On Friday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited stated that it had found oil in Nasarawa State and that it was about to dig the first foot of an oil well there.
It added that it would spud the first oil well in Nassarawa State in March 2023 and described the discovery as a continuation of its oil exploration efforts in the country’s inland basins.Following the discovery of crude oil in the states of Bauchi and Gombe, The PUNCH reported on January 5, 2023, that NNPC was searching for the resource in additional areas throughout the north.
In order to support the nation’s oil output and reserves, the report claimed that NNPC was implementing coordinated actions for greater frontier exploration in the area.
The corporation had made this disclosure in a paper on the NNPC’s frontier exploration services activities from 2020 to 2022, which also listed some potential oil-producing states, including Niger, Nasarawa, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, and Gombe.
The Anambra basin was identified as another region where the NNPC was looking to locate extra oil, in addition to the North.
Seismic surveys are conducted after the initial stage of prospecting, which is the search for oil and gas reserves.
When the Governor of the state, Abdullahi Sule, led a delegation of notable natives on a courtesy visit to NNPC in Abuja on Friday, Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer of NNPC, revealed the oil finding and the anticipated spud-in Kyari released a statement .
Garba-Deen Mohammad, a spokesperson for the corporation, stated in Abuja that the outcomes of exploratory efforts verified the existence of significant hydrocarbon resources in the state.
He urged swift action on the project as investments in fossil fuels had decreased as a result of the world’s energy transition.
Since the entire globe is moving away from fossil fuels owing to the energy transition, Kyari said, “This job must be done very quickly. The earlier you get to market, the better for you.”
“Otherwise, no one will agree to put money in the petroleum company except it comes from your cash flow in 10 years,” he continued.
He asserted that a successful operation in the area required community cooperation and a favourable climate, in order to evade the Niger Delta’s experience.
Abdullahi Sule, the governor of Nasarawa State, responded by congratulating the head of NNPC on the start-up of oil production and the Kolmani Integrated Development Project, which was launched in November 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
