NNPC steps up prospecting for crude oil in Borno State as part of its northernisation policy

NIGERIAN National Petroleum Company (NNPC) officials have announced plans to commence crude oil prospecting in Borno State as a follow-on to the recent discovery of oilfields in Bauchi and Gombe states.

In late 2019, the NNPC discovered crude oil and gas reserves in the Kolmani River Basin on the border between Bauchi and Gombe states in the northeast of the country. Since 1958, Nigeria has been an oil-producing country but all the crude has been located in the country's southern coastal strip until the recent discovery in the northeast.

Nigeria's Niger Delta has been the country's cash cow, supplying over 95% of crude oil, which accounts for about 90% of government revenue and despite a lot of effort and expenditure, no fossil fuels have been located in northern Nigeria after decades of prospecting. This is despite the fact that northeast Nigeria lies within the Lake Chad Basin and other countries that are adjacent to it like Cameroon and Chad have all discovered oil deposits.

As part of a plan to redress this imbalance, the NNPC is stepping up prospecting across northern Nigeria. According to the NNPC, it is currently taking coordinated steps for more frontier exploration across northern Nigeria, as part of measures to shore up the country’s oil output and reserves.

According to a document on frontier exploration services activities of the NNPC from 2020 to 2022, oil could be discovered in Niger, Nasarawa, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, and Gombe states. Prospecting is the first stage in discovering oil and gas field, under which seismic surveys are carried out.