Ogun State in South-West Nigeria is poised to join the list of oil-producing states in the country as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) is set to commence oil and gas exploration in the region.
His Excellency, the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, hosted a delegation from the Nigerian Government, including the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri; the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company Ltd, Mr. Osagie Okubor; Chief Executive of Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, and NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mele Kyari.
Speaking at the governor’s office in Ogun, Lokpobiri stated that the state is part of the Dahomey Basin, with the potential to contain a substantial deposit of hydrocarbons.
“We decided that we are going to resume exploration in the different Basins; we decided to come to Ogun State to reassure the people that we have very high potential of discoveries here. Ogun has always been part of the Dahomey Basin and our presence underscores the seriousness the federal government attaches to the exploration activities that we want to carry out in Ogun State,” the minister said.
“Today we are here to tell the people of the federal government’s commitment to ensuring that we continue our campaign and exploration activities across the country. We are doing this exploration activities in several places across Nigeria and today we are in Ogun after which we will proceed to Sokoto State,” he added.
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State stated that Ogun State falls within the OPLs 302, 303, 306, and 307, noting that these areas present new prospects for qualifying as a Frontier Exploration State, as outlined in Section 9 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
He highlighted that historical records and studies conducted over the years enable any investment in the frontier exploration basin funding to not only unlock the oil and gas potentials but also gather data that would facilitate bitumen exploration and exploitation in Nigeria.
“It is noteworthy that this is a region of the country that provides ease of access, low entry and operating costs, a safe and welcoming community and a very active state government support and participation,” he said.
“Ogun State therefore presents some unique opportunities towards the realization of the full intentions of the PIA section 9 on frontier exploration as it will contribute to guarantee additional petroleum production of additional petroleum products for the country and afford more supply to potential refineries in the area.
“As a low hanging result, this area also presents the opportunity for Bitumen extraction, thereby reducing import dependency and bringing with it savings in foreign exchange expenditure on this single line item.”