As we all have being expecting and praying for this country, finally a hope is set to arise as a Nigerian firm has said it has started oil production from an offshore field in the commercial city of Lagos, the first output outside the country’s oil hub in the Niger delta. “Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Co. Ltd (YFP) is gladly announced that the commencement of production of crude oil from it's Aje field located in block OML 113 offshore Lagos,” at a later hour on Tuesday.
Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum did not disclose the volume of current output from the field though it said the company has the capacity to produce nearly 40,000 barrels per day. Production began after more than 25 years of exploration, appraisal and developmental activities in the field, now making Lagos -Nigeria’s commercial capital as it has being generally known to be - an oil producing state. Nigeria’s oil and gas industry which is known to be concentrated in the southern parts of Nigeria such as Delta state but the region has been dogged by disruptions, evasions and vandalism of pipelines from militants demanding a fairer share of revenue. Pipeline attacks and illegal refining or “bunkering” as it is called locally are known to have massive effect, which is currently estimated at about 1.8 million barrels a day, according to Organization of Petrol Exporting Countries (OPEC). Nigeria is reliant primarily on oil revenue as it's source of income and economic development but crude earnings have been depleted drastically since the slump in global prices that started in mid-2014.