A crude oil production field PHOTO: AFP

Stakeholders allege hidden agenda, NNPC, others disagree

Stakeholders allege hidden agenda, NNPC, others disagree

Stakeholders remain divided about the wisdom in the continued search for hydrocarbon resources in the north, especially as $3 billion has already been sunk without making a commercial find.

While those in favour of the search disregard the economic waste, but are encouraged by the success of oil finds in neighbouring countries like Niger, Chad and others, geologists who are mindful of the soil composition of hydrocarbon reserves, think it’s an effort in futility.

The experts noted that nature has blessed each region of Nigeria with peculiar resources, and while the south is enriched with hydrocarbons, the north is blessed with solid minerals, thus, solid minerals and hydrocarbons cannot coexist.

Industry experts, who spoke with The Guardian, said the persistent push by some northern leaders, including President Muhammadu Buhari, points to an underlining reason far beyond the quest, which is far from being of economic benefit to the country.

Already, there have been visits by some northern governors to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the issue. The President, Governors Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe; Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto; and Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa states were recently in separate closed-door meetings to discuss oil exploration in the region.

The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and Head of Transparency International Nigeria, Auwal Musa, described the move as unnecessary and not in the best interest of the country.

Musa said: “We should not bring regional politics to everything that can benefit the entire country. The project has not been seen as a national effort to diversify revenue. If it is seen as something meant for national interest, I don’t think there is the need for the Sokoto State governor or anyone to lobby. There are signals that it is going to favour one particular region.”

Senator Shehu Sani, during a visit of members of the Kaduna State Students Union to his office in Kaduna, noted that “past leaders have amassed wealth through this venture,” and instead called Buhari to investigate the over $3billion already spent on the project.

This also raises the issue over lack of transparency and accountability in the NNPC, as only Prof. Jerry Gana, in 2013, while serving as chairman of the Northern Nigeria Economic Summit, disclosed that N27billion was spent on oil and gas exploration in the Lake Chad Basin at that time with additional $340million budgeted.

About 40 years after the Federal Government started the search for oil in the north, many Nigerians are convinced that its intensification by the President Buhari administration may be more politically motivated, and will end up enriching a few individuals from the region.

Described as a mere geopolitics of oil, some experts insisted that the drive, if not dropped, especially now that the country’s economy is in turbulence, would remain a waste of the nation’s scare resource.

But a new directive from the Buhari-led administration has compelled the NNPC to aggressively pursue oil search in the frontier basins, its Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, has said. Regardless of the criticisms, Baru said the corporation would not give up on the mandate given to it by President Buhari to aggressively explore the inland basins, including Anambra, Bida, Benue, Chad, Gongola, and Sokoto.

Baru said based on preliminary results from the exploration in the inland basins so far, especially the Benue Trough, there was a strong indication that commercial quantity oil and gas find would soon be a reality.

This came amid a backlog of over $6billion Joint Venture cash call arrears, lack of support from the International Oil Companies (IOCs), global shift from fossil fuel to renewable energy, loss of interest in encouraging production of already discovered reserves and poor economic outlook.

Rather than continuing with the search, some experts argued that Nigeria should take opportunity of the rise in oil prices at the international market to produce already discovered reserves, and maximise the benefits thereof in view of the global shift to renewables.

Some, like the Managing Director, Xenergy Gas Limited, Emeka Ene, in response to The Guardian’s enquiry, drew attention to global developments, saying: “OPEC’s World Oil Outlook published in 2016 clearly indicated that global oil demand would start declining from 2030. Natural gas will still be relevant; however, it is imperative that policymakers and oil industry players factor in this shift by incorporating alternative energy in long-term economic and investment decisions moving forward.”

After halting exploration in the Chad Basin, where some experts lost their lives to Boko Haram insurgents, the NNPC has started operations in Nasarawa State, as it is ready to return to the Chad Basin, Sokoto, and Benue among other states in the north.

The IOCs, including, Chevron, Total, and Shell, which had oil blocks in the upper Benue trough, also drilled one well each, bringing the number of wells drilled in the region to 26. Out of the three that were drilled by the IOCs, only the block belonging to Shell had some gas reserves, but the discovery is untested.

According to the co-founder, Sustainability School, Lagos, and Associate Lecturer, Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CPEEL), University of Ibadan, Dr. Olufemi Olarewaju, while the chances of oil discovery in the inland basins, especially in the north cannot be ruled out, the bigger question is whether the timing is in the best interest of the country.

Wondering whether the current drive is more political than economic, in view of current realities, amid a backlog of debts, including outstanding JV cash calls, Olarewaju who worked in the Chad Basin in the 80s, said: “The project appears to be politically motivated and the questions Nigerians should be asking is on the geopolitics of oil. Should we not focus on achieving higher process efficiency in the value chain of proven reserves?”

Analysts insist that now is the time for government to use the already discovered oil reserves to exit from the current mono-product petroleum economy.


The Managing Director, Frontier Oil limited, Dada Thomas, noted: “The world is accelerating the shift from internal combustion engines as power units for transportation to electric-powered vehicles. This means the demand for hydrocarbons as a fuel source will decrease and supply could exceed demand and oil price especially could remain low for a very long time.

“However, the electricity to power electric vehicles will have to be generated by oil, gas, coal and renewables with oil and coal contribution reducing over time. The world is also adopting gas as a more environmentally friendly fuel source. This is good news for countries with substantial gas resources, including Nigeria.”

[
Stressing the need to diversify energy sources, Thomas argued that countries like Nigeria “with vast oil reserves need to monetise these reserves as quickly as possible, and use the funds to diversify and position their economies for an oil-independent future.

Similarly, a partner at PwC, Cyril Azeobu, argued that renewed exploration in the north may not be in the best interest of Nigeria. “Exploration is not an easy business; it consumes time and money, and the question is: do we want to do that now when you don’t even know what the outcome will be?”

On why it is taking the country such a long time to make any discovery in the region, Azeobu simply said: “The issue is not about the number of years, but whether it should be a priority.”

Also, Prof. Eguakhide Oaikhinan, of Epina Technology, who specialises in mineral resources, insisted that politics must be expunged from the exploration of solid mineral resources, “and come out with an appropriate roadmap for their development.”

But NNPC, and the new leadership of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), are convinced that the data gathered so far from the inland basins showed possible signs of commercial hydrocarbon in the region.

NAPE President, Abiodun Adesanya, called for the diversification of the country’s hydrocarbon resource base, saying previous exploration in the inland basins was not good enough.

He said: “There is justification because we all know from the Chadian and Niger side, there’s been commercial discovery. It is the same sedimentary basin that straddles across these international boundaries, so we will be under-performing if we decide not to go and search on our side of the basin and other basins.

“When you look at the experience of Ghana, you may be forced to say they won’t discover oil, but they did. We have seen a similar situation in Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique. No one can say we won’t discover oil in the north. Let’s allow science to determine that,” Adesanya argued.

A geologist and Publisher, Africa Oil and Gas Magazine, Toyin Akinosho, who hinted that no geologist would naturally say no to any exploration, also backed Adesanya. But since private companies are unwilling to invest in the inland basins, Akinoso urged the government to open them up in order to attract international investors.

The experts noted that nature has blessed each region of Nigeria with peculiar resources, and while the south is enriched with hydrocarbons, the north is blessed with solid minerals, thus, solid minerals and hydrocarbons cannot coexist.

Industry experts, who spoke with The Guardian, said the persistent push by some northern leaders, including President Muhammadu Buhari, points to an underlining reason far beyond the quest, which is far from being of economic benefit to the country.

ehispapa:
sometimes i wonder if our leaders are actually educated or plain stupid. why not explore solid minerals in the north instead of going on a wild goose chase. God is not stupid to deposit these different resources in the various locations. Zambia, botswana and South Africa, all have solid minerals and they are doing well and better than us. why not we also be grateful and explore that which is is available instead of searching for the unknown

GoroTango:
The Niger Delta is too unstable

Blue3k:
The government already has made refining priority. They approved building of more refineries like Dangote and modular refineries all over ND. Buhari refused sell/concession state owned refineries so we're doing more turn around maintenance for the upteenth time. It's mainly a private sector effort the government is focusing on by trying to pass things like Petroleum industry bill and such supposedly.

Anyway like Mapet explained oil exploration is calculated risk. Geology speaking potential exist in Benue and Chad basin from what I researched. Neighboring countries found oil near those basins. Niger republic didn't find their oil till they got Chinese help after searching decades. Chad didn't find it till decades later as well.

Bros,

...........................
I see a lot of ignorance in the public domain. How can people say oil is not a available in the north, when such is not backed up by seismic data? I took a guardian reporter on on twitter, when I saw a very unprofessional reportage about exploration in Chad, Benue and Anambra basins. She mentioned every other thing but what Nigeria stands to benefit. She down-played all the professional views of seasoned geologists and kept referring to "expert opinions" which are mostly from those who have little to do with oil business. I challenged Guardian by asking 7 questions bothering on the geology, the business, ROI to Nigeria, Capacity Development, Economy and Forex. Every other things discussed is about sectional politics and some ridiculous arguments about "wrong-timing".

If we find oil in any of these basins, it adds to our natural reserves. This heralds investments as Oil and Gas companies will start trouping in to take up the licenses. It addresses our financing problems for instance we could do infrastructure-for-oil exchange. CNOOC beat Shell to an investment deal in Angola in a new discovery. While Shell was making their "regular offer", CNOOC backed by the Chinese govt, added perks "Oil-for-Infrastructure" deal. They committed to build major high-speed rail lines for Angola at no cost (actually factored into the cost of oil). Do you think if we have additional oil, our borrowings will not reduce? We have a projected infrastructure spending of $100b for the next 50years. In this budget we could only allocate $50b, leaving us a $50b deficit. Those who argue to that we should leave oil are blind-sided..........

Out of the three that were drilled by the IOCs, only the block belonging to Shell had some gas reserves, but the discovery is untested.

Deepening debate on oil exploration in the north

Like a planned incident, last week, three stories were coincidentally published by different newspapers on this subject; one by this author, deepening the debate on the viability of the renewed push for oil exploration in the frontier basins in the north.

At the centre of the debate is still the prospect of a major oil find in the frontier basins.

Oppositionists insisted last week the search is wasteful because years of exploration have yielded nothing of interest to investors. One of them, a geologist and a former staff of an oil major, was elated by stories that confirmed his position. “The frontier basins have nothing to offer,” he repeated.

But the president of Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Abiodun Adesanya, responds with an analogy of the search for the cure of diseases such as AIDS and major inventions, explaining that some could be long processes which improve over time until success is achieved.

While he worries that no conclusive evidence has been provided by oppositionists to prove that there is no oil in the North, he believes that science and available data support the need to continue the search.

“It is an incontrovertible fact that the petroleum system has been established in the frontier basins,” he says. “This includes finding a source rock, reservoir rock and a conduit that links the two. Once these have been established, there is encouragement to drill for further examination. In the past some of these exercises were done in a hurry.”

He finds collaboration in the Group General Manager Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, who explains that, “oil exploration activities and operations, worldwide, are long term investments and efforts.

“In some cases, it takes years to make a find. Making a find is not the issue but doing that in commercial and reasonable quantities. In the Chad Basin, for example, neighboring countries have struck oil. The search took them years.

“In our portion of the Chad Basin, prospects of oil in commercial quantities are high and bright. Were it not for the security challenges there, NNPC would have gone far in its efforts. Imagine, we lost lives. And, it takes years to develop oil exploration personnel.

As regards, Benue Trough, Nassarawa and Benue states in particular, prospects for oil find are high. Oil exploration requires patience and understanding”

Former Shell expert

The former Shell Nigeria director and respected geologist, who had urged the country not to walk away from the Chad basin, added during the week that:“The Basin tectonics of the place is irrefutable. The evidence of the opening and closing of the Benue Trough is there – the Andesites.

“We don’t even need to discuss the Chad Basin, the evidence is there across the border. BUT I said the sediment thickness and volcanic MAY go against us on our side. If we decide to close our eyes to the science because of political hatred, may God have mercy on us and forgive us.”

The former director, had said last week that: “Take Chad Basin: you have hydrocarbons on the Chad side but we have not been lucky to find them on our side in commercial quantities. Reason: sediment thickness, trapping conditions and geothermal history – looks like (emphasis mine) the volcanics that occurred in that trend (and there is evidence in the Biu area) may have resulted in “over cooking” and compromised the trapping. My conclusion: don’t walk away from such a basin. Invest in solid high fidelity data acquisition and processing, followed by AND accompanied by ‘okponku’ i.e. sound basin studies.

“The same goes for Anambra basin – there the volcanics resulting from the failure of the ’opening of a sea’ linked to the Atlantic…..and maybe the Mediterranean! (plate tectonics) may have over cooked the sediments there.”

Politics

From the other side of the debate also comes the argument that the whole process has been politicized to score political points from a fruitless exercise. The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and Head of Transparency International Nigeria, Auwal Musa, is reported to have said: “We should not bring regional politics to everything that can benefit the entire country. The project has not been seen as a national effort to diversify revenue. If it is seen as something meant for national interest, I don’t think there is the need for the Sokoto State governor or anyone to lobby. There are signals that it is going to favour one particular region.”

A report was been made last week of the visits to and hosting of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru by some governors and the issues discussed as follows.

Benue: Recently in Makurdi, where he hosted Baru, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom enthused: “Benue people would be excited to have such projects come to fruition, because the state and country stand to reap numerous economic benefits from the development.”

Baru had assured him of oil exploration activities and biofuel projects in the state, expected to generate over one million direct and indirect jobs for the people of the state. According to him, “Due to encouraging results of previous geological studies, basin modeling, aeromagnetic, ground gravity and surface geochemistry surveys, and success of ongoing acquisition of seismic data in the Benue Trough, will lead to the drilling of oil wells in the state.”

He noted that a contractor, Integrated Data Services Ltd., IDSL, will be contracted to carry out a seismic acquisition campaign with heavy equipment where long cables would be laid with geophones; and pleaded for the protection of the equipment from vandals. Baru also appealed to Ortom to issue a C of O for hectares of land earmarked for the biofuel project enumerating its benefits to include about 63,000 tons of animal feed per year, 64 MW of electricity and 84 million litres of ethanol fuel yearly, among others.

ONDO: On the same day came reports of an earlier visit of Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu to the NNPC Twin Towers in Abuja for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU), to establish a 65,000 million litres per annum biofuel plant in Okeluse, Ondo State.

Baru, according to the statement, said the project “is not fully an NNPC subsidiary and that some investors are also bringing in Foreign Direct Investment into the country for the project.”

Gov. Akeredolu expressed confidence that the biofuel project would take off for the benefit of the people of Ondo and the country in general.

NASARAWA: At a similar stakeholder engagement meeting in Lafia earlier, oil search in Nigeria’s inland basins received a boost following Baru’s announcement of the commencement of exploration activities in the Nasarawa State’s section of the Benue. He said the presidential mandate was driven by the urgent need for the country to increase its oil and gas reserves, thereby improving revenue streams and creating more business and employment opportunities for Nigerians. Governor Tanko Al-makura expressed delight over the oil search in his state and assured the NNPC of the state government’s support and that of the people of the state.

Some industry experts are not worried by the political labeling. They say whatever name politicians give a scientific process should not discourage scientists from doing their work. In fact, according to NNPC, the country’s frontier basins include Chad, Anambra, Bida, Lagos/Dahomey, Gongola/Yola and Sokoto basins, as well as the Middle/Lower Benue Trough. They say the Corporation is also an active participant in offshore oil exploration.

Government’s participation

On the active participation of NNPC in the search, experts respond with the example of Ghana, which also explains the need for persistence in oil exploration. According to records, hydrocarbon exploration in Ghana began in 1896 but it was not until 2007 that a major find was made.

“It was started by the West Africa Oil and Fuel Company (WAOFCO) who drilled in the area of Half-Asini. They were followed by the Société Française de Petrole, who began drilling in 1909, although exploration in the country between 1896 to 1967 was intermittent.

“Major and sustained exploration activity started with the formation of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in 1985 and has continued until today. Ghana’s first petroleum law, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Law was passed in 1983, and in 1987 the enactment of the Petroleum Income Tax Law, again by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC),government provided a separate tax regime for the petroleum sector.

“Between the years 1983 and 1989, the GNPC concluded several agreements with a number of foreign firms, and in 1989 the country’s first and only refinery at Tema (as of 2011) underwent its first major rehabilitation.

“In June 2007, the GNPC announced a significant discovery of light oil offshore at the Jubiliee Field, together with partners Tullow Oil and Komos Energy. According to Tullow Oil, it was one of the biggest oil finds in Africa in recent times. The Jubilee field began producing in December 2010, and is estimated to hold 1.5 billion barrels of oil. In January 2012 Tullow Oil Plc., the lead company in Ghana’s oil production, is expected to begin production at the Jubilee oil field for 2012 to average between 70,000 and 90,000 barrels per day (bpd).

“In July 2011 it was announced that Italian firm, Eni, had discovered gas and condensate.”

Indeed just like the involvement of GNPC in the oil search in Ghana, Adesanya believes there is nothing wrong about NNPC’s active involvement in preparatory work in the frontier basins. “It is just like marketing any product. To attract the private sector, NNPC has to provide convincing evidence of oil in the frontier basins, and I believe that is what they are doing.”

Timing

According to a report, the co-founder, Sustainability School, Lagos, and Associate Lecturer, Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CPEEL), University of Ibadan, Dr. Olufemi Olarewaju, and others are worried about the timing of the push. He says while the chances of oil discovery in the inland basins, especially in the north cannot be ruled out, the bigger question is whether the timing is in the best interest of the country.

Others in this school of thought of less oil demand in future because of the high taste for renewables, believe that the country should rather maximize the production of existing reserves and forget about the search.

However, drawing from the Parable of Talents, some industry experts believe the same argument justifies the exploration and exploitation of all hydrocarbon resources as quickly as possible before they become so useless that the land in which they are found will be more valuable than the hydrocarbon.

NNPC’s assurance

Baru used the opportunity of the meeting with NAPE and a visit to Nasarawa last month to assure the nation that they are not on a wild goose chase. He expressed confidence that the aggressive exploration of the inland basins, being driven by the corporation, would soon yield success with hydrocarbon finds in commercial quantity.

According him, based on preliminary results from the exploration activities in the inland basins so far, especially the Benue Trough, there was a strong indication that commercial quantity oil and gas finds would soon be made.

Baru disclosed that preliminary results from the exploration activities in the inland basins so far had shown that there could be commercial quantity of oil and gas finds soon, in the Benue Trough especially.

He said almost 400 square kilometres of 3D seismic data had been acquired in the part of the Benue Trough that was earlier explored by SNEPCO, while similar work would be extended to areas previously explored by Chevron and Total.

“We are targeting these areas because we have seen that some of what they have done have some prospects; it is only that they did not drill deep enough. They also did not target the areas we believe, from the review of the seismic data, would have culminated into a find. So, we are reinvigorating that and soon we are going to start drilling some of the leads that we have seen to ascertain what prospects there are. And as we have pointed out, there is an indication that we could find some hydrocarbon. We believe that in the nearest future, hydrocarbon will be found in commercial quantity,” he explained.



Bisi, a journalist and author, worked in two multinational oil companies

https://www.thecable.ng/deepening-debate-oil-exploration-north

mapet:
@Desyner,

this tickles your fancy shay? and you never let go of needless argument. When you were "dumster-finding" stuffs on the internet (according to your claimed random searching) did you conveniently miss this article below that reacted to this same "wishy-washy" artucle you so jumpy to claim as gospel?

Desyner:
My points are gradually being proven. The govt should be prioritizing refinement of of proven reserve we are currently exporting above any oil search, be it north or south.
N-Power employed 200k people and paid N30k. I know oil can pay 5 times that and employ 2 times of N-power.

mapet:


Hello Guys that are following this discourse.

1. @Desyner = don't worry, your "points" will be addressed in details
2. @Blue3k - I was suprised when I discovered I could not post yesterday. My free time expired and I had to attend to some other issues, especially for that which I make my daily bread so I had to wait till this morning
3. If any body is following, pls do permit me some space to do a fairly extensive elaboration of this discussion. I believe we all have a thing or two to learn from this.

Let me start by saying my discussion will cover these categories

1. History
2. Science
3. Politics
4. Economics and Commercial.

I do not claim to be a bible of Oil and Gas business. I learnt it in my work, still learning and will share my experience. Secondly I am not a geologist, but have been "trained" by geologist, reservior engineers, drillers, and commercial leaders in the business.

Oil boom likely in Northern Nigeria -Experts
By Adeola Yusuf, Reporter, Lagos

Major oil discovery, which can fetch Nigeria another commercial crude exploration and production, is likely in the northern part of the country, petroleum explorationists have said.
https://www.nairaland.com/190190/oil-boom-likely-northern-nigeria

NNPC Intensifies Exploration Activities in Chad Basin...To Acquire 33, 550 sq km of 3-D seismic data for processing...As Diezani Alison-Madueke calls for strengthening of Efforts
NNPC Intensifies Exploration Activities in Chad Basin...To Acquire 33, 550 sq km of 3-D seismic data for processing...As Diezani Alison-Madueke calls for strengthening of Efforts
Moves by the Federal Government to build up the nations proven oil reserve through exploration of new frontiers for oil and gas production received a fresh thrust yesterday with the news that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is putting finishing touches to a comprehensive framework designed to herald the intensification of exploration activities in the Chad Basin.

Also determined to ensure that the latest quest for a sustainable oil find in the Chad Basin is met with success, the Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Diezani Alison- Madueke has directed the Corporation to leave no stone unturned in its push to strike `black gold’ in the prospective Chad Basin.
http://nnpcgroup.com/PublicRelations/NNPCinthenews/tabid/92/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/36/NNPC-Intensifies-Exploration-Activities-in-Chad-BasinTo-Acquire-33-550-sq-km-of-3-D-seismic-data-for-processingAs-Diezani-Alison-Madueke-calls-for-strengthening-of-Efforts.aspx

that the Red sea, like the northern Nigeria "has once been written off in terms of oil exploration and discovery. It was written in black and white by some western explorationists that that region could not have oil deposits but with the aids of modern technology, it is today one of the finest region where oil is been explored in commercial quantity."

........previous exploration in the inland basins was not good enough

He said: “There is justification because we all know from the Chadian and Niger side, there’s been commercial discovery. It is the same sedimentary basin that straddles across these international boundaries, so we will be under-performing if we decide not to go and search on our side of the basin and other basins.

“When you look at the experience of Ghana, you may be forced to say they won’t discover oil, but they did. We have seen a similar situation in Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique. No one can say we won’t discover oil in the north. Let’s allow science to determine that,”

Desyner:
No irrelevant facts please.

mapet:
So let me start by critiquing the article from Guardian that Desyner quoted. Last week when I read the article on via their tweeter handle, I commented that the piece was not thorough, one sided and incompetent. I say so because the writer(s) missed/omitted a lot of salient points that will put things into proper persepectives.

Starting with the History of Exploration in the North - (I will try to be as brief as possible). I also encourage as many that will have time to do a lot of searches (google) and diligent study on these points

1. Exploration in the North actually started about the same time with the south. In fact exploration started in the whole of the then protectorate in the late 1800s. Shell D'Archy (as was then known) got the license from the British govt to explore both the North and South. They were "exploring" in both, but abandoned their Northern expedition when they made what the world deemed a "stroke of luck" successful commercial discovery at Oloibiri. It was reported that further work in what became Niger-Delta helped Shell to pay-off the £40m loan for the expedition. It made logical sense to ditch the license of the North and concentrate on where there was/still is Oil in abundance
2. Mobil (later Exxon Mobil) also started in the North, but also abandoned the search, because as at that time other IOCs started coming in, especially as Shell was making a "kill" with more discovery.
3. The point here is simply to state that the exploration of Oil in the North did not start with Buhari, neither was it an after thought. Scientist have submitted that the nature of sub-surface in the North, made of hard rocks due to trapping caused by volcanic activity most like made the search difficult, besides technology was at its infancy back then.

Now these are the areas where I disagree with the writer @desyner quoted

1. While the writer(s) stated that oil exploration started in the North about 40yrs ago,(it actually started before then) she now accused Buhari of intensifying the effort to fulfill some political aspiration of the north. Lets pause a bit here. I find a disconnect in this statement. The writer did not tell the world what had happened within those 40yrs. May be, let's not bore ourselves with the 70s and 80s, even the 90s, let's quickly fast-forward to the 2000s. Do we remember an article submitted on NL by @PepERSprAY in 2008



As at 201o, Diezani was Minister of Petroleum. Below were the efforts she led on Oil exploration in the north



In addition, in 2008 NAPE under the leadership of Kingley Ojoh (an executive director at Total) had this to say about exploration in the North



Of late, the same NAPE under the leadership of Abidoun Adesanya had this to say

1.

2.

Summary.

1. Oil exploration in the North had been and is a legitimate exercise, started by the "colonial masters", resuscitated in 1976, and had been pursued since then.
2. Virtually every govt in the advent of 3rd republic - Yar' Adua, GEJ and PMB had pursued the exploration in the North.

mapet:


Relax. Are you scared? Facts are sacred.

I am enjoying this already.

oduastates:
My problem with this is not the idea of prospecting for oil in the north . If at all , a major discovery might smoothen the path towards restructuring or self governance. My grouse is the idea of oil after over 50 years with nothing to show for the oil apart from sorrow, tears and blood .
When are we going to start prospecting for a knowledge based economy.

omohayek:

Given how thoroughly the rent-seeking mentality has permeated Nigerian thinking after 47 years of oil money, probably not until the last barrel is extracted from Nigeria's territorial waters. The allure of eating without working is just too strong for Nigeria's leaders to overcome, especially given the limited education and intellect of most of the men who have been at the top. Does anybody really believe the likes of GEJ or Buhari are even aware that a company like Apple, which didn't even exist until 5 years after the Nigerian Civil War ended, now earns more in profits every quarter than Nigeria earns from oil revenues in a year?

Nigeria is a third-rate country because it has always been run by third-rate leaders too stupid or greedy to realize that the path to development lies neither in more resource-extraction nor in returning to the subsistence agriculture of the past.

Amberon11:
The worst part is that they will be the first to preach how our oil is becoming useless but they're spending "our oil money" to find more oil in the north.

"While those in favour of the search disregard the economic waste, but are encouraged by the success of oil finds in neighbouring countries like Niger, Chad and others, geologists who are mindful of the soil composition of hydrocarbon reserves, think it’s an effort in futility"

....“It is an incontrovertible fact that the petroleum system has been established in the frontier basins,” he says. “This includes finding a source rock, reservoir rock and a conduit that links the two. Once these have been established, there is encouragement to drill for further examination.

“The Basin tectonics of the place is irrefutable. The evidence of the opening and closing of the Benue Trough is there – the Andesites.

“We don’t even need to discuss the Chad Basin, the evidence is there across the border. BUT I said the sediment thickness and volcanic MAY go against us on our side. If we decide to close our eyes to the science because of political hatred, may God have mercy on us and forgive us.”

“Take Chad Basin: you have hydrocarbons on the Chad side but we have not been lucky to find them on our side in commercial quantities. Reason: sediment thickness, trapping conditions and geothermal history – looks like (emphasis mine) the volcanics that occurred in that trend (and there is evidence in the Biu area) may have resulted in “over cooking” and compromised the trapping. My conclusion: don’t walk away from such a basin. Invest in solid high fidelity data acquisition and processing, followed by AND accompanied by ‘okponku’ i.e. sound basin studies.

“The same goes for Anambra basin – there the volcanics resulting from the failure of the ’opening of a sea’ linked to the Atlantic…..and maybe the Mediterranean! (plate tectonics) may have over cooked the sediments there.”

Mrs. Alison Madueke as saying that "Though it is too early to be categorical, there is a possibility that we may find oil in commercial quantity in the Chad Basin because of the discoveries of commercial hydrocarbon deposits in neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Sudan which have similar structural settings with the Chad Basin. . Therefore it is prudent to aggressively explore the Chad Basin for possible hydrocarbon deposits, ’’ the Minister stated.

Discoveries made in neighbouring countries in basins with similar structural settings are: Doba, Doseo and Bongor all in Chad amounts to over 2 Billion barrels (Bbbls); Logone Birni in Southern Chad and Northern Cameroun, over 100 Bbbls; and Termit-Agadem Basin in Niger totals over 1Bbbls.

"He said: “There is justification because we all know from the Chadian and Niger side, there’s been commercial discovery. It is the same sedimentary basin that straddles across these international boundaries, so we will be under-performing if we decide not to go and search on our side of the basin and other basins."

"But NNPC, and the new leadership of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), are convinced that the data gathered so far from the inland basins showed possible signs of commercial hydrocarbon in the region." - even the old leadership of NAPE

horsepower101:


Electric car is coming. That's all I will say for now.