Encouraged by the recent discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in Bauchi and Gombe States, the Federal government has now directed the Nigeria National Petroleum Company, NNPC Limited to search for crude oil in other states in the north.
Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the first oil fields in the two states. It was the first time oil had been discovered in the region and, it came barely five years after the administration ordered NNPC to stop serching for oil in the Lake Chad basin.
The government oil firm failed to discover oil after many years of intense searching and huge capital investment.
The ground-breaking ceremony of the Kolmani Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 809 and 810 at the Kolmani field site in Bauchi and Gombe States, therefore came as a huge relief to the oil company after naysayers said crude oil can never be discovered in the north.
The magazine learnt that the success in Bauchi and Gombe States have further propelled the federal government on the need to mobilise equipment to other states in the region with the hope that more oil fields will be discovered.
According to a document cited by the magazine, the NNPC said it has now opened more prospecting sites in different locations in Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe, Adamawa, Niger, Nasarawa, and others, adding that efforts will be concentrated more in the frontiers.
This is necessary, the oil firm said it necessary to shore up the oil country’s oil reserve.
In 2017, the Buhari administration announced that it has suspended crude oil exploration in the Borno State and would only resume if it gets sufficient security clearance guaranteeing the safety of its personnel and operations.
Even though Boko Haram attack was blamed for the decision, not a few said the prospecting work had to be suspended by NNPC following its failure to discover the commodity in commercial quantity in the area.
