TheCable

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it is set to resume oil search in the Chad Basin following remarkable improvement in the security situation in the north-east.

Ohi Alegbe, group general manager, group public affairs division of the corporation, said this in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday.

The statement quoted Joseph Dawha, group managing director of NNPC, to have made the announcement at the 21st annual general meeting of Integrated Data Services Nigeria Limited (IDSL).

IDSL is a subsidiary of the NNPC that is carrying out the seismic data acquisition in the Chad Basin.

“Preliminary indications from the previous exercise so far are encouraging and we are going to move back there,” Dawha said.

The GMD described the security situation in the northeast that led to the corporation to suspend oil exploration activities in the basin as “unfortunate”, and commended the security forces on their recent success in the fight against the insurgents.

The statement said the performance of IDSL was encouraging in spite of the challenge of funding as a result of the fall in crude oil prices.

“The company’s performance is encouraging as it recorded a 32 per cent revenue growth,” it said, adding that Victor Briggs, managing director of IDSL, disclosed that the company was expanding its operations to neighbouring West African countries and other emerging oil producing countries in Africa.

“IDSL was incorporated in 1988. Its services include provision of seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation as well as petroleum and reservoir engineering data evaluation, computer and other ancillary services.