President Buhari Flags Off Wadi-B Oil Drilling In Borno

The Wadi-B potential, Chad Basin, Tuba Community, Jere Local Government Area, and Borno State oil drilling campaign has been launched by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He asserted that the flag-off had officially indicated the start of physical activities for the Chad Basin region’s crude oil and gas exploration.

He claimed to be aware of the fact that the Chad Basin had been the site of crude oil and gas exploration activity since 1976 and that the Wadi-1 well had yielded some commercial gas in 1985.

Buhari said he was looking forward to a successful drilling campaign in the Chad Basin through the collaborative efforts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, host communities, state and other partners.

The President stated that as a result of the Chad Basin exploration campaign’s expected success, the nation’s crude oil and gas reserves and production will likely increase, thereby boosting national energy security and ensuring more wealth for Nigerians.

“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 Chad Basin drilling rig was re-mobilized for the flag-off campaign, according to Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, for the first time since the 1980s efforts were highlighted.

The oil company was outfitted with cutting-edge integrated geophysical datasets, according to Kyari, who also claimed that the restarted drilling campaign had a better geological possibility of producing commercial hydrocarbon discoveries.

“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, with the aim of attaining commercial discoveries of crude oil and gas.

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

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