From Segun Ayinde, Abeokuta
Ogun State’s quest to become an oil producing state would soon materialise, as Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, is set to begin oil and gas exploration.
Stakeholders in the oil industry, including the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company Ltd, Mr Osagie Okubor; Chief Executive of Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Engr Gbenga Komolafe and the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Mr Mele Kyari, visited the state at the weekend to begin oil exploration.
Lokpobiri, who spoke at the governor’s office in Abeokuta, said Ogun State had always been part of the Dahomey Basin with the prospect of having huge hydrocarbon deposit.
“We decided that we are going to resume exploration in different Basins; we decided to come to Ogun State to reassure the people that we have discoveries here. Ogun has always been part of the Dahomey Basin and our presence underscores the seriousness that the federal government attaches to the exploration activities that we want to carry out here,” the minister said.
Lokpobiri, who added that oil and gas remain the quickest way to Nigeria’s economic prosperity, said his team was in the state in continuation of the campaign for exploration activities.
He said the visit was also to demonstrate the seriousness and commitment of the federal government to shore up its revenue through the oil and gas sector.
Also speaking, Kyari said Ogun State is blessed to be in the Dahomey Basin corridor with expected high deposit of oil, assuring that the corporation is coming back to commence exploration activities, even as he expressed the hope that oil would be found in commercial quantity.
In his remarks, Komolafe said the team’s visit is to demonstrate the commitment of the federal government to grow oil reserves and enhance revenue.
He informed that the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, makes provision for the funding of the development of Frontier Basins, adding that in line with the commitment and aspirations of government, Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission is working in synergy with NNPCL to leverage on PIA to aggressively carry out oil exploration in Dahomey Basin.
Responding, Governor Dapo Abiodun said Ogun State is part of OPLs 302, 303 306, 307, saying the acreages present unique opportunities for qualification as a frontier exploration state as defined in Section 9 of the PIA.
The country, Abiodun said, holds the second largest reserve in the world, adding that a lot of studies have shown the potential of the basins, which brings Ogun State to the fore and projects it towards becoming a beneficiary to achieve commercial success and derive economic benefits from exploration and production within a minimum time schedule.
