NNPC Resumes Oil Drilling In Borno

The drilling campaign at the Wadi-B site in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State has been resumed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC).

The decision to resume drilling comes after a halt in 1995 due to insufficient success and lack of commercially viable findings during that time.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, Mele Kyari, expressed the company’s aspiration to alleviate energy poverty, which poses a significant threat to Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa.

Kyari made this commitment during the Presidential flag-off ceremony for the Wadi-B drilling campaign, which was officiated by President Muhammadu Buhari in Borno State.

He said, “We understood very clearly that we need to understand the basin very well. We need to have a different approach to exploration activities in this very basin and that is why NNPC and our partners, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the current Upstream Regulatory Commission decided to embark on massive revaluation of all the frontier basins in the country.

“Of course, our findings have been useful. The understanding of the rift system in Nigeria enabled us to have successful outcomes in the Kolmani Area.

“It also enabled us to mobilise to Nasarawa State. Now a drilling activity is going on. It also helped us to understand the geological basin of the Chad Basin which is why we are back here.

“Now we are much more confident, we believe that this campaign will be successful and that this campaign will take us to the ultimate objective which is to increase the reserves of our country and also create opportunities around us. We believe that the time for oil and gas to vanish is still far away.”

During the Presidential flag-off of the Wadi-B drilling campaign in Borno State, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC, Mele Kyari, emphasized the company’s commitment to utilizing appropriate technology and the best strategies to promptly deliver benefits to the Nigerian people.

Furthermore, Kyari expressed his belief that the drilling initiative would help combat deforestation. He highlighted the fact that many Nigerians, lacking access to cooking gas, resort to cutting down trees for cooking purposes.

He added that “Where ever we find crude oil, we will consider the concept of integrated production and conversion so that value can be created very quickly. We know for sure that 70 per cent of our population doesn’t have access to clean cooking fuel and that is why you are seeing the effects of the frustration which is most pronounced in this part of the country.”