is 3,000 feet.
Key shareholders in the field include Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum and Chevron.
Chevron was appointed as the technical advisor to the operator for the project and also assigned the responsibility of preparing a development plan for the field.
Aje is primarily a gas condensate field formed in a four-way dip closure trap. It contains gas and oil in the Turonian and Cenomanian reservoirs and an additional gas layer of the Albian formation.
Gross contingent resources of the Aje field are estimated at 380 million boe. Of this 28 per cent is oil/condensate, 20 per cent is Liquefied Petroleum Gas and 52 per cent is gas.
The field is planned to be developed as a subsea tie back to a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel.
A total of six producers are planned for the field. They will be connected to subsea wellheads and associated flow lines and manifolds in 320-feet water depth. The flowlines will, in turn, be connected to the FPSO through risers.
Produced hydrocarbons will be processed by the FPSO and exported through the West African Gas Pipeline or through a direct pipeline to connect to the Lagos gas infrastructure.