Buhari Kicks Off Oil Drilling In Chad Basin

On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) launched an oil drilling campaign at the Wadi-B potential, Chad Basin, Tuba Community, Jere Local Government Area, Borno State.

He stated that the flag-off showed the formal resumption of physical activity for crude oil and gas exploration in the Chad Basin area.

Buhari, who virtually launched the drilling campaign, stated that he was aware of crude oil and gas exploration activity in the Chad Basin since 1976, as well as the discovery of some commercial gas at the Wadi-1 well in 1985.

“I am also aware that active drilling activities were suspended in 1995 to enable re-evaluation of exploration activities in the entire frontier basins.”

“I am happy that the NNPC has since then conducted extensive analysis and the evaluation of all frontier basins leading to the successful drilling and discovery of crude oil and gas in commercial quantities in Kolmani River-2.”

“It has also provided insight into the ongoing crude oil and gas drilling campaign in Nasarawa State, as well as the current re-entry activities into the Chad Basin,” Buhari stated.

The President stated that the expected favorable conclusion of the Chad Basin exploration program would result in increased national crude oil and gas reserves and production, improved national energy security, and increased prosperity for Nigerians.

Buhari stated that he was looking forward to a successful drilling campaign in the Chad Basin with the help of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, host communities, states, and other partners.

Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, stated that the flag-off campaign required the re-mobilization of a drilling rig to the Chad Basin for the first time since the 1980s efforts.

“Wadi-B well is considered an appraisal/exploration well as it has been designed to appraise seven hydrocarbon reservoir depth levels encountered by the Wadi-1 well that was drilled in 1985, and to explore deeper hydrocarbon reservoir targets up to a total depth of 4km.”

“NNPC Limited is committed to carrying out detailed exploration of the frontier sedimentary basins using the best industry standards and technologies, to attain commercial discoveries of crude oil and gas.”

“As a commercial enterprise, NNPC sees this project as an opportunity to monetize our abundant hydrocarbon resources, by expanding access to energy to support economic growth, industrialization, and job creation across the country,” he stated.

Kyari stated that the resumed drilling operation had a better geological possibility of yielding commercial hydrocarbon discoveries and that the oil corporation was armed with innovative integrated geophysical datasets.

“Therefore, this is a spud-in event that will reinforce the government’s commitment to exploration in the nation’s frontier basins, primarily aimed at increasing the nation’s hydrocarbon reserves,” the oil firm’s helmsman stated.

According to company data, crude oil exploration in the basin began in 1976 and continued until 1996, with 33,000km of 2D Seismic data acquired, analyzed, and interpreted.

It said three promising sub-basins were found, including Gubio, Maiduguri, and Baga/Lake Area, and that two wells, Wadi-1 and Kinasar-1, detected noncommercial gas between 2008 and 2018.

It went on to say that 1,962.20 km2 of 3D seismic data was gathered, processed, and interpreted, and that seismic acquisition efforts in 2014 were halted owing to insurgency.

The oil company reported that prospects/leads were found using interpreted seismic and nonseismic data, and that identified leads/prospects were de-risked using surface geochemistry.

It conducted a petroleum system re-assessment with the goal of de-risking source and maturity, emphasizing that security risk evaluation was carried out to recommend the optimum route of re-entry between 2019 and 2022.

The NNPCL reported that it completed the security risk assessment for the Chad Basin re-entry and conducted a security awareness session.

“Wadi-B firmed up to appraise/explore the identified prospect,” the oil company stated.