The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) will resume oil search in Lake Chad next week, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Malam Mele Kyari, said yesterday.
He said this on Monday when he led his management team on a courtesy visit to the Abuja headquarters of Media Trust Group (MTG), owners of Daily Trust, Trust TV, Trust Radio and other platforms.
Kyari said the company had a directive from President Muhammadu Buhari to resume oil search in the Lake Chad Basin in Borno State after it was stalled for over five years due to insurgency in the North East.
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The NNPC boss noted that the discovery of oil in viable commercial quantities in Kolmani River (upper Benue trough) between Gombe and Bauchi states last November gave positive signals for more efforts in Lake Chad.
He said, “It was the Kolmani that helped us to locate a position in Nasarawa State. It is the same reason that by next week, we’ll spud in another well in the Chad Basin. Mr President directed us over a year ago that we should go back to the Chad Basin and continue exploration work.”
Justifying the planned resumption of the oil search, Kyari said: “Security of our workers is the most important element of our work. We have assessed the environment and we know that substantial peace has been regained in the Chad Basin. Communities have returned to their locations and their villages. You do not hear of incidents and there is substantial containment of this.
“And we’re also working very closely with the security agencies; the state government to make sure that staff are safe, our equipment are safe. I will have no doubt that the safety of our staff is assured and that’s why we are going back because there is relative safety in the location,” Kyari explained.
Speaking on the status of the discovered oil in Kolmani and the search in Ebenyi A, Kyari said: “Our first focus is to deliver the in situ refining experiment and when Mr President flagged off the Kolmani River well, we promised we will get it done in 36 months and we’ll deliver it. Our rig is drilling in Nasarawa and our team is on site, continuously working and we are very optimistic.”
(Dailytrust)
