Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The federal government has said that it will provide incentives to investors who are willing to invest in oil and gas exploration in Nigeria’s frontier basins.
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr. Maikanti Baru disclosed this recently when he hosted members of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) in his Abuja office.
Baru urged NAPE to play a key role in promoting a public private partnership structure in the exploration of some of the green frontier basins. He noted though without clearly specifying what the government would offer, that it would be willing to make provisions for incentives for such prospective investors.
NAPE was led by its National President, Mr. Nosa Omorodion to the NNPC Towers where Baru explained that the government decided to explore the hydrocarbon potentials of the country’s green frontier basins in order to increase her depleting reserves.
The country’s frontier basin both the Chad basin and extensively into other sedimentary basins which includes the Anambra, Bida, Dahomey, Gongola/Yola and the Sokota basins, as well as the Middle/Lower Benue Trough.
Recently, Baru said when he hosted the Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar, that President Muhamadu Buhari had instructed the NNPC to intensify its exploration for oil in the Chad basin towards theand Kolmani River.
He told Abubakar when he hosted him that president asked the corporation to further explore the reported indicative discovery of hydrocarbons by Royal Dutch oil company, Shell in the Chad Basin and Kolmani River, with a view to making the most of it.
He also said the presidential directive has been heeded to and the corporation’s Frontier Exploration Services retooled to commence this with the Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) which he noted was already prospecting for oil within the basin.
Baru equally explained then that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has been intimated on the need to assign blocks in the basin for prospective investors to take up.
He however described NAPE as a very important part of the country’s oil and gas industry, especially in promoting policy formulations that have led to the growth of exploration of hydrocarbon resources in the country.
Similarly, Omorodion said the primary objective of the association has always being to promote excellent ideas in the exploration of hydrocarbon which has contributed to the passage of landmark legislations in the country like the local content law.
He said the association was happy with Baru’s appointment as NNPC’s head, and will in November confer on him a honourary membership award which is its highest award, due to his outstanding track records in the country’s oil sector.
