Three years after its oil exploration in northern Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has flagged-off oil drilling projects in the region.
The project, dubbed Kolmani Integrated Development Project, heralds the first ever oil drilling Endeavour in the northern Kolmani River II Oil Field located at a border community between Bauchi and Gombe States.
NAN reports that Buhari will perform the official ground-breaking ceremony of the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPLs) 809 and 810 at the Kolmani River II Well on Tuesday.
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The project partner, the New Nigeria Development Company, is owned by the 19 states of Northern Nigeria.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, in October 2019, announced the discovery of crude oil, gas and condensate in the Kolmani River.
The commercial quantity discovery was the first in the region after several crude oil explorations on the Upper Benue Trough. The oilfield will be developed by Sterling Global Oil, New Nigeria Development Commission (NNDC) and NNPC Ltd.
The historical event would signal oil drilling and exploration in the oil field discovered in 2019 in the northern region. Many officials of Nigerian security agencies, including the State Security Service, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air Force and Navy, and the Nigerian Police, are deployed at the site.
Some para-military agencies, including the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Federal Fire Service, are also on ground. The officials of the NNPC Ltd, members of the cabinet and some medical teams with their equipment are also seen at the site.
The president is expected to be accompanied by the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, Bauchi and Gombe States governors, Bala Mohammed and Inuwa Yahaya, and other top government functionaries.
The onshore oil discovery marks a significant turn in Nigeria’s oil economy. The discovery of the 1 billion barrels of crude oil will be crucial to Nigeria’s economic survival as a nation, according to minister of state for petroleum, Timipre Sylva.
“This will boost infrastructure and industrial development in Nigeria; this is the motivation that has sustained the quest for the Petroleum Industry Act in 2021,” he said.
He disclosed that the ministry of petroleum is poised to employ frontier development funds to commence frontier basins and boost oil reserves from 37 billion to 40 billion.
“The key implication of these measures is that Nigeria needs to seek sustainability and expand capital for government spending. Drilling for hydrocarbons in the frontier development is crucial to Nigeria’s survival as a nation,” he said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Limited (NNPCL) said the Kolmani oil site would also have a petrochemical refining site with an oil refinery of 120,000 bpd, a gas processing site of 500 million cubic feet per day, and also a 300 MW power plant.
With the 1 billion barrels of crude oil reserve from the new northern oil wells, Nigeria is expected to earn about N32.3 trillion over a period of 10 years.