The quest of Ogun State to be an oil-producing state would soon materialise as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is set to commence oil and gas exploration in the state.

Stakeholders in the oil industry, including the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri; the Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited, Osagie Okubor; the Chief Executive of Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe; and the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari; stormed Ogun State on Friday, May 31, 2024, on plans by the federal government to start oil exploration in the state.

They were received by Governor Dapo Abiodun and his deputy, Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele.

Lokpobiri, who spoke at the governor’s office in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said the state has always been part of the Dahomey Basin with the prospect of having a huge deposit of hydro-carbon.

The minister said: “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 a very high potential for discoveries here.

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“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.”

Lokpobiri, who added that oil and gas remain the quickest way to Nigeria’s economic prosperity, said his team is in the state in continuation of the campaign for exploration activities.

Speaking, Kyari said Ogun State is blessed to be in the Dahomey Basin corridor with an expected high deposit of oil, assuring that the NNPCL would be back soon to commence exploration activities, even as he expressed hope that oil would be found in commercial quantity.

Responding, Governor Abiodun said Ogun State is part of the OPLs 302,303 306, and 307, adding that the acreages present unique opportunities for the qualification as a frontier exploration state as defined in the PIA section 9.

Abiodun noted that the history and studies over the years allow any investment under the frontier exploration basin funding to not only realise the oil and gas potentials but also acquire data that would aid Bitumen exploration and exploitation in Nigeria.

The Star