TheCable

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the crude oil found in the Benue Trough is in commercial quantity.

In October 2019, the corporation 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

According to a statement by Kennie Obateru, group general manager of NNPC group public affairs division, Nigerian geologists are spearheading efforts exploration activities in the trough.

The corporation said it is committed to growing Nigeria’s hydrocarbon reserves to 40 billion barrels through reinvigorated exploratory activities in the inland frontier basins across the nation.

Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group managing director, said the strategy is to aggressively explore for more oil in the frontier basins in order to grow Nigeria’s reserve base in line with federal government’s aspiration to hit the 40 billion barrels reserve target.

Kyari said NNPC’s key aspiration is to grow Nigeria’s hydrocarbon reserves, reduce the unit operating cost of crude oil production to $10 per barrel and improve efficiency across its businesses.

“It is my pleasure to appreciate the good work and resilience of our in-house professionals in the ongoing inland basins exploration activities that culminated in the recent discovery of hydrocarbons in Benue Trough,” he said.

“NNPC is indeed proud that it is the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) members that are spearheading this effort.”