Northern governors hire British firm to begin prospecting for oil in Lake Chad Basin

GOVERNORS of Nigeria's 19 northern states have hired a British firm to step up the search for oil and gas in the Lake Chad Basin in Borno State after President Muhammadu Buhari directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to step up prospecting.

 

Currently, the Niger Delta is the sole source of Nigeria's crude oil but the northeast is located within the Lake Chad Basin, which has substantial reserves. On the other side of the Nigerian border, the basin has provided crude oil for Chad and Cameroon and it has long been suspected that there must be reserves in Borno State too.

 

Yesterday, Mallam Bashir Dalhatu, the chairman of the Northern Nigeria Development Company, owned by the 19 northern state governments, said the company had commenced its prospects for oil and gas in the Lake Chad and Benue basins, using the services of the British company. He stated this in Katsina when the company’s board and management called on the state governor, Aminu Masari, during their fact-finding visit to the state.

 

Mallam Dalhatu said: “We have engaged a British company that is already working in the Lake Chad region and from Niger and Chad side in the same area with us and we have been meeting with the NNPC in order to put efforts together. The federal government has also re-emphasised to us, during those meetings, its total support for exploration and exploitation of oil and gas in the northeast of the country.”

 

Minister of state for petroleum resources, Dr  Ibe Kachikwu, had earlier said that the federal government would begin oil drilling activities in the Chad Basin from the third quarter of this year. According to him, the commitment of the government and the NNPC to explore oil and gas in the inland basins, especially Chad Basin and the Benue Trough, is unwavering.

 

He said the NNPC, through its Frontier Exploration Services and Renewable Energy Division, had progressed reasonably with seismic acquisition activities in the Chad Basin frontier area up until insurgency necessitated the suspension of operation there. According to the minister, eight phases out of the planned 12-phase project to cover 3,550 square kilometres had been acquired.

 

Maikanti Baru, the group managing director of the NNPC, confirmed that exploration activities were going on in the frontier basin in Chad and in some areas close to the Kolmani River, located in Bauchi State, where Shell had made some indicative discovery of hydrocarbons. Mr Baru said that the NNPC was currently taking steps to re-strategise and get into those regions to step up crude oil exploration activities.