20th February, 2023
The recent announcement by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) that it is set to begin drilling for oil in Nasarawa State is another step in a series of historic efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari to expand the countries revenue base.
This was the assertion of the Buhari Media Organisation, BMO, in reaction to the announcement by NNPCL.
BMO, in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, noted that President Buhari will go down in history as the Nigerian leader who successfully expanded Nigeria’s oil revenue with new crude oil discoveries.
“The announcement of a crude oil drilling project in Northern Nigeria comes barely three months after the President flagged off the first crude oil drilling project in northern Nigeria, in a border town between Bauchi and Gombe States.
“This was after the NNPCL had in October 2019 announced the discovery of hydrocarbon deposits in commercial quantities in the Kolmani River II Well, after several crude oil explorations in the Upper Benue Trough.
“We can easily recall how the President said the discovery was as a result of the charge by his administration to the NNPCL to re-strategize and expand its oil and gas exploration initiatives to the frontier basins of Anambra, Dahomey, Sokoto, Benue, Chad and Bida Basins.
“After revealing that there were over 1 billion barrels of oil reserves and 500 billion cubic feet of gas within the Kolmani area, President Buhari added that similar activities were ongoing across the other basins.
“So we were really not surprised to hear the NNPCL announce a few days ago that it was commencing the drilling of crude oil in Nasarawa State from March 21.
“We invite Nigerians to note that the company’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari told Gov. Abdullahi Sule that initial exploratory activities detected that there was a significant amount of oil in the State.
“This is yet another significant breakthrough pioneered by President Buhari, especially as the Kolmani Integrated Development Project in the North-East, has attracted over 3 billion dollars in foreign direct investment with the potential of producing 50,000 barrels per day,” the group added.
BMO also noted that it was heartwarming that these oil discoveries are coming at a time that another Buhari legacy, the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 has provided the regulatory support and framework for host communities to be better treated by oil companies.
(NAN)