Geologists have said there are strong indications that Lagos State will have more oil and gas discoveries in the next two to three years.
The geologists, who spoke to our correspondent in separate interviews on Thursday, said the state had all the elements of a petroleum system, and that would go a long way to show high possibilities for more discoveries.
In a telephone interview with our correspondent, the past President, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, Mr. Mayowa Afe, said there was a strong presence of bitumen along the Dahomey Basin, the onshore parts on the coastal plains of southwest Nigeria, Benin and Togo.
Afe said the extent of progress was strongly dependent on the development of the wells that had been discovered and their prospects.
According to him, the presence of features like soft rocks (shale and other organic contents), reservoir rock (fine stones) and cap rocks are strong signs of hydrocarbon presence.
“Lagos is a potential oil producing state. This will become very obvious when we have multiple wells. In fact, in the next two to three years, the state will be an oil producing state,” he added.
Also speaking, a geologist and Chief Executive Officer, Begeconek Nigeria Limited, Mr. Biodun Adesanya, said there were possibilities of hydrocarbon discoveries in Lagos State.
Adesanya said chances had not been exhausted, and for the fact that oil was spotted at Aje field along the Benin Basin, it was possible that more discoveries would be made east or west of the Aje field.
“More exploration has to be done. They have not done much. There is the need to invest in more seismic data collection,” he said.
THE PUNCH had on Tuesday reported that by 2014, oil was expected to be produced for the first time in Lagos from the Aje gas and condensate field, which lies in Oil Mining Lease 113 in the Benin Basin.
The field is currently in the development planning stage with first production expected in 2014, according to the United States Energy Information Administration's website.
The Aje field is expected to reach a plateau production of between 50,000 and 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, at the outset, 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.
The OML 113 licence covers an area of 960 square kilometres and contains several prospects, including the Jubilee and Tweneboa fields.
