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Tag: Chad Basin

  • Kidnap of lecturers: UNIMAID vows to return to Chad Basin for oil search

    Kidnap of lecturers: UNIMAID vows to return to Chad Basin for oil search

    The University of Maiduguri is set to send its team of experts back to the Chad Basin to resume oil exploration despite last year’s abduction of three of its lecturers in the area by Boko Haram.

    One of them was killed during the attack.

    The three survivors were released only last week following negotiations between the federal government and the terror sect.

    Leading the three lecturers and the management team of the university on a visit to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday , the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibrahim Njodi, said the freed lecturers and the entire university community were ready to remobilize for oil exploration in the Chad Basin.

    Prof Njodi said despite the harrowing experience of the men in the captivity of the insurgents, the university was focused on carrying through the exploration programme in the inland sedimentary basins.

    Njodi expressed profound gratitude to the Management of NNPC led by Dr. Baru, saying the university community would not forget the support the corporation extended to the families of the victims at their hours of need.

    He sought more succour for the affected lectures, stressing that they passed through unimaginable trauma in the hands of their abductees.

    Responding, Baru called for a minute silence for the soul of the victim who died from injuries he sustained during the attack, saying NNPC was totally in support of the university.

    The NNPC GMD thanked the academics for their visit, saying NNPC was ready to mobilize to the Chad Basin for further exploration activities noting that the corporation would work rigorously with the university and all relevant security agencies to fortify the environment for smooth exploration activities.

  • Why oil exploration is yet to commence in Chad Basin – NNPC

    Why oil exploration is yet to commence in Chad Basin – NNPC

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Tuesday blamed security challenges for the non-commencement of oil exploration in the Chad Basin.

    The General Manager, Frontier Exploration Services of NNPC, Dr. Mazadu Bako, stated this at the 50th anniversary celebration of Geology Department, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.

    The Golden Jubilee was marked in honour of the pioneer Head of the Geology Department, late Dr. John B. Wright, who was given a posthumous award.

    He said: “If the security situation was not the way it is by today, our locations for drilling would have been ongoing in construction.

    Represented by the Deputy Manager, Benue Trough Operations at NNPC, Alex Tarka, Bako said the Department of Geology in ABU has produced Geo scientists whom had contributed immensely to the Nigeria’s extractive industry.

    “Let us take a quick look at NNPC exploration efforts in some inland basins in Nigeria, starting with the Chad basin. Between 1976 and 1996 a total of 33, 000 kilometers of 2D seismic data were acquired, processed and interpreted, which led to the drilling of 3wells in the Chad basin.

    “I have the honor to let my department know that as 1992, I was one of the geologists in one of the wells. Only two out of the 21 wells, the Uwadi and Kinasa recorded non- commercial gas while the other 21 were driven from 2008 to 2017. Just last year, a total of 1,962.20 square kilometers of 3D seismic data were acquired, processed and interpreted and prospects have been identified. Plans to commence drilling of the matured prospects have commenced,” the NNPC official added.

     

     

  • NNPC to resume oil exploration in Chad Basin in six weeks

    NNPC to resume oil exploration in Chad Basin in six weeks

    The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru says oil exploration activities in the Chad Basin will resume in six weeks time.

    Baru made this known in a statement issued by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu.

    Baru said the resumption of oil exploration activities became necessary following improved security in the North East.

    The NNPC boss said this when he visited Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno State and the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar El-Kanemi in Maiduguri.

    “We have been discussing with military authorities in the area and they have assured us of improved security.

    “Once they give us the green light, we would resume operations in the area within six weeks,” Baru, who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Gas & Power, Mr. Saidu Mohammed, said.

    Baru informed the governor that NNPC was keen on increasing its production from 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) to three million bpd as well as increasing its oil and gas reserves, a target that necessitated exploring for more oil within and across some of the nation’s inland basins.

    He commended the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari and Shettima for restoring peace, reconstructing and rehabilitating the region, adding that the Corporation was ready to provide support in that regard.

    Baru appealed to the Shehu of Borno to prevail on his people to show oil exploration activities resumes.

    Highlight of the visit was the presentation of relief materials by Baru to the Shehu for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.

    Responding, Shettima said the insurgency had taken a huge toll on the North-East region leading to the loss of more than 9.6 billion dollars, with Borno state alone losing 5.6 billion dollars.

    “We need your support in our reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts, so that when the history of the new Borno is written, NNPC’s name will be written in gold,” he said.

    Shettima said while international donour agencies and good-spirited organisations like the NNPC were keen on helping the IDPs, the state’s ultimate target was to resettle the IDPs in their various communities.

    Also speaking, the Shehu of Borno commended the NNPC for identifying with the Borno people and expressed happiness over the prevailing peace across the state and the entire North East.

     

  • Apply best practices, Chad Basin Commission urged

    An environmentalist, Mr Nnimmo Bassey, has urged the Lake Chad Basin Commission member-countries to apply best practices in tackling the problems in the Basin.

    Member-countries of the commission comprises Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Central Africa Republic and Libya.

    Bassey, who is the Director-General, Mother of Earth Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation, gave the advice in Abuja.

    According to him, if the problems of the basin are not addressed, more conflicts and violence will erupt in the area.

    “Why is Lake Chad shrinking? One is global warming and number two, is inefficient management of the watershed. This has caused displacement of both pastoralists and fisher folks who depend on the water.

    “Some irrigation systems that have been drawing water, their rate of taking water is more of the rate of recharge from rain, so this kind of thing needs to be managed properly.

    “So the countries in Lake Chad Basin Commission needs to sit down together and look at ways of enforcing best practices to maintain and protect the water treasures that we have.

    “So it takes international collaboration and cooperation to tackle the problems of Lake Chad otherwise, we will have more conflicts, more violence and we just keep crying about it.’’

    The Lake Chad Basin is the largest endorheic drainage basin in Africa.

    The basin, which is centered on Chad, has no outlet to the sea and contains large areas of desert or semi-arid savannah.

    The drainage basin is roughly coterminous with the sedimentary basin of the same name, but extends further to the northeast and east.

    The basin spans seven countries, including most of Chad and a large part of Niger.

    As of 2011, it had an ethnically diverse population of about 30 million people, a population that is growing rapidly.  Scientist say a combination of dams, increased irrigation, and reduced rainfall are causing shortages of water.

    He  called for the establishment of an effective drainage master plan in regions and cities to reduce the menace of flooding.

    He spoke of the need to make accurate prediction of the impact of flooding and ways to prepare to handle them.

    The director-general also appealed to government at all levels to tackle the issue of flooding with all seriousness to ensure the protection of the environment.

    Bassey, who expressed regret that ecological funds had not been put to adequate use, said the funds needed to be domiciled with the Federal Ministry of Environment.

    He, however, expressed the hope that the current administration would channel the funds to the appropriate ministry for more efficient use and results.

    He said gas flaring could be trapped and used to generate electricity.

    He said by so doing, environmental pollution would be massively reduced.

    Bassey, therefore, urged all the regulatory agencies in the oil and gas sector to compel oil companies operating in the country to stop gas flaring by converting it into dynamic energy.

  • NNPC to drill for oil in Chad Basin this year 

    NNPC to drill for oil in Chad Basin this year 

    Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has said the NNPC  will drill for oil in the Chad Basin in the last quarter.

    He reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government and the NNPC to explore for oil and gas in the inland basins, especially Chad Basin and the  Benue Trough.

    Kachikwu said the NNPC, through its Frontier Exploration Services and Renewable Energy Division (FESRED) had progressed reasonably with seismic acquisition activities in the Chad Basin frontier area until insurgency necessitated the suspension of operation.

    He said eight phases, out of the planned 12-phase project, to cover 3,550 sq.km had been acquired by the date of suspension of operation on November 24, 2014.

    NNPC’s Group General Manager,  Group Public Affairs Division Malam Garba Deen Muhammad, in a statement, quoted Kachikwu as saying: “A total of 1, 962 sq. km was acquired and processed, interpretation is on at 90 per cent completion, and drilling activities will commence by the last quarter of 2016.”

    He explained that seismic activities were carried out with regard to environmental protection and in accordance with international standards and best practices and handled by Integrated Data Services Limited (NNPC subsidiary) and BGP, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation.

    According to him, exploration in the Chad basin would increase the nation’s oil and gas reserves and add value to the hydrocarbon potential of the Nigerian inland basin, provide investment, boost the economy as well as create jobs.

    “The decision to diversify our business portfolio is about all of us and about the future of our country, the vision is clear, and we are determined not to fail,’’ Kachikwu said.

    He invited the private sector and venture capitalists across the globe to partner NNPC in planned Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to profitably harness the enormous energy resources in Nigeria.

  • Expert urges continued search for oil in Chad Basin

    FORMER Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Taofiq Tijani, has urged the Federal Government to continue its search for oil in the Chad Basin in spite of fruitless efforts that have gone into the exercise in the past.

    He told The Nation that there is possibility that oil would be found on the Nigeria’s side of the Chad Basin as oil is being produced on Chad’s side of the basin. He was optimistic that there might be oil reserves in the Basin, adding that with the increasing advanced technology, the reserves could be unlocked one day.

    He said: “I support the Federal Government to go back to the Basin because I believe that whatever they must have done there in the past is not exhaustive. If they have found oil on the other side of Chad, there is possibility that we will find oil in our own side too. The technology of exploration has improved. There are better technologies now to search for oil and if we can apply those new technologies, we might be lucky to find oil in our side of Chad. I support that they should go ahead and search for oil there.”

    Tijani also said if the Federal Government wants the oil and gas industry to be taken to the next level, it should make efforts to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The passage will enable investors to bring in their money into the industry. The lack of exploration for new oil fields over the years has been as a result of absence of encouraging legislation.

    He said: “The Federal Government should quickly look at PB that is on the table and possibly examine the areas that are in contention, see whether it can extract those areas and get Bill passed. This is important because what the PIB will do is to rejuvenate the oil industry and encourage people to invest there.

    “There are some areas of the PIB that are in contention and that is why it has not been passed.  If they can just leave that out and debate that later, it will help the industry. They can take those areas that are easy and not in contention, and pass it so that we can get investors to come and operate in the oil and gas industry.

    “There are also areas in the legislation, which the new government needs not go back  to the National Assembly that they can do on the executive level to encourage participants, investors and people to put in money in that industry. Unless they put in money and invest and bring the entire industry back alive, I think we will just be losing ground. The exploration activities that have not increased is because they (the government) have not put the right legislation in place.”

  • NNPC: How Boko Haram stalls oil exploration in Chad Basin

    NNPC: How Boko Haram stalls oil exploration in Chad Basin

    The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu, has said activities of insurgents in the Northeastern is affecting exploration of oil in the Chad Basin.

    The NNPC GMD spoke yesterday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) to defend the 2014 budget of NNPC.

    Yakubu also told the committee that NNPC is exploring new technology to lay oil pipelines in the Niger Delta to curb vandalisation.

    He noted that apart from Chad Basin, there are seven other basins being explored for oil.

    He said the low performance in the Chad Basin in 2013 was as a result of increased insurgent activities in the region.

    Yakubu said: “What we did last year was to acquire the aero magnetic data from the geometric survey department.

    “We have Yola, Bida, Sokoto, Dahomey and others. The main focus now which was a result of an extensive geological study that was done a couple of years ago is on the Chad basin.

    “The data for the other basins had been acquired and as soon as we progress with the Chad Basins we will intensify action in the others.”

    He added that the Chad Basin has 13 phases “and we are now in phase six”.

    On pipe line breach, he noted that there was no doubt that the current experience is worrisome, adding that the environmental damage is even more than the economic loss.

    He said: “But a number of proposals are coming up, we are reviewing them with security agencies. The pipe lines are strategic national assets. By the time the proposals are implemented every Nigerian will own the assets. The Justice Ministry is also looking at all the laws to determine how anybody who tampers with the assets will be treated. It will involve communities, local governments and states.”

    Chairman of the committee, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, asked the NNPC management to explain to Nigerians the actual money earned from crude oil sales.

    Paulker said such explanation would disabuse the minds of some Nigerians who might sit in their offices and multiply the quantum of crude production per day with oil bench mark as the total money earned by the government.

    The committee wanted to know what NNPC did to mitigate fall in revenue in 2013.

    The GMD agreed that there was drop in revenue but added that there was also advantage of price.

    He said the production projection for 2014 is 2.4mbpd, which the committee described as good but ambitious.

    The NNPC boss said the corporation was working to arrest decline in production.

    On the effect of oil pipe line vandalisation, he noted that any thing that has to do with the breach of oil pipe line will automatically impact on the environment.

    Yakubu insisted that the best way to stop the menace is to intensify campaign for those perpetrating the act to cease.

    This followed the question by a member of the committee, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who wanted to know what NNPC was doing to address the effect of pollution on those living around the affected areas.

    On challenges, he said funding continues to be a major challenge for the Joint Venture.

    Partners, he said, are not willing to continue funding through Modified Carry agreements.

    He also said partner and external financing close date negatively impacted by the delay in passage of national budget which in turn leads to schedule slippage and low performance.

    Yakubu said high cost resulting mainly from high crude oil price continue to negatively impact government revenues.

    He said NNPC was working with partners with a drive towards cost reduction.

    He added that “having overcome initial reluctance of partners to fund domestic gas projects, there has been a steady increase in performance versus plan. Sustained funding from 2014 through 2016 will be the key to achieving government’s domestic gas objectives”.

    He said national gas infrastructure projects needed to be fully funded to ensure upstream domestic gas gets to the market.

    Yakubu also said that resolution of all commercial issues will help improve project delivery.

    On the ongoing fuel scarcity in parts of the country, he said: “We have a full team right now in Lagos. Last week, the team was in Abuja.

    “We went round the clock to clean it up to get strategic reserved released to the stations and we are able to reduce the fuel queues.

    “We shifted to Lagos at the weekend but we have injected quite a lot into the Lagos market. All the marketers, the DPR, the PPPRA, NNPC, and the PPMC have a very strong team out there to ensure that the deliveries are made offshore.

    “We have some vessels that had not been offloaded into the tank farms in Lagos and a lot of supplies have gone into most filling stations.

    “In the last couple of days, we have close to 1000 trucks that had been loaded out of the various depots and jetties in Lagos and the entire fuel are being supplied to the various stations in Lagos and beyond.

    “As at the close of business on Tuesday, most filling stations in Victoria Island and Ikoyi were dispensing fuel and we expect that other parts of Lagos will be impacted by the increase in the fuel supply strategy that the combined team has been doing.

    “Hopefully by the end of work today (Wednesday) we would begin to see a change in the fuel scarcity situation in Lagos.

    “The best way to distribute fuel is through the pipeline network to our various depots that are all over the country.

    “We have over 20 of them and about 5, 000 kilometers stretch of pipelines and that is the best and the most efficient way to distribute petroleum products but when they are breached then you have this kind of challenge.

    “Making use of 1000 trucks per day to distribute fuel across the country is usually not the best but when we are faced with this situation, then the fall back will be the truck and that should be temporary and as soon as we fixed the pipelines normalcy would be restored.

    “The projection of a daily crude production of 2.44m is realistic however the security challenges occasioned by the breaches.

    “We have the capacity but we need additional investment to address the security breaches that we continued to have.”

  • Fed Govt resumes oil search in Chad Basin

    Despite decades of fruitless search for oil in the Chad Basin, the Federal Government still strongly hopes to find oil there, writes Assistant Editor EMEKA UGWUANYI

    After a lull, the Federal Government has resumed the search for oil in the Chad Basin in Borno State, despite the security challenges there.

    Public Affairs Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Dr. Kennie Obateru, who spoke on behalf of the Group General Manager, Mr Fidel Pepple, said “seismic acquistion activities” have resumed in the Basin.

    NAPIMS is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), responsible for upstream investment.

    Obateru said the project was being handled by Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) a subsidiary of NNPC, in partnership with BGP, a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation. The project is part of a 12-phased 3D seismic data acquisition programme covering 3,550 Sq.Km of which Phase 5 covers 252 Sq.Km has just been concluded. Currently, Phase 6 of the programme covering 266 Sq.Km has begun.

    Obateru said: “From Phase 1 to date, a total of 1,437 Sq.Km of seismic data has been acquired. Of this, 1,096 Sq.Km of seismic data has been duly processed and is ready for interpretation. Preliminary seismic data interpretation has produced some leads that will be further investigated to establish drillable prospects.

    “The seismic acquisition activities were carried out with due regard to environmental protection and in accordance with international standards and best practices. In this regard, NNPC contracted the University of Maiduguri to undertake an Environmental Baseline Studies (EBS) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which will be a guide in the current and future exploration activities in the region.

    “As a responsible corporate citizen, NNPC has embarked on sustainable developmental projects for her host communities in the areas of infrastructure, health and education. NNPC has also undertaken projects such as provision of potable water through sinking of boreholes as well as refurbishing of classroom blocks in primary schools in the area.”

    The current exploration in the Basin started over three years ago and has covered five seismic acquisition phases. Obateru said: “Our current strategy is to continue Phase 6-12 to enable us complete acquisition & interpretation prior to further drilling activities in the area. Effort is also being intensified to complete interpretation of the acquired aeromagnetic surveys across the six inland basins as part of the aggressive exploration agenda for increasing our country’s reserve base, he said.”

    Despite decades of fruitless searches by the Halliburton and Schlumberger, NNPC remain hopeful of finding oil in commercial quantity in the Basin.

    Halliburton and Schlumberger have since given up in the search. According to records, the multinational oil firms could only find two gas wells, with insignificant volumes; hence the abandon search for oil.

    NNPC’s hopes were renewed by reports of the discovery of oil on the other side of Lake Chad in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

    In 2011, the government approved the execution of a comprehensive hydrocarbon mapping of Nigeria to activate the efficient search for oil and gas in the inland sedimentary basins including Chad Basin. This led to hiring of a renowned geophysicist and consultant to the United Nations, Prof. Deborah Ajakaiye, to lead a team of Nigerian and foreign geologists, geophysicists to undertake the project.

    Ajakaiye, a former President of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (Africa Region), had worked on similar prospects in Saudi Arabia, Chad, Sudan, Argentina and some other Latin America and African countries. Providing insight into the planned project, she noted that the exercise, which is programmed to include the aerial and ground survey of the country, was designed to pin-point areas of high potentials and identify most prospective oil and gas zone.

    “This project entails the comprehensive and systematic airborne geophysical surveys involving gravity, magnetic and electromagnetic surveys of the inland basins with state of the art equipment. It also involves detail integrated programme of geophysical, geological, petrological and geochemical studies,” Ajakaiye said.

    She also noted that any commercial discovery based on the outcome of the project would foster the attractiveness of the basins for huge investment by the international oil companies (IOCs) with the attendant massive economic benefit for the host communities and the entire country.

    Based on team work’s government has been budgeting money yearly for exploration in the basin.

    Vice President Namadi Sambo believes that from the results of ongoing activities in the basin, the government expected that commercial exploration of oil and gas would begin there this year. He said the Chad Basin project took $75 million in 2012 and $100 million in 2013.

    The Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) and the African Finance Corporation (AFC) in 2008, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ensure continued oil exploration around the Benue Trough and the Chad Basin.

    The Nigerian Association of Petroleum Geologists ( NAPE) also believes that there may still be something in the basin, adding that countries that own other parts of the Chad Basin produce oil. “With new data, knowledge increases. I’m sure that there are people studying that basin and maybe with time, Nigeria would strike oil there. We have oil in the Agade Basin in Niger Republic and we have oil in Doba Boga Basin in Southern Chad, we believe oil may be found there someday,” the association said.