The northern part of Nigeria has joined the league of oil-producing regions, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Friday, announced that it has discovered crude oil, gas, and condensates in the Kolmani River region at the border community between Bauchi and Gombe states.
An NNPC statement issued by Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Samson Makoji, said the discovery was coming after eight months of crude oil exploration in the area, around the Kolmani River II Well on the Upper Benue Trough, Gongola Basin, in the North-Eastern part of the country.
The Corporation said it acquired 435.54km2 of 3D Seismic Data over Kolmani Prospect in the Upper Benue Trough, Gongola Basin. It added that the acquisition was to evaluate Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCo, Kolmani River 1 Well Discovery of 33 BCF and explore deeper levels.
Makoji said the well was drilled with “IKENGA RIG 101” to a total depth of 13,701feet encountering oil and gas in several levels, adding that a Drill Stem Test (DST) is currently on-going to confirm the commercial viability and flow of the Kolmani River reservoirs.
According to him
“On Thursday 10th October, 2019, at 18:02hours, one of the reservoirs was perforated and hydrocarbon started flowing to the well head at 21:20hours in which the gas component was flared to prevent air charge around the rig. Preliminary reports indicate that the discovery consists of gas, condensate and light sweet oil of API gravity ranging from 38 to 41 found in stacked siliciclastic cretaceous reservoirs of Yolde, Bima Sandstone and Pre-Bima formations. Computation of hydrocarbon volume is on-going and will be announced in due course.
“The Corporation has also acquired additional 1183km2 of 3D seismic data over highly prospective areas of Gongola Basin with a view to evaluating the full hydrocarbon potential of the Basin.
“NNPC has deployed world class cutting-edge technologies including Surface Geochemistry, Ground Gravity/Magnetic, Stress Field Detection, Full Tensor Gradiometry aerial surveys to de-risk exploration in the frontier basins. The NNPC plans to drill additional wells for full evaluation of the hydrocarbon volume in the Gongola Basin.
