Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has flagged off the formal production of crude oil and gas from the $3 billion Kolmani Integrated Development Project in the North-east geo-political zone of the country.
The oilfields in the Gongola Basin of the Upper Benue Trough, straddling the two northern states Gombe and Bauchi, with Oil Prospecting Licence 809 and 810, are estimated to have over one billion barrels of crude oil reserves and daily production of about 50,000 barrels of crude oil.
Speaking at the event on Tuesday, Buhari said that the Kolmani River oilfield attracted $3 billion worth of investments despite the lack of appetite in the oil sector in recent times.
“Considering the landlocked location and the huge capital requirement, the economics of the project is a challenging proposition.
“Consequently, from the onset, I instructed NNPC Limited to utilise and leverage their vast asset portfolio across all corridors of its operations to de-risk the project to attract the much-needed investment. I have directed NNPC to continue along these lines,” local media reports on Wednesday quoted Buhari, who doubles as Nigeria’s Oil Minister as saying.
Buhari stated one billion barrels of crude oil reserves and 500 billion standard cubic feet of gas exist in Kolmani River Oil and Gas Field.
According to him, the development of the oilfield remains significant considering that, “efforts to find commercial oil and gas outside the established Niger Delta Basin was attempted for many years without the desired outcomes”.
“We are pleased with the current discovery of over one billion barrels of oil reserves and 500 billion Cubic Feet of Gas within the Kolmani area and the huge potentials for more deposits as we intensify exploration efforts.
“It is good to note that the discovery has now attracted investment for an end-to-end integrated development and monetisation of the hydrocarbon resources,” he said.
He added that upstream production, oil refining, power generation and fertiliser are anticipated at the region.
According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd, the first phase of the exploration will entail an in-situ oil refinery of up to 120,000 barrels per day capacity, a gas processing plant of about 500 million standard cubic feet per day, a power plant of up to 300-megawatt capacity and a fertiliser plant of 2,500 tons per day.
GIK/APA