The much anticipated first ever crude oil export cargo from the Aje field, offshore Lagos, will be shipped to the United Kingdom in September.
Following the commencement of the first oil production at the Aje field in May 2016, Panoro Energy, the London-based energy firm in partnership with operator Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited (YFP), announced in July that the first crude oil lifting for export from the Aje field would begin by the end of August.
The company, while announcing its second quarter 2016 results and operations updates on Tuesday, however, said it expected to sell the first cargo of Aje crude during September and that Glencore Energy UK Limited had been selected for its offtake.
The firm confirmed that Nigerian regulators recently officially approved production and the export sale from Aje.
It said in the update that the average gross daily production at Aje as calculated from May to mid-August was 5,500 barrels of oil per day (bopd), which included the entire testing, commissioning, and approval period completed in mid-July.
The current AJE partnership is made up of YFP, the operator, New Age (African Global Energy), First Hydrocarbon Nigeria Ltd, Energy Equity Resource, Panoro, and Jacka Resources, PR Oil and gas.
YFP is a wholly owned Nigerian company, and retains the operatorship of OML 113. After over 25 years of exploratory, appraisal and development activities, YFP has successfully pioneered the opening of the Frontier Benin Embayment as the AJE Field is the first to record production from this part of Nigeria and it is the first production outside the Niger Delta region.
Commissioning of the Front Puffin FPSO was successfully completed after its arrival in Nigeria on 16th March 2016. Oil produced from the AJE Field will be stored on the Front Puffin FPSO which has production capacity of 40,000 barrels of oil per day and storage capacity of 750,000 barrels.
In his comment, the Chairman of YFP, Tunde Folawiyo, said that “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 Lagos State which can now be addressed as an oil producing stare.
“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 consistent support from our regulator, the DPR, Ministry of Petroleum Resources and our financiers. We believe this crucial support will spur us on to even greater achievements.”