Buhari launches oil drilling as $3 billion new oil wells discovered in North

President Muhammadu Buhari launches oil drilling as $3 billion new oil wells were discovered in the Kolmani River II Oil Field located at a border community between Bauchi and Gombe States

The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, and members of the oil industry yesterday expressed optimism regarding the opportunities presented by the first oil drilling in the north.

In his statement, a clearly overjoyed Buhari said it was to the government’s credit that it had been able to bring $3 billion into the industry at a time when funding for fossil fuel projects was drying up as a result of the energy transformation effort.

As the nation draws closer to producing oil and gas in the Upper Benue Trough, notably the Kolmani River oil and gas field, which spans Bauchi and Gombe States in the northeast, Buhari called the day as significant in the economic history of the country.

Buhari noted that the feat was 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.

However, he explained that the successful discovery of the Kolmani oil and gas field by NNPC and her partners has finally broken the jinx by the confirmation of huge commercial deposits of hydrocarbons in the Kolmani River field.

READ ALSO: Buhari to unveil redesigned naira notes today – Emefiele

The president noted that the discovery of the oilfields emanated from his administration’s charge to the NNPC to re-strategize and expand its oil and gas exploration footprints to the frontier basins of Anambra, Dahomey, Sokoto, Benue trough, Chad, and Bida Basins. Similar activities across the other basins, he pointed out, are currently actively ongoing.

“We are pleased with the current discovery of over 1 billion barrels of oil reserves and 500 billion Cubic Feet of Gas within the Kolmani area and the huge potential 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 monetization of the hydrocarbon resources.

“As a fully integrated in-situ development project comprising upstream production, oil refining, power generation, and fertilizer, the project promises many benefits for the nation. This includes but is not limited to energy security, financial security, food security as well as overall socio-economic development for the country,” the president noted.