The possibility of first oil from the Aje shallow-water field offshore Lagos this year has received a significant boost with the commencement of drilling on the Aje-5 production well on the Oil Mining Licence 113.

The Aje-5 well is part of the first phase of a two-phase development plan for the field.

The well is being drilled with the Saipem Scarabeo 3 semi-submersible drilling rig, Panoro Energy, one of the joint partners involved in the Aje field development, said in a statement on Monday.

The firm said, “Following drilling, the Aje-5 well will be completed as a subsea oil production well.

“The drilling and completion for Aje-5 is expected to take approximately 70 days. Following this, the rig will be used to re-enter the existing Aje-4 well to complete it as a second Cenomanian subsea oil production well.”

It added that installation of the production manifold, flowlines, umbilicals and risers would take place in the fourth quarter of this year, after which the floating production, storage and offloading vessel, the ‘Front Puffin’, would be installed and opened.

“Production is expected to commence by year-end 2015 at an initial anticipated production flow rate of approximately 1,100 barrels of oil per day, net to Panoro from these two wells, in accordance with the first phase of the approved Field Development Plan.”