Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has said oil exploration in the North would continue until the commodity is found. Native Reporters has learnt.
Baru said this would enable the NNPC do massive appraisal of the discovery of gas reserves, made in 1999 in the region.
The
NNPC GMD, who was in Kaduna for the 40th edition of the Kaduna
International Trade Fair, said the Corporation is working on the Kolmani
River 2; with optimism and high expectation. He said President
Muhammadu Buhari had personally urged the Corporation to go back to
exploration on the Kolmani River 2 Well, and that drilling has been
going on smoothly. He said that as at Wednesday morning, the Corporation
has dug 10,075 feet deep well with a target to reach 14,270 feet
exploration.
“The main purpose of this well is to start some
massive appraisal of the discovery that was made way back in 1999 of
some gas reserves in Kolmani River 1 and, so far, the drilling has been
going on smoothly to enable exploration.
“We will do the needful. If we need to probe any particular section, we will take our time to do it.
“Our
target date is to see that by the end of May, we complete exploration
on that particular well and move to Kolmani River III, which site is
almost ready for the rigs to move there and from there, we move to other
locations,” he said.
Earlier, the GMD said that provides an
opportunity for stakeholders and long term exhibitors like NNPC to take
stock of their participation through the years, with a view to
consolidating on areas of strength, while working on avenues for
improvements.
Dr. Baru said the loss of agriculture to crude oil
exploitation has slow local industries that feed on agricultural produce
as feedstock, prominent among which were the textiles industry, as well
as tanneries in the North.
Meanwhile, Baru has said there were no plans to increase the price of petroleum products for now.
He
said even though there is an agency saddled with the responsibility of
fixing petrol price, President Muhammadu Buhari has said there would be
no increase in the pump price of petroleum products for now.
In
the last four decades, the NNPC has invested about $3billion in crude
oil exploration activities in northern Nigeria. However, the investment
has failed to yield any positive dividend, as the state-owned oil firm
is yet to strike hydrocarbons in such commercial quantity for
exploitation activities to commence. While some Nigerians see the
continuous investments in the search for crude oil deposits in the north
as a waste, those in favour of the search remain optimistic.
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