NNPC GMD, Malam Mele Kyari
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Friday announced that it has discovered hydrocarbon deposits in the Kolmani River II Well on the Upper Benue Trough, Gongola Basin, in the North-eastern part of the country.
According to the corporation’s acting spokesman, Mr Samson Makoji, in a signed statement, the drilling of the Kolmani River II Well which was flagged-off by President Buhari on Feb. 2. “was drilled with “IKENGA RIG 101” to a total depth of 13,701 feet encountering oil and gas in several levels”, adding, “A Drill Stem Test (DST) is currently on-going to confirm the commercial viability and flow of the Kolmani River reservoirs.”
He said that “on October 10 at 6:02 pm, one of the reservoirs was perforated and hydrocarbon started flowing to the wellhead at 21:20hours in which the gas component was flared to prevent air charge around the Rig.
“Preliminary reports indicated 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 ongoing and will be announced in due course,”
The spokesman said the NNPC had 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.
He said that NNPC had 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,” Makoji said
The frontier basins scheduled for expolration include: the Benue Trough, Chad Basin, Sokoto and Bida Basins.
He also said that attention would be given to the Dahomey and Anambra Basins, which had already witnessed oil and gas discoveries.
