Nigeria Content Online

The federal
government appears desperate to shore up the nation’s proven oil
reserve capacity as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
has stepped up oil and gas exploration activities in the Chad Basin.

Though previous
efforts by some of the international oil and gas exploration and
production companies operating in the country had to be called off a
few years ago after they drilled a few dry holes, the NNPC is putting
finishing touches to a comprehensive framework design for the
intensification of exploration activities in the region.

Before now, 23
wells have been drilled with two of the wells, Wadi-1 and Kinasar
encountering non- commercial gas. Already, it was gathered that about
33, 550 square kilometers of three dimensional (3-D) seismic data has
been acquired for processing preparatory for the formal launch of
exploration activities in the area by the corporation.

To ensure that the
latest quest for a sustainable oil find in the region does not end
without success, Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum
Resources, is determined to follow through Presidency’s directive that
the NNPC leaves no stone unturned to strike `black gold’ in its search
in the Chad Basin.

Possibility of discovering oil

Though Mrs.
Alison-Madueke was not categorical about the prospects of a commercial
oil find in the region, she was however optimistic that there is a
strong possibility, considering that oil companies operating in
neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger and Sudan have all made
discoveries of commercial hydrocarbon deposits in their concessions,
which have similar structural settings with the Chad Basin.

Discoveries made in
neighbouring countries in basins with similar structural settings
include Doba, Doseo and Bongor all in Chad, believed to have over 2
billion barrels of oil; Logone Birni in Southern Chad and Northern
Cameroun, with over 100 barrels, and Termit-Agadem Basin in Niger, with
over one barrels of oil.

The NNPC New
Frontier Exploration Services Division spearheading the search for
crude oil in the entire Inland Basins is acquiring 3,550 square
kilometers of 3-D seismic data for processing and interpretation, in
addition to the 6000 kilometres of 2-D data that is currently being
reprocessed.

The division, headed by Olakunle Olaosebikan, is working in
consultation with a renowned geophysicist and consultant to the United
Nations, Deborah Ajakaiye, who is leading a team of Nigerian and
foreign geologists and geophysicists in the search for hydrocarbon
deposit in the Nigerian Frontier Inland Sedimentary Basins (NFISB).