For those eager to see the commencement of oil production in the Kolmai II River well, they have to wait for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its technical partners to conclude commercial viability tests, EMEKA UGWUANYI and JOHN OFIKHENUA report
The economic gain of the discovery of oil, gas and condensate in Kolmani River 1&II wells in Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 809 on the Upper Benue Trough, Gongola Basin, in the Northeast cannot be determined until the wells are appraised, industry operators have said.
Frontier Exploration Services, an arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which has mandate to explore for hydrocarbon in the inland basins, recently announced the discovery in Kolmani River 11 well. Since the announcement of the discovery of oil and gas in Kolmani River 11 well by NNPC’s Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Samson Makoji, there have been many unanswered questions on what are expected. The Nation gathered that time and further results from the asset will answer such questions.
The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) was the first to drill the Kolmani River 1 Well in 1999 where a discovery of 33 billion cubic feet (BCF) was found. However, SNEPCo’s spokesperson when contacted, said Shell had since handed over the facility to the NNPC and wasn’t of part of the Kolmani River 11 Well.
He said: “SNEPCo relinquished oil prospecting licence (OPL) 809 many years ago after drilling Kolmani River-1 Well, and reviewing the Well result as well as the prospectivity of the basin at that time. Therefore, SNEPCo was not involved in the drilling of Kolmani River-11 Well which was the subject of the NNPC announcement on oil discovery in Gongola Basin. Kindly direct your enquiries on the oil discovery to NNPC.”
Makoji said: “Computation of hydrocarbon volume is on-going and will be announced in due course. A Drill Stem Test (DST) is currently on-going to confirm the commercial viability and flow of the Kolmani River reservoirs and the Corporation 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,” he said adding that the Corporation is planning a comprehensive site visit where all questions concerning the discovery will be addressed. He noted that the discovery is will help in advancing the economy.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Degeconek Oil and Gas Limited and former President of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) Mr. Abiodun Adesanya, said answers to many of the questions would be clearer as the activities unfold at the basins.
On whether there is crude in commercial quantity in the oil field, Adesanya said: “According to the NNPC, multiple reservoir sands bearing light oil, condensate and gas were penetrated by the Kolmani River-2 well. Therefore, the answer is yes, there is crude deposit in the Kolmani River area.” Appraisal wells would have to be drilled to determine the volume of what has been discovered, he added.
On the 33BCF of gas discovered by SNEPCo, he said: “The reserve figure came from the evaluation of the main gas-bearing reservoir sand encountered by Shell after drilling Kolmani River-1 in 1999 to a total depth of 9,138 feet. However, the Kolmani River-2 well drilled by FES-NNPC penetrated and appraised the same gas sand seen by Shell and then went deeper to a total depth of 13,500 feet and, according to the announcement, found additional reservoir sands bearing condensate and light oil. Of course, the possibility of more discoveries is very high now that the ‘petroleum system/ has been established in the Gongola Basin.”
On the state this discovery was made, he said: “The surface location of the well is in Bauchi State but close to the border with Gombe State. As a matter of fact it is not too far from the Gombe Airport. The oil accumulation could easily extend across both states. You know oil and gas, like all other naturally occurring mineral deposits, do not respect administrative, tribal or political boundaries since they predate human existence.” He also noted that it is when the quantity and commerciality of the hydrocarbon are determined that the question of addition to oil producing states should arise.
On when to expect first oil from the field, Adesanya said this happens after proving the commerciality of the discovery, adding that commencement of production depends on the work programme and what the offtake or resource utilisation strategy is. He also said it is too early to determine what the daily output of oil and gas from the asset will be.
Asked if there are prospects of finding more oil and gas from other northern parts of Nigeria, the Degeconek boss said: “There is a process to finding oil and gas in any sedimentary basin once the science and data support it. There is no ‘slam dunk’ response to that question other than the process have to be followed to unravel the potentials of all basins across the country.
On the implications of oil discovery in the north and on the Nigerian economy, he said: “If proven to be commercial, subsequent processes professionally followed and decisions insulated from politics, the find would be beneficial to the host communities, local government(s), the state(s) where the discovery was made, the region and the country at large. Oil and/or gas find in any inland basins would significantly contribute to the reduction of the energy deficiencies confronting Nigeria, create businesses, reduce unemployment thereby improving the economy of the country in general.”
The search, the technology at work
The 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.
The Federal Government first dreamt up the exploration of petroleum from the Chad Basin in Northeast in 1976 when President Muhammdu Buhari was the then Federal Commissioner of Petroleum Resources. This culminated in an aggressive campaign that also resulted in the drilling of 23 wells, two of which were guess sure since then the NNPC yet acquired about 2,000 meters square meter of seismic the traditionally in 1976. In 1984, as the Head of State, he commenced another aggressive inland basin exploration campaign. Not much was done about the prospecting until he assumed office as the President in 2015.
The former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu had in 2015 raised the hope for discovering oil in the basin when he said: “There are signs from the latest 3D seismic studies that oil may be very well close to being found now in Lake Chad after very many years of trying. I think that this is very key; it is key, both for the geographical balancing of oil production and it is also very key for the purse 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.”
On July 28, 2017, the President directed the then GMD, Dr. Maikanti Baru to commence exploration in River Kolmani of Bauchi State for oil. He premised the directive on the fact that Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) activities in the area had indicated the possibility of discovering hydrocarbon in the area. The NNPC boss was said to have made the disclosure while playing host to the then Bauchi State governor, Mohammed Abubakar, at the NNPC towers, Abuja.
Baru added that NNPC, which was re-strategising to go into the region would inquire how Shell collaborated with the Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) that holds block 809 where some of the fuel had been sighted.
According to him, the NNPC stepped down the activities in the Chad Basin up to the Gongola basin owing to security challenges in the area in 2017. But the NNPC boss expressed the determination of the corporation to go on and on in search for the crude until it succeeded.
He said: “We have six prospects that we have identified in the Kolmani River Basin and after this is successful we are going to the next and next location.”
During the spud-in ceremony of Kolmani River II, President Muhammadu stated the commitment of his administration to the exploration for Oil and Gas in the frontier basins in the country. The basins include: the Benue Trough, Chad Basin, Sokoto and Bida Basins.
He also stated that attention would be given to the Dahomey and Anambra Basins, which have already witnessed oil and gas discoveries. But what is clearly not in doubt is that for now, the commercial viability of the oil has not been confirmed. (The Nation)
