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NNPC announces oil find in Northern Nigeria
By Tasie Theodore
Nigeria’s national oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has announced that it has presently discovered oil in Northern Nigeria.
The oil deposit was reportedly discovered in the Gongola Basin in North Eastern Nigeria and early indications point to the fact that it is in substantial commercial quantity.
According to Samson Makoji, the Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division at the corporation, the oil find will “attract foreign investment, generate employment for people to earn income and increase government revenues”.
In the full text of the statement, the Acting Spokesman elaborated some more on the find:
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced the discovery of hydrocarbon deposits in the Kolmani River II Well on the Upper Benue Trough, Gongola Basin, in the North-Eastern part of the country.
“It would be recalled that drilling of the Kolmani River II Well was flagged-off in a colourful ceremony by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 2nd of February, 2019.
“NNPC acquired 435.54km2 of 3D Seismic Data over Kolmani Prospect in the Upper Benue Trough, Gongola Basin. This was to evaluate Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) Kolmani River 1 Well Discovery of 33 BCF and explore deeper levels,” the statement outlined.
The new find is likely to be a game changer in a nation that is heavily dependent on crude oil but in which the bulk of its oil fields have almost always been located in the Southern part of the country, and leading to periodic cries over what many in the South consider to be the disproportionate allocation of the wealth of the nation to the Northern bloc.
With the North now locating oil within its own segment of the nation, some are wondering whether it will now be easier to achieve national consensus on thorny political issues like resource control, state police, true federalism and the restructuring of the federation.
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