Kachikwu: Nigeria close to oil find in Chad Basin

After years of prospecting for oil in the Chad Basin, Nigeria is “inching closer” to a breakthrough, according to Ibe Kachikwu.

The group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the country may well be on the verge of a significant oil find in the Lake Chad area in the north-east based on analysis of recent seismic 3D data generated from the basin.

Preliminary surveys had indicated that there is hydrocarbon deposit in an area covering 3,350 square metres in the Chad Basin, with federal government pumping close to N30bn in the last three years into feasibility studies of the oil potential there.

Countries such as Chad, Niger and Sudan with similar structural settings are already exploring or producing oil on their own soil, leading to conclusions that it is a matter of time for Nigeria’s turn.

In a presentation to the Petroleum Club, Lagos, over the weekend, titled “Ongoing Reforms in the Oil Industry: Impact of NNPC Reforms on the Nigerian Economy”, Kachikwu said the corporation is injecting a lot of energy into the effort to ensure success in this regard.

“There are signs from the latest 3D seismic studies that oil may well be very close to being found now in Lake Chad after very many years of trials. I think that this is very key,” he said, according to a statement by Ohi Alegbe, the corporation’s spokesman.

“It is key both for the geographical balancing of oil production and it is also very key for the purpose of refinery placement in the North in terms of access to crude. I am optimistic that by the end of the year we should be able to announce something major on this.”

Kachikwu identified “key areas of urgent intervention” needed to drive and develop Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

These are: running production acreages with transparent and profitable partnerships to bridge capacity and funding gaps; encouraging investment inflow into to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry; and engaging with local communities.

He also listed as “key” the need to drive regulation to develop the sector income via encouraging the fast-tracking of the petroleum industry bill (PIB) to clarify direction and encourage long-term investment in the industry.

Kachikwu stated that the NNPC is projecting the inflow of $20bn in 2016 to enable the corporation fund major projects and improve its bottom line going forward.

He described 2016 as a crucial year for the NNPC as it is expected to transit from historic loss environment to profit making domain.