By Dennis Mernyi, Monday Jojo and
Adewale
Adewale
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered for intense search for hydrocarbon prospects in Chad Basin and the North Eastern part of Nigeria.
The President’s directive is coming on the heels of the fruitless search for oil in the region with $1 billions spent without commercial discovery of crude oil.
Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, made the disclosure Monday, while receiving the Governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Mohammed Abubakar, during a courtesy visit to the NNPC Towers in Abuja.
Baru informed that the renewed search for hydrocarbon deposits in the Chad Basin would entail extensive probing of some allocated and non-allocated oil blocks in the region with a view to establishing the magnitude of their deposits.
The NNPC GMD noted that the Corporation has identified specific oil blocks in the area where some of the finds have been made and would move to re-invigorate exploration based on fresh strategy.
“You know that very close home, we have exploration activities on the frontier basin in the Chad and some areas close to the Kolmani River where Shell had made some indicative discovery of hydrocarbons. Now, Mr. President has directed me to go into that area to further explore the magnitude and prospect of those finds.
“We are taking steps to re-strategise and get into those regions. We will re-invigorate the frontier exploration and see how they collaborate with NNPC that is holding Block A09 where some of the finds have been made, and also for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to assign redundant blocks,” he said.
Baru implored the Bauchi State governor to collaborate with the Corporation in tackling the menace of pipeline vandalism, especially in the wake of reported line breaks along the NNPC products supply line from Jos-Gombe-Bauchi, enroute the Maiduguri depot.
In his opening remarks, Mallam Abubakar, said he was leading a delegation of Bauchi State government officials to the NNPC Towers to felicitate with the new GMD on his appointment, noting that Bauchi State was proud of Baru and his accomplishments so far in the oil and gas industry.
On Baru’s elevation to the position of GMD, Abubakar stated that the government and people of the state will continue to support and pray for the GMD to ensure that his dreams for the NNPC come to fruition.
