Nigeria’s Kolmani River range spanning Bauchi and Gombe states may fetch fresh 1-billion-barrel oil reserve generating over N32 trillion when developed.
The development is historic for Nigeria, with the country now boasting crude oil reserves in both its southern and northern parts. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC) stated that President Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday supervise the first oil drilling in the North.
The oil finding activity would be the first major oil exploration since NNPC transformed into a commercially viable entity.
Drilling on the Kolmani Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 809 and 810 at the Kolmani field sites in Bauchi and Gombe will be the first oil drilling in Northern Nigeria after oil discovery in commercial volume was announced nearly two years ago.
The newly commercialised state-owned oil company, and the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), a conglomerate owned by the 19 Northern States of Nigeria. It was learnt that NNDC had won the OPL 809 and 810 since 2007 and had agreed with NNPC on developing the oilfields and getting proceeds in a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) which NNPC already operates with some International Oil Companies (IOCs) and National Oil Companies (NOCs) exploring oil in the Southern Niger Delta.
NNPC is said to have expended N34Billion on oil exploration in the region. With an estimated 1 billion barrels of crude oil reserve from the new northern oil wells, Nigeria is expected to gain nearly $73 billion or N32.3 trillion at an average global crude oil price of $73 per barrel benchmark used for the 2023 budget proposal. This earning could be realised over a period of 10 years; depending on when commercial production starts.
The oil field in Bauchi and Gombe axis will be developed by Sterling Global Oil on behalf of NNDC and NNPC Ltd.
The practical drilling and exploration at the Kolmai oil field begin and this is what President Muhammadu Buhari will be kickstarting according to NNPC officials familiar with the oil fields’ development stages. The process also entails the actual production of oil and associated gas at the oil wells.
Source: NewsCentral.com