Posted by Clara Nwachukwu on
The Federal Government has sent siesmic data collected from Northern Nigeria to three foreign countries for laboratory analyses, in its unrelenting effort to strike oil in the area.
The Federal Government has sent siesmic data collected from Northern Nigeria to three foreign countries for laboratory analyses, in its unrelenting effort to strike oil in the area.
The search for oil, government said, was based on the success of the discovery of oil in the Chad Basin, which adjoins the North-East border of Nigeria.
Speaking on the progress of the oil-hunt, the Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investments Management Services, Mr. Philip Chukwu, said, 'We already have a lot of data on the project and these have been sent to Pakistan, France and Houston (USA), and some laboratories in Nigeria for further studies."
Although the cost of the search was yet to be quantified, Chukwu stated, 'The search began a long time ago and we will not stop; we will continue, especially as oil has been found in Chad, and this has given us hope that we might be lucky."
He said that the data studies, which were being co-ordinated by an indigenous contractor, were expected to produce a report based on the studies from the laboratory analyses.
Chukwu said that based on its optimism to discover oil in the area, the government had already put out 12 oil blocks in the Chad Basin and six in the Benue Basin for this year's licensing rounds, adding that recent studies might lead to the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in those areas.
The management of the Northern Nigeria Development Company has also indicated interest in joining the search for oil in the region, by entering into a partnership with South Africa-based Energem Petroleum Corporation to prospect for oil in the Chad and Benue basins.
In line with its local content drive, the Federal Government had reserved 30 per cent of oil and projects in Nigeria to indigenous operators.
To this end, the NNDC said it had submitted bids for four oil blocks, two in the Chad and two in the Benue basins under the 2005 bid rounds.
Similarly, based on the conviction of the existence of oil in commercial quantity in the region, an Algerian oil and gas company has indicated interest in taking up blocks there during the bid round.
Chukwu, who also gave an update on government's plan for the oil and gas sector, said that 30 per cent of jobs would thenceforth be reserved for indigenous operators in line with the local content drive, while both the indigenous and international operators would bid for the remaining 70 per cent.
He said that, through this measure, the government wanted to ensure that indigenous operators were not deprived of the opportunities of participation in the sector to assist them in building local capacities.
He said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was determined to achieve its Nigerian content targets, adding that NAPIMS would play a pivotal role in the execution of projects and investments in the sector.
The PUNCH, Monday, August 1, 2005