Blue3k:
Getting it to international market is the issue. Nigeria already has trouble securing pipelines. The discovery is on eastern half of country by boko haram and Niger delta Avengers. Niger Republic opted to build pipelines through Benin Republic instead of Nigeria because of insecurity.

Front page: Lalasticlala mynd44

It is best refined and used within the country. Building pipes is costly but most importantly as you said, insecurity is a very big issue.

It may be wise government takes a look at Columbia as it faced insecurity issues from guerillas

Ibrahimmrfish:

Relax,the point of discovery is in Bauchi state.

Better oo..

Righteousness89:
How many times will this invisible oil be seen up north!

I see this as a Big Joke...


GOD IS NOT A MAN!

It's not by Mistake that there is no oil in the north despite all the digging!

The day The North sees oil , they will leave Nigeria..

Guy, why the hating on the north, abeg, let's hear word jare

This is interesting to say, as there is aggressive push by most countries and companies to push up reserves. As is the saying in oil and gas business - "A company is as big as her reserve".

To provide some insight to non geologists/engineers on here, Benue Trough, is the name of the basin this discovery was made, and doesn't necessarily depict Benue State. Benue Trough is just one of the geological basins in Nigeria. Others include the prolific petroliferous Tertiary Niger Delta basin, Dahomey basin, Chad or Borno Basin, Sokoto basin or Illumende basin. There has been several exploration activities in Nigeria inland basins, led mostly by Private companies in the past, without any commercial success. So this is a big feat for the Geoscientists at NNPC. Kudos to them! NNPC has kept lots of details off the ground here. Like the depth of the oil column of the discovery, the play type, the flow rate of the DST and rough STOOIP before the well was drilled.

But with this news from the national oil company, there will sure be interests from the private sector in that particular basin in the days ahead. One of such reason will be the relative cheap cost to produce a barrel of oil in onshore basins compared to offshore basins. Although lack of existing infrastructure could be a big issue to bring the oil to market and thus could delay first oil and also increase cost of barrel.

With this said, I think the NNPC after carrying out appraisal on the said discovery should farm out stake in it if it is commercially viable. And the company that farms in should be the operator of the asset as NNPC has not lived up to its bidding for decades.

And to the political gladiators, it is not yet uhuru. A lot of work still needs to be done. From appraisal/delineation program to the field development program and sanctioning of the investment decision. This could take another ten years if the cash and technology is readily available. An example to give you a guide of how this works is the "Egina" project by TOTAL E&P NIGERIA Limited which was discovered in 2003 but only produced her first oil in December of 2018.

On a final note, I think it won't be out of place for acreages in this basin to be thrown open in the planned bidding rounds of 2020 as announced by Timipre Sylva, Minister for State for Petroleum Resources. This will bring in some revenue for the government from signature bonus, tax from service companies that will win contract for seismic acquisition and drilling campaign. There is no gain saying that security in the region should be beefed up and every program going forward should have robust contingency plans on any disruption such program would cause the environment. There is need for conscious effort for the Petroleum Industry Bill to be passed into law as the country is not benefiting maximally with the current Petroleum Act of 1969 in use.

In as much as revenue is desired, the triple bottom line theory of John Elkington - economy, society and environmental sustainability should be the focus in this notable discovery.

Why is it that, as a southerner, i dont care about this news?

I wish the North can take the oil and gass and go, leave the rest of us alone.

Azeez532:


Guy, why the hating on the north, abeg, let's hear word jare

Hating?

That's unbelievable!

Where did u see hate