Oil boom likely in Northern Nigeria -Experts
By Adeola Yusuf, Reporter, Lagos

Major oil discovery, which can fetch Nigeria another commercial crude exploration and production, is likely in the northern part of the country, petroleum explorationists have said.







The crude geologists and geophysicists under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) who made this known through their President, Kingsley Ojoh submitted that a modern technology, 3D seismic should be deployed to realize this dream.

The Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Abubakar Yar'adua said over the weekend that the corporation has invested about $500 million (N58 billion) in Chad basin oil search and the geologists declared that though about 240 billion barrels of crude have been discovered in Africa, over 150 billion barrels are yet to be discovered in the continent, making the Chad search likely for commercial discovery.

Speaking exclusively with Daily Independent after a NAPE seminar in Lagos, Ojoh declared that the Red sea, like the northern Nigeria "has once been written off in terms of oil exploration and discovery. It was written in black and white by some western explorationists that that region could not have oil deposits but with the aids of modern technology, it is today one of the finest region where oil is been explored in commercial quantity."

Although the NAPE boss confirmed that the "geology and other exploration activities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria have been proved by technology to be superior," he declared that the north "can not be ruled out in terms of commercial discovery."

When exploration at the Chad basin started in 1976, according to Ojoh, "only 2D seismic was used but we don not do anything (exploration) in the Niger Delta without 3D seismic. With 3D or any other advance technology, it is likely that major discovery can be made."

Disclosing that there are three prospective sub-basins-Gubio, Maiduguri and Baga Lake, in the Chad basin, he stated that "any find in any of these sub-basins would be named after them."

On oil blocks allocation in the north, Ojoh said: "The Federal Government gave these oil blocks so that the exploration and Production companies would be able to make finds in the region."

NNPC, it would be recalled has commenced preparations for exploration activities in the North and GMD of the corporation, Yar'Adua said while seeking the support of Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Mustapha Umar El-Kanemi and other traditional rulers in the state that field personnel would be deployed to the lake to work for a period of 12 to 18 months.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/oct/31/711.html

Please God make it happen so that they can peacefully secede. I promise they will never ever be missed in Nigeria.

Abi o

When they secede very soon, Nigerians will cormfortably start singing:

The land of the free and home of the geniuses.


I am so happy for the North.

Unrepentant tribalists

Are you not happy for the North you hater?

No, not happy with the motive you are imputing into the whole thing. Grow brov!

Happy is happy. It's either you are happy for them or not. I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo happy for them. Long live and prosperity to the North. I love ya.

PepERSprAY:

Please God make it happen so that they can peacefully secede. I promise they will never ever be missed in Nigeria.

you mean they are the ones holding nigeria together?  

you mean they are the ones holding nigeria together?

Will you push them away? They are the problem in Nigeria but cannot be pushed away peacefully. They are like the cancer of of the bone marrow. Southern Nigeria is not happily married to the North and I know the South wants a peaceful divorce. Oil boom and overall economic boom may make their Northern spouse to look elsewhere for another bride.

@pepperspray

shouldnt you be happy for your country if more oil is found?

you are just a bloody tribalist

PepERSprAY:

Will you push them away? They are the problem in Nigeria but cannot be pushed away peacefully. They are like the cancer of of the bone marrow. Southern Nigeria is not happily married to the North and I know the South wants a peaceful divorce. Oil boom and overall economic boom may make their Northern spouse to look elsewhere for another bride.

why cant they be pushed away peacefully or violently?

why can't they be pushed away peacefully or violently?

Peacefully? aboki no get time for dialogue. It's daggers or nothing.

PepERSprAY:

Peacefully? aboki no get time for dialogue. It's daggers or nothing.

wow are they that powerful?? it'll seems the o[b]v[/b]er-educated,mineral rich south
has been getting rear-ended by the under-educated, mineral poor north??

what are the southerners in the ruling party doing, having a tea party?

wow are they that powerful?? it'll seems the ocer-educated,mineral rich south
has been gettin rear-ended by the under-educated, mineral poor south?? Undecided

what are the southerners in the ruling party doing, having a tea party?

You tell me

It's been in the news since when oil was discovered in the South. In fact NNPC and other petroleum parastatals should tell us how much they've sank into it! I'm interested in knowing if it would be viable after all or it's another politicking!
Please don't remind me that it took almost as long for Ghana to discover hers too!

Like Texazzpete already explained to us, there is no oil in the North. All the oil drains into Chad apparently.

Ibime:

Like Texazzpete already explained to us, there is no oil in the North. All the oil drains into Chad apparently.

we are on the wrong side of lake chad

lets just create a big hole and suck it right back

Yes Ibime,

the general trend of the beds in the chad basin is NE-SW with the beds dipping E to SE in some areas meaning that using surface geology mapping will prove that the oil would migrate to the TCHAD area of the basin but oil and gas exploration is rarely done with surface geology mapping alone. Extensive basin mapping using a combo of modern 3D seismic + gravity survey can give us new insights into the structural integrity of the tertiary sediments in the area.

In as much as I would want to believe that oil may not be there but proper seismic survey can throw up new questions about the  basin evolution and then we can finally put this hotly debated topic to rest.

If oil is eventually found in commercial quantities, this people would finally leave us alone.

.

Nigeria: Prospecting for Oil in Benue Trough, Chad Basin


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Daily Independent (Lagos)

EDITORIAL
31 October 2008
Posted to the web 31 October 2008


A decade after major oil multinationals and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) terminated oil exploration activities in Nigeria's segment of the presumably hydrocarbon-rich geological formation known as the central African rift system, the Federal Government has decided that further prospecting has to be undertaken within the very basins and sub-basins where the earlier efforts had been unproductive. NNPC Group Managing Director Lawal Yar'Adua disclosed recently that the resumption, slated for last month, was to enable the prospector(s) try out advanced technology in analysis of seismic data. He was, however, not forthcoming on the identity of the prospector(s) and the issue of who is to fund such a capital-intensive enterprise.

For obvious reasons, a fresh exploratory programme for the Benue Trough and Chad Basin is desirable. The multinationals, namely, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), Chevron-Texaco (now Chevron) and Elf Petroleum (now TotalFinaElf), who abandoned the exploration programmes, declaring that all they had were "dry holes," could very well have been half-hearted in their efforts, as their sights had been firmly fixed on offshore acreages and their other concessions in the Niger Delta. Some industry sources indicate that the farthest depth in any of the oil wells drilled was 3,000 metres, which is double the average depth at which crude was struck in the Niger Delta. The sources claim that the hydrocarbon-bearing sedimentary rocks in the northern basins are about 6,000 metres deep.


The case for further exploration is supported by the fact that the segments of the aforesaid rift system that lie within Chad and Niger, countries that have contiguous landmass with Nigeria, have since been discovered to have substantial deposits of crude oil, and commercial exploitation has been going on there. Oil prospecting in those countries had lasted for close to two decades, but the companies had remained steadfast in their belief that the geology of the territory held tremendous promise. Instructively, though, the cost of the prospecting activities had been borne by the oil firms, without any injection of funds by government.

In the fresh undertaking in Benue Trough and Chad Basin, what is of critical interest is how the Federal Government intends to have the operations funded. NNPC, it is known, had been there before on a solo effort that gulped tens of billions of naira, just as the afore-mentioned multinationals had undertaken the exploration programmes under Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs), whereby their operating costs were borne solely by them. A point that needs to be made is that the oil firms, ever desperate for fresh oil finds, could not have terminated their work programmes if they had the slightest shred of evidence of deposits of crude oil and gas. Again, the contention regarding depth of drilling (3,000 metres) is not very convincing because the NNPC, as a State-owned business outfit, could have proceeded in the exploration activities beyond the 3,000 metres at which its co-competitors halted.

With the Federal Government's well-known disinclination to business undertakings, as evidenced by its discontinuation of equity contribution (cash call obligations) to Joint Venture (JV) operations and the establishment of the Ernest Shonekan-led Infrastructure Concession Commission, among other major policy decisions, there cannot be any justification for it (Federal Government) to fund oil prospecting in Benue Trough and Chad Basin. Nigerians will not be fooled by any ploy intended to create the impression that the NNPC could source the required funds independently for whatever programme it might have designed for the fresh round of prospecting.

What is expected is that the authorities would employ the appropriate channels to communicate to interested firms in the oil and gas industry relevant information on the prospectivity of the aforesaid basins as well as Government's desire to provide necessary incentives toward exploration. A well thought out package of incentives will stimulate interest among oil firms around the world.


The focus should be to attract such firms with track records to the oil and gas industry, and have them deploy their own resources to the exploration enterprise. To do otherwise would be economically suicidal for a country that has emergencies to deal with, from collapsed infrastructure - impassable highways, disused railway system, epileptic power supply, non-functioning petroleum refineries, etc. - to severely degraded educational and health institutions. These areas of lamentable deficit require massive infusion of funds for upgrade and expansion to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians and facilitate the revival of the industrial sector. Let the private sector take up oil prospecting, and Government direct available resources to enhancement of the quality of life of the citizenry.

Is it me or what because it seems my attention makes some members here feel good about themselves. I never knew am that therapeutic because ignoring their foolishness seems not to be working anymore.

I've been predicting this for ages. Believe me when I say that THE NORTH HAS TREMENDOUS AMOUNTS OF OIL.

Please I am praying that they find abundant oil so these murder happy violent uneducated parasites can finally gain enough confidence to leave us alone. They can invite the Yorubas to share their oil wealth with them sef. Just leave us alone.