The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has resumed oil exploration in the Lake Chad Basin in Borno state, 6 years after it was stopped.
Officials of the NNPC Energy Service Ltd (ENSERV) said the project is being done under NNPC Frontier Exploration Service for the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC.
Exploration commenced in 1976 and continued until 1996 with the processing of 33,000km of 2D Seismic data which identified three prospective sub-basins (Gubio, Maiduguri & Baga/Lake Area).
From this, two wells (Wadi-1 & Kinasar-1) recorded presence of noncommercial gas. Between 2008 and 2018, NNPC processed 1,962.20km2 of 3D Seismic data; in 2014, it suspended the Seismic Acquisition Operations due to insurgency. NNPC in July 2017 also announced the halt of the exploration activities after some workers recorded insurgency attacks.
Daily Trust reported that NNPC completed the security risk assessment to resume operations in 2022 to explore the Wadi-B well. Executive Director, Frontier Exploration Services at NNPC, Mukhtar Zanna, said they will be using ACME Rig 5 to drill 14,000 feet into the Wadi-B well to get oil and associated gas.
President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to join the ceremony virtually and spud-in the Wadi-B oil well drilling in Tuba community , Jere Local Government Area.