Lagos inaugurates a state-owned oil company

Group Managing Director, Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited, Mr Tunde Folawiyo presenting crude oil sample to Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Monday, May 16, 2016(Guardian NG)

The governor stated that the company is positioned to effective manage the downstream and upstream activities of the state and protect the economic interest of all stakeholders in the project.

The Lagos State Government has formally established a state-owned oil company, Ibile Oil and Gas Corporation (IOGC), as a business arm of the state in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

This inauguration was done on Monday, May 15, 2017, in the commercial capital of the country.

It would be recalled that Lagos state was declared an oil-producing state in August 2016 as result of the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities in the Aje field, offshore Lagos, Nigeria. The Aje oil field is managed jointly by Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited (YFP) in partnership with the Panoro Energy, a London-based independent E&P Company.

Location of OML113 and the Aje field (The future of energy mix)

The Federal Government has approved four out of the five oil wells discovered in the Aje field, Lagos.

Speaking during company’s formal inauguration, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos State Governor, said the initiative was another step in the determination of the state to optimal leverage its oil producing state status in Nigeria.

“Lagos State is at the threshold of witnessing a boost in economic growth and employment generation given the evolving developments in its investment climate, particularly the oil and gas sector. The Dangote refinery, the largest in Africa and one of the biggest in the world, will soon come on stream at the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ).

The governor stated that the company is positioned to effective manage the downstream and upstream activities of the state and protect the economic interest of all stakeholders in the project.

“This multi-billion dollar investment will effectively complement the oil exploration activities of Yinka Petroleum and other oil exploration companies that will also operate in the Dahomey Basin in the future. This will complete the Lagos State oil and gas security tripod of exploration and logistics in the western axis, refining in the eastern axis and funding and exportation through the banks and the ports in the central axis,” Ambode explained.

L-R: Former Lagos Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Taofik Tijani; Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Olawale Oluwo; Managing Director, IBILE Oil and Gas Corporation, Ms Olaore Debayo-Doherty and the Chairman, Board of IBILE Oil and Gas Corporation, Moyosore Onigbanjo at the commissioning of the IBILE Oil and Gas Corporation on Monday in Ikoyi, Lagos. (pmnewsnigeria)

The Managing Director of the company, Ola Debayo-Doherty, stated that the company is finalising front-end engineering design and development work on a gas commercialization project to be completed in 2019.

According to her, the project will enable the achievement and realisation of the state’s aspiration to make a step change and become the preferred business hub in Africa and also grow its economy to transform into the desired mega city.

“It will enable the achievement of the realisation of the state aspiration to make a step change and become the preferred business hub in Africa, grow its economy and transform the state into the desired mega city.”

Ms Ola Debayo-Doherty who was, until her appointment, a Senior Consultant with the Shell Petroleum UK on Process Standardization and Project Delivery, noted that the Corporation is open to private partnership both locally and internationally, adding that Ibile Oil and Gas is deploying international best practices, due diligence and social responsibility in the discharge of its mandates.